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Thomas Hardy - Appunti presi a lezione riguardanti gli aspetti delle opere e della vita di
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Thomas Hardy
LIFE AND WORKS
HARDY’S DETERMINISTIC VIEW
He believes that everything has been preordained and people can’t do anything to change their lives and their destiny. His works are full of considerations about life, death, man and the universe. He considered entering the clergy, but after reading classics and contemporary books, he abandoned his faith in God. After reading Greek tragedies he understood that God was cruel, nature was indifferent and that fate was hostile. Thanks to Charles Darwin’s theory he also denied the existence of God. However, Hardy wasn’t totally pessimistic. He declared that altruism, kindness and the application of sciences are useful for our lives.
THEMES ☻ The difficulty of being alive (most important theme). The place, the environment and the circumstances that surrounded us modify our individual existence. ☻ Nature. It is considered a co-protagonist with the characters. It sets the plan of human growth and decay. ☻ Hardy criticises the most conventional aspects and the hypocrisy of people of that time. ☻ Christianity is no more capable of fulfilling the needs of people.
LANGUAGE AND IMAGINARY The language is detailed and full of symbolism. The characters speak using their social class language. Great importance was given to impressions and to the use of colour.
STYLE He uses a rigorous form and symmetry. He uses the omniscient narrator, who introduces his opinions and point of view.
“TESS OF THE D’UBERVILLES”
PLOT AND SETTINGS
CHARACTERS
- Tess → she’s the main character. She’s clever and beautiful, she’s presented as a victim. In spite of her misfortunes, she has the courage and the force to go on living.
- Alec D’Uberville → he’s rich and thinks that his social status allow him to obtain what he wants, regardless of any morality.
- Angel Clare → he leaves his family because of his modern and liberal ideas. He sees Tess as idealised but when he discovers her past, he becomes dogmatic.
THEME Distorted Victorian morality → moral values change depending on place and time and they are opposed to nature. When Tess discovers to be pregnant, she feels guilty, but according to Hardy this feeling is unnecessary because the people of her village do not ostracised her. She’s accepted as individual and as part of a community. Religion → Hardy considers Christianity as a degradation of primitive spiritual ideas, like sun-worship. We can notice this when, at the end of the novel, Tess is sacrificed at Stonehenge.
APPUNTI
Stonehenge is situated in the Southern England. 5 thousand b. it was used for religious ceremonies. Tess is executed there because she’s sacrificed, just like in the past animals and people were sacrificed. She was a victim of society. She became a killer because she was brought to desperation by Alec and Angel. They both betrayed her. Alec → he raped her, he wanted to get his sexual desires satisfied; Angel → he leaves Tess when she tells him what had happened to her. They both make of Tess an object. Rochester tires to understand Jane’s decisions and feelings, Alec and Angel do not.
JANE She falls in love with her master and fights for her self-respect. She doesn’t pay much attention on the physical contact. Probably she’s as poor as Tess, but she received an education and had the possibility to become a governess. This role gave her a sort of protection. Jane is strong-willed and she wants her voice to be heard. Rochester is in love with her and for this reason, he doesn’t force her to have sex with him. Charlotte wanted to portray strong-willed women and to spread their values. She believed in God.
TESS
She feels embarrassed and she’s completely passive. She doesn’t love him but has to remain with him. All the passage is focused on the physical contact. She becomes Alec’s mistress. She comes from a very low social class and she can’t become a governess. She has nobody to support her economically. She’s much more a victim. This comes from the fact that Hardy had a pessimistic point of view. God didn’t help people. In the passage Tess is weak and she feels inferior because of her role. Alec forces her to have sex with him because he’s her master and feels superior. Hardy describes Tess as a sacrificed victim.
Both women undergo struggles. The two characters let us understand how women were looked at that time. Depending on their role in society, they had different possibilities. The society of that time, like our, was male-incentred.
Thomas Hardy - Appunti presi a lezione riguardanti gli aspetti delle opere e della vita di
Materia: Inglese (Linguistico)
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