Poor Old Mr.Boldwood

^^^^ It should also be pointed out that this film version omitted some key scenes, most notably where Boldwood demands that Bathsheba tell him if Troy has kissed her and when she confirms that he has, Boldwood becomes quite enraged. He later confronts Troy and tries to bribe him into staying away from Bathsheba and to marry Fanny instead, but Troy refuses as he has already married Bathsheba.

Boldwood, I think, was something of a repressed personality; when Bathsheba sent him that valentine, it stirred something in him and even when she apologized to him and declared that it was a mistake, he still clung to hope that she would become romantically interested in him. This adaptation does downplays the fact that Boldwood became obsessed with Bathsheba, and wanted her whether she felt the same way or not. She even told him that she didn't love him, but he still wanted to marry her. If a woman tells you she is not interested, take the hint and move on. But Boldwood didn't, and his shooting and killing Troy had as much to do with his misinterpreting what he saw as much as trying to have Bathsheba all for himself.

Was Bathsheba careless and thoughtless at times? Yes. But she was a young woman who had been left orphaned at a young age and was in an unusual position for females at that time. In those days, any money or property a woman had automatically became her husband's once she married. No matter how she behaved, she was not to blame for Boldwood's behavior; Troy wasn't exactly honest with her either.

Boldwood wasn't really aware of how Gabriel felt about Bathsheba, and he wasn't really competing for her heart at that time. I think Gabriel always loved her, and stayed by her side because she needed him, and probably hoped for something more in the future, but he wasn't boisterous or obvious about his feelings for her.