William Boldwood Timeline and Summary

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• Farmer Boldwood shows up at Bathsheba's door asking whether anyone has heard news about a disappeared servant named Fanny Robin. Bathsheba is curious about who the man is, and her servants are quick to tell her that he's the most wanted bachelor in town.
• Bathsheba's curiosity about Boldwood only gets stronger when she notices that of all the men in the marketplace, he's the only one who doesn't stare at her. This hurts her pride.
• On Valentine's Day, Bathsheba decides to play a trick on Boldwood by mailing him a Valentine that says, "Marry Me."
• When he receives the Valentine anonymously, Boldwood doesn't know what to make of it. But after asking around, he learns that the writing belongs to Bathsheba and becomes totally obsessed with her. He even marches right up to her house and asks her to marry him, thinking that he message was sincere.
• When Bathsheba rejects him, Boldwood gets mad at her for leading him on. He also decides that he's not going to give up on her so easily.
• Things get difficult for Boldwood when the young Sergeant Troy shows up in town and steals Bathsheba's heart. Boldwood feels that Troy has stolen Bathsheba from him, although Troy is quick to remind him that she was never his to begin with.
• Boldwood tries to pay Sergeant Troy to go away and leave Bathsheba alone, but he soon realizes that Troy and Bathsheba are already married and that his scheme isn't useful. He retreats to his home to live a broken life.
• When he hears that Sergeant Troy has drowned, Boldwood wastes no time moving back in on Bathsheba and making her promise to become engaged to him. She doesn't give him a straight yes or no answer, but he totally gets his hopes up.
• At his Christmas party, Boldwood is about to announce his engagement with Bathsheba when Sergeant Troy shows up—back from the dead. Overcome with rage and humiliation, Boldwood takes out a shotgun and blasts Troy into the next world. Boldwood then tries to kill himself with the gun, but he's stopped.
• After he turns himself into the police, Boldwood awaits his execution. But at the last second, he gets pardoned for being insane. Turns out that back at his house, he has a lot of boxes labeled "Bathsheba Boldwood" that show just how crazy his fantasies about Bathsheba have gotten over the years.