Character Analysis of Eustacia Vye

Eustacia Vye is at the epicenter of Thomas Hardy’s novel, Return of The Native, and has
endlessly captured the attention of critics and readers alike with her mysterious demeanor and
oftentimes disjointed characteristics. The “queen of the night” is considered one of Hardy’s most
complicated heroines despite, or maybe because of, her flaws: her clandestine romances, her
materialistic nature, and her inability to grasp her situation and her character is seen as a parallel
to modern women.

Thomas Hardy took great care in describing Eustacia as a beautiful woman with “pagan eyes of
nocturnal mysteries” as well as hair so fancy “that a whole winter did not contain darkness
enough to form its shadow” and one of her defining characteristics became her magnetic allure
which drew both Wildeve and Clym to her. However, Eustacia does not hold the same affection
for these men because love is a device for Eustacia which she uses to obtain what she wants; her
dalliance with Wildeve originated from a desire to have a lover she could pine after since “love
is the dismallest thing where the lover is quite honest,” and since Wildeve was known as a “lady-
killer” she believed that with him she could be “loved to madness” which was her “greatest
desire” as she wants an “abstraction called passionate love” more than any particular lover.
When Clym arrived in Egdon she set her eyes on him because of his Parisian life, wanting to
attain a higher social status by marrying him and thus escaping the Heath. Eustacia
“predetermined to nourish a passion for Yeobright” and in her dreams sees him as a “white
knight” who’s silver-armored figure dances with her and just as the knight goes to remove his
visor to kiss her he shatters into fragments, remaining anonymous and relegating Clym into the
role of a device rather than that of a lover.

Readers have identified Eustacia’s wants and desire as greed because what she wants is a
materialistic life which is demonstrated when even as Clym is proposing to her she asks him to
“speak of paris to [her]” and when Wildeve’s fortune becomes better she decides to run away
with him when he promises her the life she desires. However, it would be egregious to put down
her motivation to simple greed because Eustacia’s greatest desire is to be free as she doesn't feel
like she belongs in Egdon and as a woman in Victorian times her only recourse for escape is
marriage as that is the only way she can travel and gain economic independence. Eustacia asks
whether she “desire[s] unreasonably much in wanting what is called life-music, poetry, passion,
war . . .” and laments the “cruelty of putting [her] into this ill-conceived world" where her
desires could not be fulfilled and goes recklessly to her death; it is thus seen that Eustacia is only
trying to gain freedom however she can.

Eustacia upstages Clym in the novel and is regarded as a sympathetic and tragic character
because of her many similarities to the modern women. Eustacia’s entire character revolves
around a “smoldering rebelliousness” as she isolates herself from the natives of the Heath by
aligning herself with the night, often taking late excursions to the summit of Rainbarrow, and
being regarded as a singular, pagan being. Eustacia wants to escape her predetermined place in
Egdon and this same escapism is seen in modern women who want to shed their submissive
position in life. While Eustacia failed in her aim—plunging to her death in the midst of her
escape—modern women have succeeded to an extent, having gained the right to vote, own
property and get an education. Due to her isolation Eustacia was also vilified by the population
of the Heath, summarily being punished for her rebellion by being called a witch and having an
effigy burned of herself. Modern women find themselves in the same position with those who
rebel against their submissive place in society by obtaining careers being scorned by the public
and scrutinized for their every move while the public constructs a negative narrative about them;
just as Eustacia became a witch these women become absent mothers and inattentive wives. This
is why despite Eustacia’s flaws she is still a sympathetic and tragic figure as modern, female
viewers identify with her plight.

In essence Eustacia is a deeply flawed, moody and complicated character known for her titanic
desires and passions, her materialism, and her consequential dalliances with men; however she is
not a one-dimensional villainess. Indeed, Eustacia characterizes one of the most important
themes in Hardy’s novel; the survival of the fittest and how one can either perish or adapt to
unsuitable conditions, and her character analysis demonstrates issues which are still applicable to
modern women.