Bathsheba Everdene & The Doctrine of Coverture

In Chapter 48 of Far From The Madding Crowd, Bathsheba begins to wonder whether she has any secure claim to her uncle's property after her marriage to Sergeant Troy. 

The foundation of her doubt lies in the legal position of married women in nineteenth-century England.  Under the doctrine of Coverture, a married woman's legal identity was largely merged with that of her husband.  Property that came to a woman could, in many circumstances, pass under her husband's control.  Bathsheba's knowledge of legal aspects was very limited, but she had some doubts that by marrying Troy she may have unintentionally surrendered rights that had once seemed unquestionably hers. 

Her anxiety is intensified by Troy's disappearance and presumed death.  It raises uncertainty about her legal status. She realises that she never paid attention to the exact terms under which she inherited her farm.  She begins to suspect that there may have been legal conditions attached to inheritance which may include marriage.  Her confidence in Troy had collapsed, making her suddenly aware of legal and financial questions she had previously ignored. 

Hardy uses this moment to show Bathsheba's transition from a romantic and impulsive young woman to a woman forced to confront the realities of law, properly and social institutions. Her doubts are rooted both in the legal disabilities of married women and in her own growing awareness of how little she had understood those matters when she married Troy. 

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