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The Theme of Alienation in the Major Novels of Thomas Hardy by Ahinad Elsayyad Ahxaad Abuzeid Thesis Submitted to the Department of English Literature in the University of Glasgow For the Degree of Ph.D. University of Glasgow September 1987 I Acknowledgements It would be impossible to acknowledge, or even perhaps to know, all the intellectual debts one has incurred over the years and in the course of writing this study. I would particularly wish to acknowledge my general indebtedness to the outstanding studies by Jean Brooks, John Holloway, Irving Howe, Hillis Miller and Michael Millgate. But there are three critics whose influence I am particularly conscious of, Philip Drew's chapter in The Meaning of Freedom, Robert Grant's lectures on Hardy and Ian Gregor's The Great Web. These have formed immeasurably my thinking about Hardy and contributed much to whatever value this study may have. I must record my incalculable debts to Dr Robert A.D. Grant, my supervisor, for his advice and encouragement, and for his corrections of numerous errors that my laboriously learnt English could not altogether avoid. I must also record my deep respect and gratitude to Professor Philip Drew who kindly agreed to supervise me temporarily during Dr Grant's sabbatical year. He gave me much of his time, scholarship and expertise. I am happy to take this opportunity to express my thanks to Professor Andrew Hook, Head of the Department of English Literature, for his kindness, help and caring attitude and Mr Robert Cummings for his fine course on sources of research. On a more personal level, I owe a great deal to my parents, brothers and sisters. I am deeply grateful to their blessings and good wishes. II I should like to thank the many friends and colleagues, too many to name individually here. Special thanks are given to Shebi Elkomy for his help and encouragement. I wish to thank the staff of Glasgow University Library, particularly Mary Sillitto, Moira Coley and Jackie Dowd, for their efficiency, friendliness and helpfulness. Finally, this study could not have been made without the loving support, the patience and good humour of my wife. III Contents Page Summary 1 Part One Alienation and Literature Chapter I Alienation Defined 4 Chapter II Alienation in Victorian Literature 32 Part Two Alienation in the Major Novels of Thomas Hardy Chapter III Far from the Madding Crowd 98 Chapter IV The Return of the Native 126 Chapter V The Mayor of Casterbridge 159 Chapter VI The Woodlanders 196 Chapter VII Tess of the D'tJrbervilles 232 Chapter VIII Jude the Obscure 273 Conclusion: Thomas Hardy and Alienation 312 Selected Bibliography 324 Sunuliary The predicament of human isolation and alienation is a pervasive theme that has not been sufficiently studied in Thomas Hardy's fiction. This study investigates the theme of alienation focussing on Hardy's major novels. Although the term 'alienation' is one of the most outstanding features of this age, it is not very clear what it precisely means. The writer has to draw extensively on Hegel, Marx, Fromm and other thinkers to understand the complex ramifications of the term. The numerous connections in which the term has been used are restricted to include only a few meanings and applications among which the most important refers to a disparity between one's society and one's spiritual interests or welfare. The theme of alienation, then, is investigated in representative texts from the wide trajectory of Victorian literature. It is clear that the central intellectual characteristic of the Victorian age is, as Arnold diagnosed it, "the sense of want of correspondence between the forms of modern Europe and its spirit". The increasing difficulty of reconciling historical and spiritual perspectives has become a major theme for Hardy and other late Victorians. Next, each of Hardy's major novels is given a chapter in which the theme of alienation is traced. In Far from the Madding Crowd, Boldwood's neurotic and self-destructive nature makes him obsessed with Bathsheba, and as a result, murders Troy and suffers the isolation of life imprisonment; Fanny Robin's tragic and lonely death, only assisted by a dog, is a flagrant indictment of society. 1 In The Return of the Native, Clym is the earliest prototype in Hardy's fiction of alienated modern man. He returns to Egdon Heath only to live in isolation unable to communicate with the very people whom he thought of as a cure for his alienation. Eustacia has consistently been leading a life of alienation in Egdon Heath which leads to her suicide. In The Mayor of Casterbridge, Henchard's alienation may be more ascribed to his own character, recalling Boldwood, than to incongruity with society. Yet Hardy emphasises the tendency of society towards modernity which Henchard cannot cope with. In The Woodlanders, not only does wild nature fail to be a regenerative and productive force bet also human nature fails to be communicative and assuring. The people of Little Hintock fail to communicate with iry other. The relationship between Marty and Giles is an "obstructed relationship"; Giles dies a sacrificial death, and Marty ends as a wreck in a rare scene hardly credible in a newly emerging world. Fitzpiers and Mrs Charmond, on the other hand, are isolated in the sterile enclosure of their own fantasies. Grace, anticipating Tess and Sue, is torn in a conflict between two worlds, neither of which can happily accommodate her. In Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Tess, after her childhood experiences at Marlott and later at Trantridge, soon discovers how oppressive society is,particularly when she is rejected by Angel, whom she loves and through whom she aspires to fulfil herself. Angel suffers from self-division in his character, and the conflict between received attitudes and advanced ideas leaves him an embodiment of an alienated man hardly able to reconcile the values of two worlds. Jude the Obscure is Hardy's most complete expression of alienation. Jude's alienation is explicitly social and implicitly 2 cosmic, and his failure to identify himself in society constitutes a major theme of the novel. The novel foreshadows the modern themes of failure, frustration, futility, disharmony, isolation, rootlessness, and absurdity as inescapable conditions of life. In conclusion, the theme of alienation in the major novels of Thomas Hardy is a pervasive one. Nevertheless, not all his characters are alienated; however their happy condition, like that of the rustics in Gray's Elegy, is seen to stem from their intellectual limitations. 3 Part • Alienation and Literature Chapter One Alienation Defined Chapter One Alienation Defined Our life nowadays is commonly characterized in terms of "alienation". Reference is constantly made to it in connection with the growth of superficiality in interpersonal relations, the stunting of personal development, the widespread existence of neurotic personality traits, the absence of a sense of meaning in life and the "disappearance" or "death" of God. There is almost no C aspect of contemrary life which has not been discussed in terms of "alienation". Whether or not it is one of the most outstanding features of this age, it would certainly seem to be its watchword. In spite of the term's popularity, few people have a very clear idea of precisely what i& means. "Alienation" is a term which most people understand in terms of their acquaintance with the writings of certain philosophers, psychologists and sociologists whose uses of the term are most significant. It would make no sense to say, "Never mind what Hegel, Marx or Sartre say what they mean by "alienation", I want to know what the term itself means". For it is largely through the influence of these and other recent writers that the term has come to have whatever meaning it has today. Hegel's and Marx's discussions of "alienation" are of considerable significance and they constitute the background of a good deal of the contemporary ideas on "alienation". It seems to a number of contemporary social scientists who have attempted to generalize about the way the term "alienation" functions, that, however different the contexts in which it is employed may be, its various uses still share a number of common features. Arnold Kaufman, for example, offers the following general analysis: 5 "To claim that a person is alienated is to claim that his relation to something else has certain features which result in avoidable discontent or loss of satisfaction" Lewis Feuer suggests that "the word 'alienation' is used to describe the subjective tone of self-destructive experience" and states, "Alienation is used to convey the emotional tone which accompanies any behaviour in which the person is compelled to act self-destructively"2 Kenneth Keniston contends that "Most usages of 'alienation' share the assumption that some relationship or connection that once existe that is 'natural', desirable, or good has been lost." From the linguistic point of view, and long before Hegel and Marx, an important use of "alienation" which goes back to Middle English and has its roots in Latin usage, is in connection with the state of unconsciousness and the loss of one's mental powers. "Alienation" means "withdrawal, loss, or derangement of mental faculties; insanity" (4) . "Alienist" is "one who treats mental diseaSeS,a mental pathologist, a mad-doctor" (5)• Another important use of the term is "to make estranged, to estrange, or turn away the feelings or affections of any one, to convert into an alien or stranger, to make averse or hostile or unwelcome"6. Hegel It is in The Phenomenology of Spirit that Hegel for the first time used the term "alienation" systematically in anything like the special ways in which it is used today.

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