Seargent Troy & Military Setup of The Victorian Era.

In Thomas Hardy's Far From The Madding Crowd, published in 1874, Seargent Troy serves as a critical lens through which we see the Victorian military set up representing the charm, recklessness, and social superiority of army within a traditional agrarian community. As a dashing dragoon [1], seargent Troy acts as a dramatic counterpoint to the stable rustic person of Gabriel Oak and the established order of the farming community.

Seargent Troy and the Victorian Military Image.

Troy embodies the romanticised image of the Victorian soldier: Dashing, handsome and reckless.  His scarlet uniform is portrayed as a 

superficial attraction that captivates Bathsheba Everdene, representing a glamorous contrast to the rural rustic surroundings.

Despite his appearance, Troy is a heartless cad, who uses charm associated with his military position to manipulate women, particularly Fanny Robin and later Bathsheba, reflecting a cynical exploitative side of the military class.

Troy is  impulsive and acts like a child who follows his instincts, indicating a conflict between his professional role requiring discipline and his personal lack of responsibility. The 11th dragoons, the regiment implied, were associated with foreign service (India/Spain) and a flamboyant often criticized command under the Earl of Cardigan in the eighteen thirties and the following decade, highlights the clash between modern, urbanized military life and slow pace of rural Wessex.

Troy is portrayed as having questionable origins, reputed to be the son of a doctor's wife and a nobleman.  His status as a non-commissioned officer places him in a precarious social position above the rustic workers but below landed gentry like Boldwood. 

Troy's seduction and abandonment of Fanny Robin, a vulnerable servant, highlights the harsh reality of the Victorian sexual double standard, where the soldier exploits women without facing the same social ruin.

Troy's ability to buy himself out of the army to marry Bathsheba using her money shows the intersection of military life with economic status and his superficial approach to both.

Troy treats life, particularly the relationships, as a performance or play, mirroring the display aspect of the military, where he shines in sword exercises, but fails in marital.duty.

Seargent Troy's character is used by Hardy to expose the destructive, shallow, and parasitic nature of the Victorian military apparatus, when it intrudes upon the agricultural world of Weatherbury.

The Victorian military apparatus primarily operated on a daily pay and bounty system.  Land grants occurred in specific colonial contexts.

New recruitees were enticed into service with a bounty, a one-time cash payment of Queen's shilling. These bounies were essential to attract the poor people to military service.  This system was abused by bounty jumpers, who would enlist and desert, and re-enlist elsewhere to collect multiple bounties.  Bounties were largely abolished in1870 as part of Cardwell Reforms.

Daily pay was meager after various deductions for mess, laundry, medical care and equipment repairs.

        TO BE CONTINUED 

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Notes:-

1. Dragoon is a mounted infantry soldier who used horses for transport but fought on foot, or a heavily armed cavalry man. As a verb it means to coerce, force or bully someone into doing something.