Hardy’s narrative style makes use of several kinds of imagery, including a number of figures of speech using analogies drawn from the setting of his story. Consider such a sampling as the following: “Eustacia’s journey was at first as vague in direction as that of thistledown in the wind”; “the […]
Read more Critical Essays Style of The Return of the NativeCritical Essays Structure of The Return of the Native
The structure of the novel reaches its logical completion by the end of Book Fifth; Book Sixth is an extension not accounted for by it.
Read more Critical Essays Structure of The Return of the NativeCritical Essays Plot of The Return of the Native
Hardy’s habit of using melodrama in important scenes has also been pointed out. Modern critics and readers tend to complain about this, but Hardy was doing nothing very different from contemporary writers. Compare the melodrama with Hardy’s use of realism, which is effective by today’s standards and still effectively evokes […]
Read more Critical Essays Plot of The Return of the NativeCritical Essays Setting of The Return of the Native
The characters in Hardy’s novel can be grouped by their attitudes toward the heath. Clym, Mrs. Yeobright, Thomasin, and Venn are products of Egdon and understand it: Clym is frequently shown, for instance, to have an intimate knowledge of its natural features; Thomasin, though well off after her husband dies, […]
Read more Critical Essays Setting of The Return of the NativeCritical Essays Point of View of The Return of the Native
Following the example of Henry James, a contemporary of Hardy’s, modern novelists ordinarily use a more restricted point of view, in part because of the greater reality it lends to a work of fiction. Hardy himself was no innovator of fictional techniques.
Read more Critical Essays Point of View of The Return of the NativeCritical Essays Theme of The Return of the Native
Chance and coincidence are two ways in which this seeming indifference expresses itself in our lives. When we say an event has taken place by chance or coincidence, we are simply expressing our own view of the matter; it is simply all we are able to see at the moment. […]
Read more Critical Essays Theme of The Return of the NativeThomas Hardy Biography
He began to write poetry during this time, but none of it was published. His first novel, The Poor Man and the Lady, written in 1867–68, was never published. Although the manuscript did not survive, Hardy used parts of it in other books. His first published novel was Desperate Remedies […]
Read more Thomas Hardy BiographyCharacter Analysis Damon Wildeve
Wildeve himself sometimes complains about his “curse of inflammability” in relation to women, but his personality is impossible to define in isolation. He finds nothing amiss in professing to love both Thomasin and Eustacia at the same time, for different reasons, of course. Unlike Eustacia’s, his feelings are never deep, […]
Read more Character Analysis Damon WildeveCharacter Analysis Thomasin (Tamsin) Yeobright
It is possible to suppose that Hardy added the sixth book only to make things come out right for her; at least, his readers seemed to have demanded it. Her only fault, from her aunt’s point of view, is that she persists in wanting to marry Wildeve even after she […]
Read more Character Analysis Thomasin (Tamsin) YeobrightCharacter Analysis Mrs. Yeobright
Her repeated concern over the slight to Thomasin’s character and the possible offense to her family because of the delay in Thomasin’s marriage to Wildeve says much about her as a person. Appearances and reputation are important to her; she is shocked, for example, by the sight of her son […]
Read more Character Analysis Mrs. Yeobright