Farmer Oak is an honest man of sound judgment and good moral fiber. He is modest and unassuming by nature, almost to a fault.
(He describes himself as an every-day sort of man). Slow and deliberate in his actions, he is not given to impulsiveness.
He is also an astute judge of character – after watching Bathsheba, he observes that though she is a pretty maiden she has her faults, namely vanity. Through sustained hard work, he has risen in life from being a mere shepherd to becoming a farmer.
But when Bathsheba saves him from suffocating in his hut, he is forced to revise his opinion about her. He would perhaps have desired to express his love to her, but he is not good with words, and has some difficulty in expressing his emotions.
Farmer Oak approaches Bathsheba with a
proposal of marriage. At first, she seems somewhat interested, and asks him for time to
consider his proposal as she has not made up her mind. Farmer Oak tells her he will always be by her side, when she needs him. But when he brings up the topic of children, she realizes that she is not yet ready for marriage, with its attendant responsibilities. Perhaps the romantic in her rebels at the notion; perhaps she is too independent minded, perhaps she is too well educated to consider his proposal, perhaps she is caught off-guard as the ground for marriage has not been fully prepared. Farmer Oak cannot understand her change of heart. As she cannot explain her reasons to him, she ends up telling him that she does not love him.
Soon thereafter, Farmer Oak learns that Bathsheba has left the neighborhood. But tragedy rarely strikes alone. Farmer Oak’s sheepdog has driven the flock over a precipice, and the sheep are dead or dying. Farmer Oak is not insured, and this is a shattering financial blow from which he cannot hope to recover soon. He has just about enough to pay off his debts, leaving himself a free man with nothing more.
Still, his thoughts are for Bathsheba, that she does not have to follow him into a life of poverty...