Abstract
Nature is essential in Far From The Madding Crowd but love and relationships are central elements in this novel. Hardy articulates these dimensions by using nature as an omen, as an echo of feelings and thoughts but also as a pretext to bring people together.
In the novel, Hardy uses nature as a premonition, as a clue to understand the future of some relationships between different characters. For example, Fanny, most of the time, appears alone, at night, hidden in the darkness. In chapter seven, she meets Gabriel for the first time. She is alone at night, she is fleeing Bathsheba's house, to ask Troy to marry her.
