On Hardy’s Naturalism in The Return of the Native

1、ContentsAbstract in EnglishiiAbstract in ChineseiiiI. Introduction11. a Brief Introduction of Thomas Hardy and His Work1B.A Brief Introduction of the Return of the Native31. Importance of Study on Hardys Work the Return of the Native32. Significances to Study Naturalism in the Return of the Native a

2、nd Its Contribution to the Discipline4II. Naturalism6A. Research Status on Hardys Work and Naturalism6B. The Naturalism in the Return of the Native81. The Ideas of American Naturalism82. Its Relation with Tragedy in the Return of the Native9III. Research Procedures and Methods13A. Research Procedure

3、s and Data Collection13B. Research Methods and Data Analysis16IV. Conclusion19Works Cited21Acknowledgments2222I. Introduction Over a century, study on English writer Thomas Hardy and his works has never stopped, and there are an immense number of books about Hardy himself, his ideas, and his literar

4、y works. However, with the passage of time, the focus of the study changes. In recent years, the study on Hardys novels in the world and in China has taken on a new look. Some researchers pay their attention to the tragic effect of Hardys Wessex novels, some analyze the psychological predicament of

5、the characters and indicate the modernism of Hardys works, and some others put emphasis on Nature in his novels. Chinese professor Nie Zhenzhao explains Hardy's novel writing through Darwinism in one of his recently published articles. However, there seems to be no article on systematic research

6、 in Hardy's treatment of Nature in his novels or in Hardys view on Nature and its relation to Darwinism. In the history of English literature, great importance has always been attached to Nature both as a means of artistic expression and as theme. If the study of Nature in English literary works

7、 is done with the combination of some scientific and philosophic ideas like Darwinism, there will be new understanding of the literary works. Hardy and his works are appropriate for this study. So, the author of this paper tries to do some research in this area through the study of Hardy and his nov

8、els.1. a Brief Introduction of Thomas Hardy and His Work Thomas hardy was a famous critical realistic writer in England. He was one of the representatives of the English critical realism novelist, he was also a poet. He is famous for novels of character and environment. His birthplace was in a count

9、ry which named Egdon in the westland; this natural environment formed the main environment in the hardy writes. His father was a stonecutter, but like music, his parents paid more attention on Hardys education. In his childhood，he received the education for theology, but when he grew up, he turned t

10、o learn the literary. After Hardy left school he became a architects apprentice in 1856. And then he went to London to become a post of the building draftsman in 1862. He also took courses in London University. His literature career began with poetry, but due to not have the good fortune to publish

11、it he changed the matter for novel creation. His firs novel was published in 1871, the celebrated work was his fourth novel Far From the Madding Crowd(1874),from then on, he dropped construct industry and devoted to the novel creation. Hardy wrote nearly 20 long novels his life, the most famous nove

12、ls are The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891), Jude the Obscure (1896). His works reflected the changed of social economy, political, moral and tradition when the hypocritical bourgeoisie invaded the countries in England. As a transitional writer, Hardy was both influ

13、enced by both the past and the modern, as a result he is known as intellectually advanced and emotional traditional writer. In his novels on the one hand he showed an apparent nostalgic feeling in his description of the simple and beautiful though primitive rural life, which was gradually declining

14、and disappearing as England marched into an industrial country. He was deeply influenced by Influenced by Darwins The Origin of Species and Spencers The First Principle, he accepted the idea of survival the fittest and believed that mans fate is pre-determinedly tragic, driven by a combined force of

15、 nature both inside and outside. The natural environment is shown as some mysterious supernatural force, which is very powerful.B.A Brief Introduction of the Return of the Native1. Importance of Study on Hardys Work the Return of the NativeThe story of The Return of the Native is a tragic story, beg

16、inning with a vivid description of the gloomy and mysterious setting, Egdon Heath. Then Hardy present us with a picture of the tough struggle between humans race and nature, a conflict between men and their fate, through the clash between Clym Yeobright and Eustacia Vye, who are two major typical vi

17、ctims of this tragic novel. Their opposing souls decide the whole progression of their tragic life and the tragic story.As we know, Hardy's famous works, such as The return of the Native, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, etc. They focus on the conflict between Nature and the social environment. In

18、 The Return of the Native, nature plays an important role. Many scholars put emphasize on Naturalism in Hardy's novels. They analyze works from different perspective. Therefore, The Return of the Native is very worthy of studying. It can help us to have a better understanding of Naturalism.2. Si

19、gnificances to Study Naturalism in the Return of the Native and Its Contribution to the Discipline Naturalistic thinking has a long history, but it has been especially prominent in recent decades, and its influence is felt all across philosophy. This article will look at why and in what ways it is p

20、rominent and will describe some of the most influential versions of naturalism.Therefore, a perspective can be concluded: the naturalism influenced Thomas Hardy's work heavily. Check out the literary experience of Thomas Hardy, the author was famous for "Wessex"novels, and combined the

21、 nature with the plot. The Plot of the novel is in some way in accordance with Nature. The Proceeding of Nature is controlled by the natural law，yet it is prone some accidental change. Therefore，behind Nature there seems to be logical force and a passionate force. The same is with the plot of the no

22、vel. Both human passion and logic play their parts in the development of the plot. Eustacias keen love for an imagined lover (then she only heard of Clym) drives her to risk playing the mummery ;Thomasin, out of convention, is still willing to marry Wildeve in spite of the first unrealized marriage.

23、 Passion and logic more often than not work together. Diiggory Venn succeeds in intruding into the whole story by using tactics，but he does this out of his whole-hearted，deep and persistent love for Thomasin. Mrs Yeobright succeeds in arousing Wildeves jealousy by implying Thomasins another suitor，b

24、ut what makes Wildeve finally man Thomasin is his revenge on Eustacia. Plot is Parallel to Nature in that both are driven by Passionate and logical forces.The rustics on Egdon Heath are narrow and rigid and refuse to change. Therefore, there exists a gap between Egdon Heath and the outside world .Th

25、ere is also a gap between Clym and the rustics, because Clym has been influenced by some new ideas after years of city life at paris. so, though Clym cherishes an inbom and deep love for the land of Egdon Heath and plans to carry out the reunion with the rustics upon his return. let alone civilize t

26、hem .Moreover, Clym is too idealistic and fails to see these two kinds of gaps, and therefore fails to return . Clyms return is a failure because in an evolutionary order it is not Possible to choose to return to an earlier state.In a word，the landscape of Egdon is not just a stage for the tragic st

27、ory But also an agent in the operation of plot. The Plot develops in the way that Nature proceeds，on the whole driven by logic forces and human Passion but Sometimes exposed to accidental changes and even some mysterious power. Hardys status as a distinctly regional writer is probably the most appar

28、ent in The Return of the Native. Egdon Heath is based on Black Heath, which bordered Hardys childhood home in Higher Bockhampton, Dorset. In no other novel is Hardy's Wessex mythology more pronounced. Egdon Heath is truly a microcosm for a Pre-Industrial Englandits inhabitants are socially conse

29、rvative laborers who are attached to the natural landscape in an almost mystical fashion. The communitys livelihood is completely dependent on the landscape itself; they are bound to the capricious Egdon Heath in an eternal struggle for survival.II. Naturalism A. Research Status on Hardys Work and N

30、aturalism Hardy criticizes certain social constraints that hindered the lives of those living in the 19th century. Considered a Victorian Realist writer, Hardy examines the social constraints that are part of the Victorian status, suggesting these rules hinder the lives of all involved and ultimatel

31、y lead to unhappiness. The term Naturalism describes a type of literature that attempts to apply scientific principles of objectivity and detachment to its study of human beings. Unlike realism, which focuses on literary technique, naturalism implies a philosophical position: for naturalistic writer

32、s, since human beings are, in Emile Zola's phrase, human beasts, characters can be studied through their relationships to their surroundings. Zola's 1880 description of this method in Le roman experimental (The Experimental Novel,1880) follows Claude Bernard's medical model and the histo

33、rian Hippolyte Taine's observation that virtue and vice are products like vitriol and sugar -that is, that human beings as products should be studied impartially, without moralizing about their natures. Other influences on American naturalists include Herbert Spencer and Joseph LeConte.Through t

34、his objective study of human beings, naturalistic writers believed that the laws behind the forces that govern human lives might be studied and understood. Naturalistic writers thus used a version of the scientific method to write their novels; they studied human beings governed by their instincts a

35、nd passions as well as the ways in which the characters' lives were governed by forces of heredity and environment. Although they used the techniques of accumulating detail pioneered by the realists, the naturalists thus had a specific object in mind when they chose the segment of reality that t

36、hey wished to convey. The tension involves the theme of the naturalistic novel. The naturalist often describes his characters as though they are conditioned and controlled by environment, heredity, instinct, or chance. But he also suggests a compensating humanistic value in his characters or their f

37、ates which affirms the significance of the individual and of his life. The tension here is that between the naturalist's desire to represent in fiction the new, discomfiting truths which he has found in the ideas and life of his late nineteenth-century world, and also his desire to find some mea

38、ning in experience which reasserts the validity of the human enterprise. The themes of it, first is Walcutt identifies survival, determinism, violence, and taboo as key themes. Second is the "brute within" each individual, composed of strong and often warring emotions: passions, such as lu

39、st, greed, or the desire for dominance or pleasure; and the fight for survival in an amoral, indifferent universe. The conflict in naturalistic novels is often man against nature or man against himself as characters struggle to retain a veneer of civilization despite external pressures that threaten

40、 to release the brute within. Third is Nature as an indifferent force acting on the lives of human beings. The romantic vision of Wordsworth-that nature never did betray the heart that loved her-here becomes Stephen Crane's view in The Open Boat: This tower was a giant, standing with its back to

41、 the plight of the ants. It represented in a degree, to the correspondent, the serenity of nature amid the struggles of the individual-nature in the wind, and nature in the vision of men. She did not seem cruel to him then, or beneficent, or treacherous, or wise. But she was indifferent, flatly indi

42、fferent. Forth is the forces of heredity and environment as they affect-and afflict-individual lives. Fifth is an indifferent, deterministic universe. Naturalistic texts often describe the futile attempts of human beings to exercise free will, often ironically presented, in this universe that reveal

43、s free will as an illusion.B. The Naturalism in the Return of the Native 1. The Ideas of American Naturalism American naturalism was a new and harsher realism, and like realism, it had come from Europe. Naturalism was an outgrowth of Realism that responded to theories in science, psychology, human b

44、ehaviour and social thought current in the late nineteenth century. In the last decade of the nineteenth century, with the development of industry and modem science, intelligent minds began to see that man was no longer a free ethical being in a cold, indifferent and essentially Godless universe. In

45、 this chance world he was both helpless and hopeless. European writers like Emile Zola had already developed this acute social consciousness. They saw man's life as governed by the two forces of heredity and environment, forces absolutely beyond man's control. American naturalism had been sh

46、aped by the war, by the social upheavals that undermined the comforting faith of an earlier age, and by the disturbing teachings of Darwinism. America's literary naturalists dismissed the validity of comforting moral truths. They attempts to achieve extreme objectivity and frankness, presenting

47、characters of low social and economic classes who were determined by their environment and heredity. In presenting the extremes of life, the naturalists sometimes displayed an affinity to the sensationalism of early romanticism, but unlike their romantic predecessors, the naturalists emphasized that

48、 the world was amoral, that men and women had no free will, that lives were controlled by heredity and environment, that the destiny of humanity was misery in life and oblivion in death. The pessimistic and deterministic ideas of naturalism pervaded the works of such American writers as Stephen Cran

49、e, Frank Norris, Jack London and Theodore Dreiser. Although naturalist literature described the world with sometimes brutal realism, it sometimes also aimed at bettering the world through social reform. This combination of grim reality and desire for improvement is typical of America as it moved int

50、o the twentieth century.2. Its Relation with Tragedy in the Return of the Native As one of the master pieces of Tomas Hardy, The Return of the Native is a story of extremes, of all-consuming passions and fierce ambitions, played out in the vast and overwhelming setting of Egdon Heath. It is a traged

51、y of ordinary lives: a family quarrel, romantic entanglements and the desire to escape are the elements which are brought together with a life-shattering intensity. Here, all life is a struggle for existence and the working of an apparently malign fate drives the story with a tragic inevitability. A

52、 foreboding atmosphere dominates most of the novel, and superstition and pagan rites contribute to the sense of the powerful forces which seem hostile to humanity, yet in control of human destiny.Like all of Hardys work, The Return of the Native is passionate and controversial, with themes and sympa

53、thies beyond what a good Victorian would ever admit. A modern and honest novel of chance and choice, faith and infidelities, this dark story asks what is free will and what is fate? What is the true nature of nature, and how do we fit together? Can we fit together?A tragedy set in the barren land of

54、 Edgon Heath. Our heroine, Eustacia, is proud, passionate, cruel, fickle, avaricious, and desperate. She burns every life she touches, never able to find the mad love and exotic world she dreams of. Our supposed hero, Clym, is modest, plain, moral, and dutiful. He is satisfied returning from Paris t

55、o the simple comfort of home.When they come together, the Heath will come apart. Originally released as five books, in classic tragic form, a sixth, tacking on a happy ending, was added by editor and public pressure. The term naturalism describes a type of literature that attempts to apply scientifi

56、c principles of objectivity and detachment to its study of human beings. Unlike realism, which focuses on literary technique, naturalism implies a philosophical position: for naturalistic writers, since human beings are, in Emile Zolas phrase, human beasts,characters can be studied through their rel

57、ationships to their surroundings. (Pfizer)Through the objective study of human beings, naturalistic writers believe that the laws behind the forces that govern human lives might be studied and understood. The author demonstrates more regional mythology in The Return of the Native through an explorat

58、ion of local superstitions. The novel opens and closes on Guy Fawkes Day, a holiday notorious for the collapse of social order and its nearly pagan obsession with fire. One of the most haunting parts of the novel is when Susan Nonesuch, an embittered neighbor, makes a wax fetish doll of Eustacia Vye

59、 and burns it in hopes of causing her death. This instance of voodoo violence illuminates what Hardy saw as an inherently superstitious and paganism aspect of rural culture. Through the exploration of these pagan rituals, the author illustrates how the Wessex peoples profound connection with the natural landscape can potentially encourage them to forsake polite society and Christian values and pursue the dark arts. Indeed, there is an inherent