Chapter 44

Bathsheba goes out into the neighboring woods and sleeps there until dawn. In the morning Liddy comes in search of her. She tells Bathsheba that Fanny's coffin will be taken away at nine. Bathsheba decides to stay away from her house until ten. Liddy brings breakfast to Bathsheba and asks what has actually happened between her mistress and her husband. Bathsheba, however, does not tell her anything. By the time Bathsheba arrives at the house, through a circuitous route, Fanny's coffin has been removed; but she decides to hide in an unused attic in order to avoid Troy. Two men arrive from Casterbridge with a tombstone meant to be placed on Fanny's grave as per Troy's order.

In this chapter, Hardy clearly brings out the turmoil of Bathsheba, caused by her discovery of the truth concerning Troy and Fanny and her husband's cruel treatment of her. But the truth has forced her to change, to mature. Dawn is always symbolic of new beginnings. When the day dawns on Bathsheba in the woods, it symbolizes a new day and a new life for the mistress of the farm. Appropriately, the new beginning comes out in nature, in the depth of the woods where Bathsheba has retreated in order to regenerate herself. That her new maturity is only in an initial stage is revealed when she resorts to hiding herself childishly in the attic to avoid Troy.

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