Thomas Hardy 1840-1928 He wrote: Far from the Madding Crowd The Return of the Native The Mayor

of Casterbridge Tess of the d'Urbevilles Jude the Obscure 1874 1878 1886 1891 1895

General
Hardy is a transitional author between the nineteenth and twentieth century. He locates his characters in a well described geographical and historical largely rural setting from which their loves and tragedies can be made more poignant. The central appeal of Hardy is his description of place and the setting of characters' outwardly observed emotions. The place is Wessex, one that is transitional between the agrarian age which frames people and their stories, and the industrial change all around. This Wessex is real but given added imaginary force. Hardy Wessex is a more intense Wessex. There is an illusion of geography as well as its basic place. There is an illusion of history, as well as the basic passing of events. In The Return of the Native the landscape was set up in opposition to the obsessive loves. Hardy decided to reduce this in future works by a greater setting into the human and social scene. Hardy's observation means that he does not get particularly into interior emotions. He does not show best falling in love or committing a crime He does not show best moral and spiritual problems. Rather, he shows these activities in local context. His method is to shift perspectives, tackle obliquely, use odd angles and give multiple views. It is from this that the psychology is drawn out, as an observer. The authorial voice is strong. His pessimism about nature and its competitive force, and the way he uses symmetry and ironic co-incidences suggest a nineteenth century novel. However he points ahead to the twentieth century with his use of symbolism and repeated images to show emotions. Hardy is associated with pessimism, gloom, fate and tragedy. He is liberal but an evolutionary pessimist and an atheistic view that sees us as becoming doomed. Life is cruel and characters get trapped and there is even some bitterness. Yet there is a positive affirming attitude. Forces seem to be at work where people just fall in love and then have to deal with the complicated tangle which results. The passionate love described is that of which characters are not themselves fully conscious.

Examples:

Love: Boldwood's Passion for Bathsheba in Far from the Madding Crowd is without explanation but once it happens it is total, overwhelming and the tangles take place. Symbolism: In Tess of the d'Urbevilles Tess creeps through an overgrown garden which suggests her own threatening fertility and yet Angel, detached, plays a harp. Symbolism: The closed door in The Return of the Native suggested prevented relationships and the psychology emerges where Clym is really attached to his mother and Eustacia and Mrs Yeobright are in opposition. Wessex place: Egdon Heath in Tess of the d'Urbevilles is full of fertility which emphasises Eustacia's beauty and power in this location which would be lost in Weymouth. Wessex folk: Gabriel Oaks proposal to Bathsheba in Far from the Madding Crowd involves local courtship ritual. Wessex folk: Locals provide down to earth backround reality as a counterpoint to high emotions, as when locals in Buck's Head discuss Church or chapel for salvation with Joseph Poorgrass getting drunk with the tragically dead Fanny Robin lying dead outside in Far from the Madding Crowd.