What I Might have in Common with the Damsels of Medieval History.

Last night I watched the new release, Far From the Madding Crowd on DVD, and this morning as I went for a brisk walk around the neighborhood with Finn in the jogger, I kept thinking about it.  I really, really liked it, and I asked myself why.  It’s a definite chick flick (full disclosure there), and a appreciated that there were no premarital or extramarital affairs (a rare find in chick flicks these days), but it wasn’t a straight up fairy tale either.  In fact the heroine makes some pretty lousy decisions along the way.  She’s not all bad.  She does strive to be a good steward that which God brings her way in life (though God is not mentioned in the film), but when it comes to romance, she tends to defer too much to her emotions and passion.  This tendency is all too realistic today and is a common side effect in our society of the exaltation of romance and passion to the exclusion of wisdom.  

So I asked myself this morning, “why am I so taken with this film?”  I’m usually one of those people who prefers movies in which the hero or heroine is primarily virtuous, and so I can root for them, so to speak, in every respect (fanciful, I know).  But this movie was not like that.  The answer I came to, was twofold.  The first part being that which many will think is obvious—that the movie reflects the fallenness that exists in real life.  But the second part is that while the heroine is flawed, her enduring suitor is not - and this too reflects real life.  Real life in Christ, that is.  

OK, at this point if you think you might want to see the movie, you might not want to read further.  I won’t give away a lot of details, but if you’re one of those people that hates to know much of anything about how a film turns out before you see it, then you better stop reading now.

I warned you.  Now here’s what I REALLY loved about this movie. 

Early in the movie, Bathsheba (yes, a name you Bible scholars have heard before) receives her first proposal of marriage from the kind, hard working farmer next door, Gabriel, and while she doesn’t flat out refuse him at the start, she doesn’t feel for him what she wants to feel from a suitor.  She’s not weak in the knees over this man, and so though she has great respect and fondness for him, she determines that she has no need of a husband at the moment and will hold out for a more compelling offer.

Gabriel accepts this response with great dignity, but finds himself inclined to stick around and look out for her, so to speak.  He doesn’t pester her or make any further attempts at winning her over, but he quietly uses his skill in farming to help her succeed in life.  Over the course of time he watches her fall in “love” with a dashing young heart breaker, and still he sticks around.  

Throughout the movie there are various highs and lows for Bathsheba, and ironically she finds herself coming back to Gabriel for advice over and over again not only for farming matters but matters of the heart as well.  She slowly finds herself becoming more and more dependent on his help and moral support, and at last (no big surprise, really), comes to realize what a fool she has been all along to take him for granted and mask indifference to him.

According to early British literature’s rules on the art of courtly love,  The value of love is commensurate with its difficulty of attainment.  

What if Bathsheba had accepted Gabriel’s original offer of marriage?  Would she have come to value his love as greatly as she eventually did when he persisted despite her continual rejection and unworthiness?  What if Adam and Eve hadn’t eaten the fruit in the garden?  Would we value the great love of our Father as much without seeing the lengths to which it would take Him?  

Or perhaps like the damsels of medieval history, and like Bathsheba, we have to be persuaded.  

Perhaps only a long, bumpy ride of a story is the best way for us experience love at its finest. 


- Laura