Clym, the native who returns to Egdon Heath,his birth place is a precocious, highly regarded child who, when a man, leaves his provincial background to make his way in the world. He then gives up worldly success for what he thinks is a more important calling. In short, Hardy’s protagonist is a character who, though still admired locally, is bound to be misunderstood when he chooses to forgo orthodox ideas of vocation.
Eustacia can’t understand why a man who has lived in Paris, the center, to her, of all that is desirable, should choose to return to Egdon. His mother further objects to his desire to marry Eustacia, whom she considers an idle young
woman. In short, from the very first Clym finds opposition to his plan. But he will persist; in fact, Hardy may be indicating that he is more persistent even as he is more strongly opposed.
Vocal in her condemnation of Destiny, Eustacia is an active demonstration of Hardy’s theme in the
novel. Yet, there is something unattractive about her readiness to shift the blame for everything that happens to her. It is difficult to accept whatever rationalization she makes for doing away with herself. It seems somehow unnecessary for a young woman of twenty to throw herself in a stream because she cannot find the ideal mate. Or maybe to say this is to admit to being a modern reader, who usually finds it difficult to believe in a romantic
view of
life.
Wildeve is seen by others as a man who made a good start in life but has come down. The former engineer is now the keeper of the Quiet Woman Inn, an occupation which, in many ways, suits him perfectly. Compared with Mrs. Yeobright or Clym, he is considered to be a person of little consequence. Like Eustacia, he is a hedonist, happier in the company of a woman than he is, perhaps, among men at his inn. Hardy speaks of him as the typical “man of sentiment” always yearning for the remote, “the Rousseau of Egdon.”
In this novel, Hardy embodies the idea that we live in an indifferent
universe. He also implies that the universe can be hostile, but he does not use this novel as a vehicle to remind us that “it’s a jungle out there.” Critics usually refer to Hardy’s themes as fatalistic—a view of life that shows human actions being controlled by an impersonal force, perhaps called Destiny or Fate, which is independent of both humanity and its
gods. The indifference of the universe, therefore, really describes what we see as we look about us or, perhaps, all that we can find when we are unable any longer to believe in the gods we created. If it is said that we are created in God’s image, it may also be argued that we create gods in our own images. The dilemma implied here is, of course, as old as humanity and perpetually without final answer, though historically there have been many attempted answers.
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. For Hardy, chance or coincidence is used as a way of showing his theme on the level of events or plot.
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 the physical and emotional landscapes Hardy wanted to convey to his readers.
Irony is a literary device in which the difference between intention and performance is shown. It is an effect that figures heavily in Hardy’s novel. The theme itself contains irony, because man can never know just what sort of universe he lives in. If a man is convinced, for example, that the gods are indifferent to his aspirations and his life, he may be wrong. Eustacia’s despair may well bee caused by a mistaken view of what life is like. As a consequence, her view of things becomes one of the causes for her despair, though she looks upon it rather as a symptom. To take an extreme case, Hardy himself may have been quite wrong in his way of looking at life. Indeed, any view of humanity in relation to the universe is susceptible of irony.
It is easy to say he has a clumsy
style or an adequate style or an intermittently effective style. A demonstration of some particular aspect of his style is perhaps more useful.