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TOWARD PIN m^ SIECI£ EMANCIPATION: THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDEPENDENCE IN THOMAS HARDY'S WESSEX WOMEN by MARTHA LUAN CARTER BRUN30N, B.S., M.A. A DISSSr.TATION IN ENGLISH Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Technoloc:ical College in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OP PHILOSOPHY Approved AC 90) ACKN j^yLL-roM;- NTS I am deeply Indebted to Dr. Roger L, Brooks for aerving as director of this disserfefitloa and for his con- atant assistance end encouragement over T;he past several yearStt I am also grateful to the other members of my com-» mittee^ Dr» J« T, HcCullen and rr# Jacqueline Collins, for their generous aid anri interest. ii TABL:^ OF CONTENTS Page ACKHOWLED(H^<NTS •«.... ii TVT ONE INTFiODUCTION •.. 1 ?^nT -TWO HAPDY»S WOMEN RiilACT TO SJCIAL CO?^V..IiTIul^S Chapter I Conventional Reaction in uhe Early ^.lovels ••••••••••15 Chapter II Rebels Hevolt. Others Conio/m: The HldfUe Ifovels • • 1^.6 Chapter III A Finer Dividing Line for Con ventions: The Mayor of Caster- bridge and The Woodlanders • . • 35 Chapter IV The New Compounds: teas of the D<Jrbervilles, Jude the oFscurej and The Well-Beloved • • • . • 11? PART TiAih^:: CO'ICLUSION ••••••• •...••• 1U9 BIBLIOG APrlY • • 159 iii PART ONE INTPODUCTI.N Critics, even though they do not consistently inter pret his oharaoterizations, consider among the foremost of Thomas Hardy*s achievements his characterization of women* One does not have to go beyond major critical studies, how ever, to find ample comment on the women as well as to estab lish the general trends of critical thinking* Because Hardy's women will be easier to understand if the drift in Hardy criticism is clear, one is obligated first to review briefly the critical trends tbat have emerged since Hardy began see ing his works through the press in the early 1870»s*^ As difficult as it is to reduce a full-length work or a com prehensive study to a neat formula, usually a point of view emerges from each work* In turn, from an analysis of the Înstead of giving a cumbersome list of authors, works and dates within the text of the chapter, a list that is per haps out of place in the main body of a study limited to Hardy development of the role of independence in the Wessex women, a chronological, annotated bibliography is placed at the end of the study^ It should prove helpful in charting the trends in Hardy scholarships The list is obviously selectl^'e, but includes most of the major studies^ It seems fitting, however to mention in the text more of the recent studies, which may b( leas familiar to Victorian scholars because of the constant flow from the presses of works by sundry present-day autaors and critics^ points of view, one discerns four major views that have per sisted among Hardy scholars as to what Hardy is attempting to do in his novala* Some critics present Hardy as a nostalgic traditional ist who laments the passing of England's agricultural age and all of its folk traditions, the vestiges of which he preserves as a part of his Wessex world where the natural life of the peasant is the only satisfactory and fulfilling way of life* Any intruder in Wessex, aristocrat or foreigner, conflicts with his sturdy peasant* Others conceive of Hardy as a philosopher, pessimistic or even fatalistic in temperament* Hence he is so steeped in nineteenth-century scientism and agnosticism that he envisions no human will free to cope with a mechanistic universe* His characters are not tragic figures but poor puppets in the nands of a malevolent force (some say indifferent force after following the lead of Hardy's inter pretation of the Immanent Will in The Dynasts)• Then othsrs see Hardy as essentially an arcist, an aesthetic and romantic teller of tales who often leans toward the sensational, the grotesque, and the unusual. These critics judge his style as often reminiscent of the ballad makers, the writers of idylls, and the creators of sensational Stuart dramas or of their successors, the Gothic romance&• But these critics emphasize his natural genius as the factor that causes him to tap the universal stream of mythmaking so essential to a classic writ<:r* Finally some see Hardy as a humanist who echoes his own brand of John Stuart Mill's socialism or perhaps Auguste Conpte's positivism, but who possesses neither man's faith in automatic progressive betterment of mankind* Instead he is strongly convinced that man's improved lot will evolve gradually and, then, only if man chooses to determine his destiny by keeping willfully involved in the positive pro cesses of living* Thus man must make his own opportunities for improvement of self and of his fellow man if the oppor tunities do not arise of cheir own accord* The first two views have been the most prevalent among those who wish to read Hardy as a product of his age* In the first instance, he represents one who wishes to escape to the past because the present is too complex and decadent* In the second. Hardy is so overwhelmed by the tempers of Victorian doubters that he sees no hope for deterministic development* But the cricics, who see him as a figure in transition or as an early modern novelist, ordinarily see him in terms of the third or fourth view* Either they emphasize his aestheticisro and artistry, which they see emerging into modern symbolism, surrealism, impressionism, and raythopoeism, or they stress his humanism, which they see emerging into the views of modern sociologists or existentialists* The view of each critic must be granted a hearing; for only slowly has the essential uardy evolved from the warp and woof of his writing* Perhaps Hardy's intense will to know, wnich persisted despite his lack of formal training. explains his striking out in all directions for ideas* His indiscriiainata eclecticism allows him to filter into his unique crucible all ideas and methods that he snatches at in wide reading and in closeness to the contemporary scene* Too, he makes it clear that his intention is that his ideas remain impressions^ upon which his artistry can play* Thjs it is difficult to pin Hardy down to any one philosophic point of view* But beside Hardy's individuality must stand another explanation for the various readings of his works; the critics have judged him accor^îng to the shifts in lit erary points of view that accompany the passing from one literary age to another* His own age is in the hands of the Victorian magazine critic, who is primarily conservative, sensible almost to a fault, and suspicious of radical thinking imagined or real* Such conservative critics ere sensitive to Hardy's open jabs at convention, which they view as his desire to sweep away all orthodoxy or to preoccupy himself with indelicate sex relationships heretofore covered by innuendo*'^ Some of his Êerdy himself insists upon his art as impression not philosophy. See, for example, the preface to Late Lyrics and Earlier (London, 1922) as reprinted in Thomas H^rdy"^ Personal Writings* ed* Harold Orel (Lawrence, Kansas, 1966), PP« 50-38, and Later Years of Thomas Hardy (New York, 1930), p. 217, p. 219^ 3'rtritten in 191U, D^ .!• Lawrence's '*3tudy of I'aomas Hardv" printed in Phoenix; The Posthumous Papers (New York, 1936), pp^ 398-5I6, openly discusses Hardy's preoccupation with sex^ Lawrence, along with Havelock Ellis (1883) and Pier D'Exideuil (1929) handles psycaoloîc^l problems involved in the sexual relationships^ See bibliography^ more sympathetic, contemporary critics are not bothered by the pruderies of the major magazine critics^ Instead they either praise his affinity with the past and spend their time searching out the historical name-places in ^Wessex" and re cording the folklore which he preserved In his novels,^ or they perform the more Important service of placing him in the universal stream of writers who serve humanity and hence produce traditional, at times classic, literature*^ Post-Victorian critics are still inclined to reject the ideas of radical nineteenth-century scientism, socialism, and agnosticism in favor of tradition, orthodoxy, and order* Thus they perpetuate the prejudice against Hardy's radicalism and shade his allusions to nineteenth-century thou^t into Schopenhauer's and von Hartmann's philosophy as well as Ibsen's reading of life in their attempt to explain what they insist is Hardy's pessimistic or fatalistic view of life in the hands of an indifferent will* They see him, as a result, as opposed to the open optimism of most of the radicals that he is supposed to be following as well as to their own inclination toward optimism pnd romanticism*^ The Usee F* Outwin Saxelby (1911), Randall Williams (1921L) and Rith Firor (1931) in the bibliography* ^See Lionel Johnson (1891;), Annie Macdonell (189U), and William Dean Howells (19ol) in the bibliography* ^See Lascelles Abercrombie (1912), Henry Charles Dufil] (1916), Harold Child (1916), Samuel Cla:;2et;t Chew (1921), and Ernest Brennecke (192li, 1925) in the bibliography. critics in the early 1900's have firmly identified Hardy with the pessimists and nave caused that point of view to over shadow any other* Thus Hardy is established as a dark pessimist with an over-concern for unhappiness in individual lives that are controlled by external mechanistic forces* The turning point in Hardy criticism comes when critics begin to re-read Hardy's works, or frankly to read them for the first time Instead of a long line of critical studies* The change is partially a result of the publication in 1928 and 1930 of his edited journals* Altiough they appear

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