Thomas Hardy’s The Return of the Native

Themes
The Heath
The heath is more than just a dramatic backdrop to the action; it is an integral part of the plot and
character development, and a constant thematic symbol. Hardy devotes the novel's entire first chapter to
describing the timeless landscape of Egdon heath. What defines it most of all is its timelessness - it is
much bigger than any human drama, and hence might its natural forces swallow those humans.

The heath can also be viewed as an antagonist in the story, working against the key characters to bring
about their tragic fates. Mrs. Yeobright, exhausted by her long toil to Clym’s house, collapses in the
darkness on her return, and is bitten by a snake. Wildeve and Eustacia both drown as they plan to flee the
heath forever. Clym becomes a preacher, extolling the virtues of a world beyond the heath.
Only Thomasin and Diggory, who are truly at ease with their surroundings, endure. The heath is a place
for lasting sentiment, not fiery passion or intellectual ideals. Those who are able to tune to its rhythms and
pace remain. Those who feel they can live beyond its power are destroyed by it. Eustacia views it as an
explicit antagonist - "‘Tis my cross, my shame and will be my death" - and yet falls in attempting to
defeat it (69). Most of all, the heath is an expression of Hardy's tragic sense, which suggests that time and
the world have little use for the squabbles of humans and will thereby negate their efforts time and again.
Superstition
Superstition permeates the text, and is connected with the death of Eustacia and possibly Mrs. Yeobright.
In the most basic sense, superstition exists through the heath locals. So tied to nature, they are naturally
drawn more towards pagan rituals than towards the transcendent message of Christianity. They judge
their lives according to the cycles of the heath, and hence believe that strange forces beyond their
understanding rule the world.

Many locals, Susan Nunsuch most of all, believe Eustacia is a witch. Susan brings a fearful dimension to
their charge, both stabbing Eustacia with a pen and then later making a wax effigy that she burns. Hardy
was cautious to avoid being labelled immoral, and so he never extrapolates on Susan's suspicions, which
could be based in the possibility of Eustacia's sexuality. Both of Susan's actions are based around witch-
lore. A witch would supposedly not bleed if pricked, and an effigy works akin to a voodoo doll, by
transferring pain to another.

Eustacia's death also evokes witch-lore, since a suspected witch was thrown in water. If she floated, she
was vindicated, and if she drowned, she was proven witch. Tragically, Eustacia floats but it brings her no
benefit, since she dies. In surviving and dedicating himself to Christianity, Clym suggests Hardy's
dismissal of such lore, though the author never goes so far as to outright denounce any of the ancient
superstitions suggested in the text.

Tradition
One of the novel's inherent conflicts is that between the declining, traditional attitudes of Dorset and the
modern world that was replacing it. Hardy’s work often highlighted the waning traditions and ideals of
his age, and there are many examples where custom and folklore feature as central to the narrative. Part of
the novel's appeal is the way it records these dying customs.
For instance, Diggory Venn’s trade as a reddleman represents the dying skills of the region:

He was one of a class rapidly becoming extinct in Wessex, filling at present in the rural world the place
which, during the last century, the dodo occupied in the world of animals. He is a curious, interesting and
nearly perished link between obsolete forms of life and those which generally prevail.

Though Diggory does dismiss the traditional fears - that a reddleman stole children - he nevertheless
dedicates himself to this ancient trade.

Hardy also records the decline in church attendance in rural regions like Egdon, and discusses the history
and function of the mummers. In terms of the latter, he explains how repeated tradition can lead to
perfunctory execution and reception, as opposed to the true passion of a regenerated custom.

There are some customs that Hardy connects to more ancient customs. Hardy believed the November 5th
bonfires were a continuance of Druid tradition more than a commemoration of Gay Fawkes. Further, the
May Day celebrations seems to have a primal draw, since it is those which finally bring Thomasin and
Diggory together.

Education
The Return of the Native presents a range of views on education without ever delivering a final
conclusion in the issue.
As an extraordinary resident of the heath whose intelligence allowed him to explore the greater world,
Clym is a strong proponent for education. In fact, he wants to explore a new type of education with the
residents of the heath, and is drawn home for that purpose. However, he confronts both reticence and
outright opposition to these noble plans, and ends up as a preacher - a vocation more associated with
tradition than modernity - than as a teacher. To some extent, Clym is oblivious to the nature of those he
wishes to educate. They are not only not ready for his ideas, but are also fundamentally opposed to
them. Captain Vye gives a reflective instance of their skepticism when he describes education as valuable
only towards encouraging the young to engage in offensive graffiti.
In fact, Hardy explores how Clym's natural good-looks stand in opposition to these modern ideas of
education exemplified in his intellect:

He already showed that thought is a disease of flesh, and indirectly bore evidence that ideal physical
beauty is incompatible with emotional development and a full recognition of the coil of things.

It is only really within the spiritual world that he is finally able to find solace. His ideal of "instilling high
knowledge into empty minds" is unrealistic to the point of arrogance, an indicator that his learning has not
helped him to connect with his fellow man (160). Even as preacher, his "moral lectures" maintain a
didactic air that repulse some listeners. He continues to speak but not to listen, which gives an implicit
criticism of the educational instinct.

Clym’s most significant education is what he learns on the heath - that the world is controlled by large
forces beyond our understanding.
Romantic love
The quest for romantic love amongst the nature-centered heath affects many characters, Eustacia most of
all. She is desperate to discover the passion of romantic love. Early in the text, she expresses that she
seeks, "A blaze of love, and extinction, [which] was better than a lantern glimmer of the same which
should last long years (56). She wants a quick burst of passion, rather than the pragmatism of a sustaining
respect and passion. This desire helps explain her tragic demise - she is too quick to romanticize a
situation, ignoring its reality. She ignores the fact that Wildeve mostly repulses her, to twice become
attracted to him, and ignores Clym's stated intentions to justify her acceptance of his proposal. This
conflict creates a sense of dissatisfaction that has tragic consequences.

Clym is attracted to Eustacia on so many levels, but ultimately chooses a respectable, simple life with her.
The passion and romanticism that defined him on his return is quickly traded for a more pragmatic
personality that disappoints Eustacia. His tragic flaw here is his blindness to what she needs, and they
both pay for it.

Finally, Thomasin begins with a romantic passion for Wildeve, but ultimately realizes the greater wisdom
of pragmatism. When they finally marry, she is no longer enamored with him, but rather has matured to
realize that she must protect her reputation over her romantic pride.

The Oedipus complex

Clym has an intense and turbulent relationship with his mother, which evokes the Oedipus complex, so-
named by Freud because of the ancient play Oedipus Rex. Simply put, the Oedipus complex describes an
unhealthy love-hate attraction between a mother and son.
Mrs. Yeobright has clearly had great ambitions for her son. We see her disappointment when he reveals
that he has left Paris to return to Egdon. She cannot appreciate his return to Egdon as a step forward;
instead, she vicariously considers it as sign of failure, asking him, "But it is right, too, that I should try to
lift you out of this life into something richer, and that you should not come back again, and be as if I had
never tried at all?"

This vicarious association further explains her contempt for Eustacia. She cannot understand that he is
attracted to her instead of finer Parisian ladies. The relationship between Clym and his mother starts to
sour after he begins to court Eustacia. He chooses to give Eustacia a gift – a charnel pot unearthed from
the burial mound – which was originally intended for his mother. Though all of these attitudes can be
explained, they together suggest an intimate and intense connection.

Clym is aware of the challenges to his happiness, and refers to the competing areas of his life as
"antagonistic growths." Interestingly, his relationship with his mother is the first he lists, before his wife
and vocation. He is forced into making a choice between Eustacia and his mother, and the regrets over
this situation lead to a romantic demise for almost all involved.

Constancy
In the novel, characters who display constancy are rewarded. Like the unswerving firmness of the Egdon
landscape, those who remain true to their ideals endure. Diggory Venn, as example, is unwavering in his
love for Thomasin. He adapts his lifestyle and means of income to win her affections, and patiently
remains her faithful champion. Similarly, Charley the stable boy does not waver in his affection for
Eustacia. He gives her his mummer’s role, and later cares for her despite her attitudes towards him. Even
the dim-sighted Clym can perceive Charley's love for his wife. Similarly, the heath folk are characterized
by their adherence to unchanging tradition and folklore. They accept the heath as timeless and constant,
and their kind perseveres for that reason.
The characters more defined by transient, changing passions - Wildeve, Eustacia, and Clym - all suffer a
tragic end. The heath, with its constancy, has little use for such dynamic human passions.

Q.1 "Clym’s true analogy would appear to have been less with Oedipus and Prometheus
than with Hamlet." - John Paterson
Consider the novel in the light of this statement.
Clym certainly has qualities reminiscent of all three characters mentioned in Paterson's statement.
His anxiety to please his mother is arguably excessive, and accounts for the large emotions that facilitate
the tragic end. By seeing his relationship with Mrs. Yeobright as equal to that with Eustacia, Clym
disappoints both women. In this way, his situation is certainly a manifestation of the Oedipus complex.

His connection to Prometheus lies in the way he brings home tales of Paris that captivate Eustacia
and expedite her desire to leave Egdon. However, this information has a deadly side as well, since it
creates an expectation in her that he cannot fulfill, thus facilitating the tragic end.

However, what are most directly responsible for the tragic end are Clym's self-absorption and
procrastination, both qualities that tie him to Hamlet. Because he can only see the world through his own
perspective, he does not realize how much unhappiness Eustacia feels, and hence unwittingly treats her
cruelly. Further, he procrastinates both in forming a school in Budmouth, as he initially plans, and in
reuniting with his mother and later with Eustacia. More agency in any of these situations would have
changed the course of events, but he is too defined by his brooding and self-obsession to take swifter
action, as someone like Diggory might.

Q.2 Eustacia is said to be attractive to men. In what ways is this shown, and what does
she have that Thomasin does not?
Introduction: The plot of Thomas Hardy’s The Return of the Native is cinematically constructed,
without doubt; but the book is one of the most delightful domestic tales ever written. The charm, the
humor, the wholesome details, the fidelity to truth, the individuality of the characters and the nature all
these give it a cherished place on our library shelves. Most notably the character of Eustasia Vye lives for
ever in our heart.  We must be discussing the many side-lights upon the character of Eustasia. There are
many choice parts in the novel that carry worth mentioning many times.
The author is splendidly at home in this novel; and here is better opportunity to study the role of Eustasia
Vye, the growth or deterioration of character, and the influence of environment on her.In studying
Eustasia Vye, we must be led to revel in the queer little incidents that betray the times and to enjoy the
gentle satire and delicate humor. Thomas Hardy’s The Return of the Native has two distinct characters:
one Egdon Heath and another Eustasia Vye who are sharply contrasted: the sombre adventures of Egdon
Heath which is ready to over through any misadventures and Eustasia Vye, a colorful but wayward
reprehensible girl, negatively good.
Eustacia is a local woman and one of the major characters of the novel. She is exotic, beautiful,
ambitious, and eager to leave Egdon Heath. Much of the action in this story revolves around the fact that
men find Eustacia so unnaturally attractive that there are even rumors of her being a witch. Born and
raised in the seaside resort of Budmouth, Eustacia’s father was a musician from the island of Corfu, in the
Ionian Sea. Eustacia was educated and raised in a cosmopolitan environment, but after her parents died
her grandfather brought her to Egdon Heath.

The Queen of the Night: Eustacia is so called because of her fondness of walking at night in Egdon. In
her appearance also Hardy bestows some nocturnal qualities. Her eyes possessed nocturnal mystery. Her
hair contained more darkness than that of cold wintry night. And above all, Eustacia’s presence to the
dark heath almost increased the beauty of the night. Eustacia is a local woman and one of the major
characters of the novel. She is exotic, beautiful, ambitious, and eager to leave Egdon Heath. Much of the
action in this story revolves around the fact that men find Eustacia so unnaturally attractive that there are
even rumors of her being a witch. Born and raised in the seaside resort of Budmouth, Eustacia’s father
was a musician from the island of Corfu, in the Ionian Sea. Eustacia was educated and raised in a
cosmopolitan environment, but after her parents died her grandfather brought her to Egdon Heath.
She is forced to find the excitement she craves in her relationships with men. She has an affair with
Wildeve, but cuts it off after he breaks his engagement to Thomasin. She falls in love with Clym before
meeting him, almost solely on the fact that he had a successful career in Paris. While courting, Clym is
adamant about the fact that he plans to stay in the country and open a small school, but Eustacia believes
she can change his mind later. When Clym takes a job cutting furze, Eustacia resents him.
Soon after Eustacia marries, Wildeve inherits a fortune. Eustacia feels she has married the wrong man.
This feeling intensifies when Clym accuses her of causing his mother's death. Wildeve offers to take her
away, but Eustacia insists on remaining faithful to her wedding vows. She does accept a ride to the port
town. Tragically, she drowns in the reservoir, and there is a question whether her death might have been a
suicide.
Physically, Eustacia is described as "full limbed and somewhat heavy; without rudiness as without pallor;
and soft to the touch as a cloud". To see her hair is to imagine that a whole winter does not darkness
enough to form its shadow. Her Pagan eyes were full with nocturnal mysteries. Her mouth seems formed
less to speak than to quiver, less to quiver than to kiss. Someone might have added less to kiss than to
curl. So fine are the lines of her lips that, though full, each corner of her mouth is as clearly cut as the
paint of a spear. Her presence brings memories of such things such as Bourbon Rose, Tropical Midnights
and Rubies. Her moods recall lotus-eaters and the march in "Athalie". Her motion suggests the ebb and
flow of the sea and her voice reminds one of a musical instrument.
The Great Fall:‘Egdon was her Hades’
             ‘Hades’ in Greek mythology is the underworld or hell. It carries the sense of hellish torture and
suffering.
             For Eustacia Egdon Heath is as troubles once a place as hell.
             Eustacia hates Egdon. Since she was taken from Budmouth to Egdon. She disliked the change.
She always finds it antagonistic.
Budmouth was Eustacia’s native place. Eustacia is the daughter of bandmaster of a regiment. After the
death of her mother Eustacia’s father left off thriving and drank too much and ultimately he also died. So
Eustacia was left to the care of the grandfather who used to live at Egdon Heath. Since wreck, her
grandfather started living Egdon Heath along with Eustacia. Eustacia's native place was not Egdon but
Budmouth, a fasionable sea-side resort at that time. She came to egdon with her grandfather after the
death of her father. Eustacia hated the change from Budmouth to Egdon, and she felt like a one
 banished;but here was she forced to live. Much of her discontentment and unhappiness of her life is due
to her life in Egdon. She tell to Wildeve regarding the heath,"'tis my cross, my shame,and will be the
cause of my death". And her words prove prophetic.
Eustacia sits between the Heloises and the Cleopatras:
i)                    The love of Heloise and Abelara are debrated for its constancy and purity. In contrast, Cleopatra,
who is said to have cohabited with both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, is an emblem of deception.
ii)                   Eustacia will sit between them.
iii)                 The expression suggests that Eustacia bears the pure and faithful love in her mind like Heloise while
sometimes her love flicker’s like Cleopatra. Thus she rests between both the extremity of pure and
unfaithful love.
 ‘The high Gods’ of Eustacia:
i)                    The ‘high Gods’ of Eustacia were William the Conqueror, the Earl of Strafford and Nepolian
Buonaparte.
ii)                   Her selection of such heroes indicates her unconventional nature. The heroes she selected are all
notorious persons. Hence Eustacia’s selection of heroes in unconventional.
Witch of Endor:
            Eustacia here compares herself to the ‘Witch of Endor’.
            It is a biblical reference where it is told that the witch of Endor called up the dead Samuel to
prophecy on the death of Saul and the passing of his kingdom to David. Eustacia here suggests that she
possesses, like the witch of Endor, to call Wildeve. She has that power over him. The comparison
indicates that Eustacia is a proud woman with a lot of confidence on her power.
Conclusion: Tragically, Eustacia drowns in the reservoir, and there is a question whether her death might
have been a suicide. However, there is no doubt that she had been the most desired fiction queen of the
19th century British novel.

Q.3 What kinds of historical and/or mythological allusions does Hardy use? And when
does he use them?
Q.4 Contrast Clym's idealism with Eustacia's romanticism. Make clear the basis on
which you develop the contrast.
Hardy’s The Return of the Native is a novel based on unpractical idealism and  incompatible relationship
between two major characters – Clym Yeobright and Eustacia Vye. Both of them are poles apart in
character: The former is a plodding idealist, whereas the later is a fiery sensualist.  Where Eustacia’s
vision is a projective dream of the world, Clym’s is an introspective dream.
Where she is a ‘the raw material of a divinity’ who wilfully creates the objects of her world, Clym, is
the enslaved sovereign of the kingdom of his mind. The conflict between these two antithetical modes of
perception is inevitable from the outset; both fail to see the other at the commencement of the
relationship.

 When the story begins, we are not introduced with Clym who has been in Paris at that time but returns
soon to the heath and it is the return that drives the plot of novel. Clym Yeobright is the tragic hero of
Hardy’s novel. He is young man of thirty three and he is attractive enough to make Eustasia fall in love
with him. In a letter to Arthur Hopkins, Hardy rated him as the most important character of the novel but
described Eustacia as “the wayward and erring heroine”.
 Eustacia is described by Hardy, as “Queen of Night” whose eyes are pagan, are too fancy that a whole
winter does not contain darkness enough to form its shadow. She is a woman of nineteen, tall, straight and
graceful. Her very appearance made Clym infatuated with her.
Eustacia always longs for passionate love:”To be  loved to madness” is her great desire.The crippling
boredom and feeling of being trapped within the heath leads Eustacia to crave an unrealistic love . Hardy
says that ‘she seemed to long for the abstraction called passionate love more than for any particular
lover’. Micael Millgate accuses Eustacia of “impulsive actions… which drive the couple finally
apart” but describes Clym as  “Self-absorbed, isolated, humourless…incapable of sympathetic
communication with anyone outside himself”. Eustacia’s ability to quickly forget her ‘love’ for
Wildeve as soon as an apparently superior possible opportunity presents itself is very telling. Once she
begins fixating on Clym Yeobright, Wildeve develops ‘the rayless outline of the sun through smoked
glass’. All Eustacia ever really craves is a chance to escape the Heath and lead the life she so arrogantly
presumes to be her right.Throughout the novel Eustacia is filled with romantic imagining of a man who
would “love her to madness” and take her away from the heath. She imagines Clym as a born leader of
man who would go with her into the brilliant world – Paris which would give her the fullness of life and
the freedom she craves for.  Even When Clym proses Eustacia, Eustacia’s response is, “At present speak
of Paris to me. Is there any place like it on earth?”

Clym Yeobright, on the other hand, is relentless and self-centered man who ‘had been so inwoven with
the heath in his boyhood that hardly anybody could look upon it without thinking of him’. Indeed, it
should be noted that Clym is the returning native of the heath, while Eustacia is a complete alien on the
heath, making her entrapment upon it even more poignant. Her belief that she will be able to convince
Clym to return to Paris after they are married is another part of her downfall; she has too much faith in her
own power There is a fatal incompatibility between the two lovers. Even at the moment  when she  and
Clym decide to marry, she gazes toward the eclipsed moon and warns,
“See how our time is slipping, slipping, slipping!” 
She confides to her lover the deep fear that their love will not last. All her fears come true.
Within two months of their marriage, Eustacia’s vision of Clym is changed utterly; he is a fallen idol; far
from being the Promethean lover her idealising vision had made of him; he is ‘merely’ a furze-cutter, and
seeing him as such she feels degraded. In addition, her  renewed interest in Wildeve further drives
Eustacia away from Clym. The death of Mrs. Yeobright is a turning point in their relationship. When
Clym learns the real cause of Mrs. Yeobright’s death, he becomes angrily upset and rushes home to
confront Eustacia. He storms in on Eustacia. He screams at her and calls her a whore and a murderess.
Eustacia exits Clym’s house in anger and despair. Eustacia, then decides to elope with Wildeve in order to
fulfill her long cherished dream of Paris. On the night of her elopement, weather assumes a menacing
shape, and Eustacia seems to drown herself alongwith Wildeve. Thus the most incompatible relationship
Clym and Eusacia comes to an end. Eustacia met her tragic death leaving behind agonized Clym  who
turns himself into a preacher in order to console her depressed soul.
Clym-Eustacia relationship can also be understood in the light of Eustacia-Wildeve relationship. She
seems to be torn between her love for Clym and love for Wildeve. She oscillates back and forth   in her
love affairs. The incongruency of the Clym-Eustacia relationship is also  illustrated by their different
attitudes toward Egdon Heath. Clym loves Egdon Heath as much as Eustacia hates it. He is the  ‘native' of
the soil and very object appears to him friendly. Eustacia detests the heath, and her words later ring eerily
true when she says of the heath that “’tis my cross, my shame, and will be my death!”
Q.5 Analyze Hardy's use of foreshadowing in the plot of the novel. For instance, how
does he handle the foreshadowing of Clym's eventual estrangement from his mother?
Q.6 Analyze the way Hardy describes the physical setting of his novel, Egdon Heath.
Look especially at the way in which he has Clym observe its natural features
One of the most prominent figures in Hardy’s The Return of the Native is not a human character, but the
physical landmark- Egdon Heath. The heath's central role is obvious from the beginning. The novel opens
with an extensive description of the heath at dusk. Hardy begins by saying: “A Saturday afternoon in
November was approaching the time of twilight, and the vast tract of unenclosed wild known as Egdon
Heath embrowned itself moment by moment”. Even though the main story focuses on the relationships
between Eustacia Vye, Clym Yeobright, Wildeve and Thomasin, the Heath is the central figure. Many of
the events occur on or around Egdon Heath, and equally as important- all of the characters have their own
special relationship with the heath.It is  “A Face on which Time makes but little Impression”. The nature
of human beings is fleeting and insignificance as compared to the permanence of the heath. Avrom
Fleishman in "The Buried Giant of Egdon Heath" regards Egdon Heath as a figure "in both narrative
senses of 'figure,' as a person and as a trope". Hardy says:

         “The heath becomes full of watchful intentness. When other things sank brooding to sleep, the
Heath appeared slowly to awake and listen”

       The Return of the Native has been called “The Book of Egdon Heath”. Hardy does an award-
winning job at extensively describing Egdon heath for his readers. He even brings the heath alive:  “The
somber stretch of rounds and hollows seemed to rise and meet the evening gloom in pure sympathy,
the heath exhaling darkness as rapidly as the heavens precipitated it.” The heath proves physically and
psychologically important throughout the novel: characters are defined by their relation to the heath, and
the weather patterns of the heath. Indeed, it almost seems as if the characters are formed by the heath
itself: Diggory Venn, red from head to toe, is an actual embodiment of the muddy earth; Eustacia Vye
seems to spring directly from the Heath, a part of Rainbarrow itself, when she is first introduced;
Wildeve's name might just as well refer to the wind-whipped heath itself. But, importantly, the Heath
manages to defy definition. It is, in chapter one, "a place perfectly accordant with man's nature." The
narrator's descriptions of the Heath vary widely throughout the novel, ranging from the sublime to the
gothic.
       Hardy’s description of the Heath has “a symbolic overtone with philosophy”. “It had a lonely face
suggesting tragical possibilities” It neither ghastly, not hateful, common place, tame, but it is like man
slighted and enduring.  Egdon is the premier and most extended instance of Hardy’s habitual
personification of Nature. Hardy himself lived on the fringes of Egdon Heath and was perfectly with this
environment. In no other novel of his does background come up as lively and breathing as The Return of
the Native.
 “Egdon is a protagonist of Return of the Native”, says Walter Allen. Egdon influences all the
characters moving them to love or hate, to despair or to the philosophic mind and they are described in
relation to their environment. When Clym moves out of his mother’s house, the fir and beech trees are
described to be “suffering more demage than during the highest winds of winter … the wasting sap
would bleed for many days to come”. The two most resistatant characters to the Heath are clearly
Eustacia and Wildeve; their intense disgust is revealed in their conversation: “You hate the Heath as
much as ever; that I know”, “I do … ‘Tis my cross, my misery, and will be my death.” It is ironic when
Eustacia says that she is setting for  his fatal journey. We also get an insight to the way Eustacia is feeling
through the storm when Hardy says, “Never was harmony more perfect than that between the chaos of
her mind and the chaos of the world without.” Hardy describes her as “the raw material of a
divinity” whose “celestial imperiousness, love, wrath, and fervour had proved to be somewhat thrown
away on netherward Egdon.”
        Clym, unlike, Eustacia, is the product of Egdon and its shaggy hills are friendly and congenial to
him. Heath swallows him up and absorbs him into its furze and other creatures. The way Hardy describes
Clym when he is out on the Heath working is like something from Snow Wight, with “Amber coloured
butterflies” and the“Emerald-green grasshoppers.”  If Clym is the child of heath, Eustacia is haunted by
the heath, the reddleman haunts the heath. He knows every nook and corner of heath.   The heath does
irreparable damage to Mrs. Yeobright and kills her. Thomasin thinks it an impersonal open ground. She
calls it “a ridiculous old place.” But confesses that she could live nowhere else.
 At the very last, Egdon is shown to be inhospitable to man, as remarks D.H. Lawrence:  “Egdon whose
dark soil was strong and crude and organic as the body of a beast”. The dark-spirit of nature seems to
be ready to engulf the whole scenario.
 When human figures do finally appear, they seem insignificant against the backdrop of the indifferent,
ruthless, Egdon Heath. Many times during the course of the story, for instance, Clym will be shown to
appear like a tiny insect moving across the face of nature. These elements—the heath as a setting and a
symbol, and the way the main characters are shown in relation to their surroundings—demonstrate
Hardy’s theme:
  “Man lives his life in a universe that is at least indifferent to him and may be hostile."

Q.7 Analyze the way Hardy presents the heath dwellers in the novel, The Return of the
Native.

Clym is seen by the heath dwellers as a rather special person not only because of his unusual reputation as
a boy but also because of his position in the diamond business in far-off Paris. Therefore, when he tells
the group at the haircutting at Fairway's that he has come home to make himself into a schoolteacher, they
do not believe him. Mrs. Yeobright does not believe him either, but in her case it is because she does not
want to. The conversation between them in which he tries to explain why he is giving up his job is
interrupted by Christian Cantle, who relates the tale of Eustacia's being pricked in the arm with a stocking
needle by Susan Nunsuch. This is a revenge Susan planned because she is convinced that Eustacia has
bewitched her children.

Later, Clym questions Sam about Eustacia, wondering if she is the young woman who was disguised as a
mummer at this mother's party. Sam suggests Clym can see Eustacia by coming to join several of the men
who are trying to retrieve the bucket from Captain Vye's well.

It is appropriate that it should be Christian who reports the incident in church. He is the perfect barometer
of the heath folk's superstitions. Earlier in the novel, he has been troubled by a discussion of ghosts and
especially by the report of the appearance of a red ghost. He describes Susan's attack on Eustacia as if he
believes witchcraft is a real concern.
Hardy makes particularly effective use of the "chorus" of villagers at the haircutting outside Fairway's
house. To them Clym first reveals his plan for remaining on Egdon Heath to become "a schoolmaster to
the poor and ignorant." Though he is said to be a "product" of the heath, his aspirations are beyond their
understanding, and his values are not theirs. Hardy says of him "that in striving at high thinking he still
[cleaves] to plain living," an aspect of him that they are unable to square with his career in Paris in the
diamond trade. The haircutting scene humorously reveals the inability of the heath people to understand
or even to take Clym's plan seriously. They take in the wrong way all of his remarks about his life in Paris
and cannot make out why such a conspicuous success as Clym should want to return to the heath to do
anything.

Mrs. Yeobright's repeated concern over the possible "stain" on Thomasin's character because of the
mishap in her first attempt to marry Wildeve reveals much about the kind of woman Clym's mother is.
Community opinion is important to her, though she is looked upon by others and herself acts as an
"aristocrat" of the area. She is also inflexible in her view of life and in distinguishing right from wrong. It
is not surprising, then, that she should be unable either to understand or to approve of her son's idea of
becoming a schoolteacher. She goes so far as to say that he is something less than a man for not showing
ordinary ambition. She is intelligent enough, but her mind is restricted to a narrow view. She is a good
deal less pliable in what she can accept than even the heath dwellers. She is the kind of mother who lives
too much through her own child's life. A sharp clash of opinion between her and her son over his career
and other matters seems inevitable.

Q.8 Naturalism in Hardy’s narrative technique

Expressing truly, Thomas Hardy is neither a true naturalist in the strict French sense of neither the term,
nor a true realist in strict Victorian sense. His comparatively modern mind under a Victorian exterior
makes Hardy follow a middle course. He is not too conservative to throw off bias Victorian background
completely, nor is he radical enough to go wholly by his modern sensibility. It seems that he is a realist in
so far as he is a Victorian and a naturalist in so far as he is a post Victorian. But whether he is Victorian nr
not, Hardy's realism and naturalism, far from acting in rivalry or producing any duality, seem to cooperate
and coalesce to produce the same end, the end toeing the futility of human endeavor; and this
combination, again, is significant in that it gives rise to a peculiar modern note in him. For, Charles
Morgan (1961:62) says that "a predominant modern note is one of futility and vertigo.
As a realist, Hardy is made to see into the "heart of a thing", and to reproduce what he sees by means of
his imaginative reason. This has reference to Hardy's note book of January, (1881:2). And what he
reproduces by virtue of his imaginative reason is invariably human predicament.
As a naturalist, Hardy seems to move from cause to effect, showing the gradual disintegration of the hero
or heroine who is the victim of multiple circumstances and is led to his or her tragic destiny. Thus,
whether Hardy is Victorian or post-Victorian, realist or naturalist, a deep tragic sensibility is the central
that everywhere. Realism and naturalism sees to overlap in him. However, in the context of his
modernism, it is important to look upon him more as a naturalist than as a realist. So, naturalism gives not
merely a sense of loss and alienation but also a sense of revolt, the two elements of modernism mentioned
by Stephen Spender (1974:119).
The features of naturalism discernible in Hardy includes the predominance of heredity and environment; a
causal sequence of narrative assertion; rigid deterministic plot; characters with strong animal drives;
unpleasant and often uncongenial settings; the reduction of the protagonist into a pawn of multiple
compulsions, and the inevitability of his misery, suffering and annihilation. Some other features of
probable naturalistic origin are faithful posture of the primitive corner of England; the state of social
transition from the old method to the new method of production; and the expression of comparatively
radical view are also available in the Wessex novels.
Both heredity and environment have been given a prominent role in the Wessex novels in general and in
the major Wessex novels in particular. Hardy seems to have been fascinated by the idea of heredity and
environment in as much as acting and reacting on each other, they provide the staple of tragedy in the
lives of Hardy’s protagonists. Heredity gives them a character which make them a total misfit in the
environment in which they are placed, while acme ethers are forcibly fitted into their environments,
though not without the attendant pain and hardships of fighting a lost battle.
The first group comprises such figures as Eustacia, Wildeve, Henehard, Giles, Tees, Jude and Sue, while
the second group include Qathsheba, Oak, Cly Yeobright, Thomasin, Venn, Elizabeth, Grace and Dr,
Fitzpiers, The unwelcome and painful interaction of heredity and environment leads Hardy’s men and
women to smart under a sense of loss ; they are made alienated and they at times break into rebellion.
A common charge against Hardy is that his novels abound in chance events, accidents or coincidences.
No doubt, of chances, accidents or co-incidences occur frequently in Hardy, but we need not take a very
serious view of them for a number of reasons; life itself is not free from such irony of circumstances;
Hardy’s chances or accidents do not put too much strain on our credulity; and they are bound to serve to
some extent the Hardlan thesis of the omnipotence of the malevolent destiny. Again, a close study of the
Wessex novels is bound to give us the impression of a causal sequence of narrative assertion instead of
the dominance of mere chances, accidents or coincidences.
Nothing appears to have been forced, and the various incidents are bound together by cause-and-effect
relation incident arises from another which appears to be its cause and leads to another which appears to
be its effect, Duffin rightly observes! His coincidences are not forced they are always explicable, and
sometime not!
In the exposition of every novel, Hardy prepares our reception of an introduction to the main characters.
In the development of action, the central characters are found engaged in an unending struggle with their
destiny or with forces beyond their control, and gradually the climax is reached. In the denouement, the
fall of the hero or the heroine is found complete, being the logical outcome of earlier events or the natural
consequence of earlier causes. Hardy, as a naturalist, seems to apply the principle of science to literature
to demonstrate that every event must have a cause, and that nothing comes out of nothing. Hardy’s
prominent men and women are slighted, blighted and injured by their respective circumstances. They are
given to suffer a sense of loss and alienation, and it naturally inspires in them a rebellion much to the
distaste and disapproval of the time they belong to. Since Hardy tends to follow the causal sequence of
narrative assertion, his plot is naturally deterministic, if not rigidly deterministic. Hardy's prominent men
and women are often incapable of adjustment to their respective situation due not only to their heredity
and environment but also to their fatal interaction. They can throw off neither their heredity nor their
environment; nor can they stop the unpleasant interaction of their heredity and environment. Eustacia,
Wildeve, Henchard, Tess, Jude and Sue are perhaps the best examples of this scheme and condition of
life. Theirs is a life lived in long drawn misery, agony, frustration, anxiety ending in death. Their infinite
sufferings give them the dimension of a tragic world in which they can only taste the bitterness of a
comparatively modern sense of loss, alienation and revolt. To present such a sad and somber theme as
this, the plot cannot but deterministic and tragic.
Further, Hardy's prominent men and women are a pawn to multiple compulsions, and in consequence
most of them are either dome to death or those who finally survive are left with a broken heart. In Far
From the Madding Crowd. Sergeant Troy entices Fanny Robin, forces upon the innocent maiden the
motherhood of an illegitimate child, but ultimately abandons her and marries Bathsheba. But immediately
after Fanny's death, Troy suffers from a mental remorse which is too deep to be easily overcome and in
consequence he deserts Qathsheba for a number of years.
The Wessex novels in general and the Mayer of Casterbridae, the Woodland era Teas of the D’
Urabervllles and Jude the Qbseure in particular record, among other things, the state of transition in
society from backward forms of production to modem ones. These novels chart the changes and disorders
in the Southern English Communities, owing to severe economic disturbances in the agricultural and
economic life of the English people in general. They explore a related dislocation of human values,
resulting from the introduction of new forms of commerce, as well as the disordering of human attitudes
promoted by the gradual introduction of the modern forms of occupation. According to Raymond
Williams (1974:82), the slow gradation of classes is characteristic of capitalism anywhere, and of rural
capitalism very clearly even before Hardy's birth, rural capitalism began to be developed, and during his
life time. It assumed a distinct form to introduce new forms of occupation in replacement of the age-old
occupations of the rural society.
Their general tenor reflects the predicament and the gradual destruction of the agricultural community of
Southern England under the pressure of these powerful economic forces. The facts of the Wessex
agricultural society presented by Hardy may be stem, sometimes bewildering, but are nevertheless faithful
and accurate.