Two Kinds of Being in the Wessex Novels of Thomas Hardy

Martin Char1.c:~Hallett B.A., University Wales, 1166 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN P~~~TIALFULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREI\/LENTS FO li THE DEGREE OF in the Depn rt tncnt 0 f Engli sll SIhlON FRASEI< IJNIVERSITY I , ' APPROVAL Name: Degree: Master of Arts Title of Thesis: Impressicn or Conviction : Two Kinds of Being in the Wcssex Novels of Thomas Hardy Examining Committee: (Michael Steig) Senior Supervisor (Mason Harris) Examining Committee (Jerald Zaslove) Examining Committee ( (Edwal d ~ibson) ' External Examiner Assistant Profeb -0 ,.or Department of Geography ABSTRACT Throughout the Wes sex. novels there is a profound pys chological divison between rural characters on the -one hand, and urban characters on the other. The difference is one between j.nvolvement and detachment; the rural character is basically a part of the natural world in which he lives, and therefore evinces an instinctive sense of belonging, a confident security that comes of existing within an age.-o1.d pattern. The urban character, torn up by the roots from his rural origins, has been forced to develop the means to combat the sense of aloneness that accompanies self- awareness - 2nd therefore herhas acquj-red the power of Reason. Urban man has developed the capacity to detach himself from the situztion, to analyse it as an extension of his ovm self, and then to act according to his rational conclusions. His reason clearly affords hiim a psychological superiority over rural man, who is incapablc of separating himself froni his cxpcricnce. Urban (rational) man is able to perceive alternative courses of action that cor~stantlyallow him to choose whatever appears the most advantageous; detached from hS s surroundings, he can often manipnl-ate rural folk and their customs to suit his own selfish ends, since the latter have no resistance to such exploitatjon. Hardy's own attitude toward this conflict changes markedly as we progress through the novels; at the beginning, there is a powerful feeling of sympathy for rural tradition - we may detect a nostalgic feeling of regret for the passing of a simpler, more primitive way of life. However, the experience of the novels quickly reveals the inadequacies of rural involvement, particularly when challenge is made by urban intruders who pay little heed to the ways of the past. Hardy finds himself torn between the ideal and the real. At first, rural life represents both aspects (in Under the Greenwood Tree and Far-- From---- the Madding Crowd),- but gradually the alienated consciousness of urban man asserts itself, until Hardy is compelled to admit the superior effectiveness of rational thought. Ultimately, urban life is posited as both ideal and real (in Jude- the Obscure- ), but Hardy discovers that illusion prevails here also; man cannot finally escape his own nature. Thus there app'ears to be no escape; there can be no retreat into a more 'natural' instinctive way of life, and yet there appears to be little hope of Reason alone. I TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I Introduction-- 1 CHAPTER IT The Countryside-----.-- in Ascendant i) Under the Greenwood Tree ii) Far From the Madding Crowd iii) The Return of the Native CHAPTER 111 ------The Countryside in-- Descendant- i) The Mayor of Casterbridge ii) The Woodlander s iii) Tess of the dlUrbervilles CHAPTER 1V Conclusion Jude the Obscure CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION "Energy is the only life, and is frorn the body; and reason is the bound or outward circumference of energy-. 1 Energy is eternal delight. Wnl. Blake. "It was unexpended youth, surging up anew after its temporary check, and bringing with it hope, and the invincible instinct towards self-delight. 112 Thomas Hardy. The pace was quickening; out of the philosophjc bias of the Age of Reason had come as logica,l consequence the storm of activity known to us as the Industrial Revolution. The fusion of new with old, of scientific discipline with commercial enterprise, generated resources of hunxm dynamism upon a wholly unforeseen scale; forces that had previonsly been u~lconsciouslydissipated were now channelled and expanded with such effect that within a hundrcd years, the socjal and economic transformation of -gland was almost complete. The imperious advance of industrial innovation affected the very fabric of society, to an extent that we, as members of the Computer Age, may find clifficult to conlprehend. Certainly, we are able to offer intricate analyses of the various changes - economic, social and political - that occurred in the course of the nineteenth century: we can detect patterns, we can construct theories, and further supply the documentation to prove them irrefutable - and yet, when we have said all this, how much have we left unsaid? "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees 3 all things throl narrow chinks of his cavern. '' Ration'al awareness, Blake tells us, is finite; therefore the highest point to which man, in his present state, can aspire is to recog- nize the limitations of his own existence, and then to accept the validity of all existence that is beyond the bound of self. Existential philosophy has revealed the inadequacy of reason as the key to truth, for truth is super-rational; and reason, on the other hand, is no more than a nieang of defining a.ivareness, the tool of alienatinn. Yet reason is not the sole faculty capable of assimilating experience - for as long as the life of the mind is accorded predominant importance in our adjustment to ljving, we run the risk of living apart from oursel.ves. In a society that is gradually . destroyj.ng itself through its blind adherence to the criterion of Reason, 3 the necessity for recognizjng the total freedom of being has never been so peat the desperate need for a new harmony, as Grich Fruimn points - , f out: "What is essential in the existence of man is the fact that he has emerged from the animal kingdom, from instinctive adaptation, that he has transcended nature - although he never leaves it; he is a part of it - and yet once torn away from nature, he cannot return to it; once thrown out of paradise - a state of original oneness with nature - cherubim with flaming swords block his way, if he should try to return. Man can only go forward by developing his reason, by finding a new harmony, a human one, instead of the prehuman harmony which is irretrievably lost And this, as we shall see, is the conflict at the core of Hardy's writing; an awareness that to go back is impossjble, to stand still an J admission of defeat, and yet to go forward leads only to the discovery of further dimensions of alienation. When we turn to the literature of another age, we must strive for the self-awareness that will reveal to us the filter of our own consciousl~css- the tacit assumptions concerning the basjc nature and purpose of life that are manifestly impressed upon us as justification ior the accepted psychological 'norm'. Individual perception depends upon the extent to which we undcrstand, and then accept, these assumptions -. preconceptions which, in various forms, have exerted a powerful influence over man's behaviour since the very dawn of awareness. were seized, and the enthusiasm with which they were utilized (although E the sense of conviction was perhaps a furtller inheritance from the coxfie il t i dent spirit of the eighteenth century. ) Undoubtedly, the bounding I prosperity that accompanied this unparalleled rate of change induced a feeling of arrogant self-suificicncy; alienation was not too high a price to pay for the rewards of material Progress, At the moment when the concept of utilitarianism was accepted as a valid source of meanjng, when terms such as 'value' and 'usefulness' became synonymous, the fundamental separation was complete; man had taken upon himself a new rcle - a role apart, and not within. So far we have touched upon some relevant psychological developments that in fact stretch far wider than the nineteenth century alone; nevertheless, the impact of change upon agricultural England at this time was profound and far-reaching. Although Arnold Kettle is referring specifically to Tess- of the d'Urbervilles,--- his observation is relevant for all the Wessex novels. "The thesis is that in the course of the nineteenth century the disintegrakion of the peasantry - a process which had its roots deep in the past - had reached its final and tragic stage. With the extension of capitalist farming (farm-ing, that is to say, in which the ].andowner farms not for sustenance but for profit and in which the land-worker s become wage-ea.rner s) the old yeoman class of small-holders or peasants, with their traditions of independence and their own native culture, was bound to disappear. The developing forces of history were too strong for them and their way of life. And because that way of life had been proud and deep-rooted its destruction was necessarily painful and tragic. 11 5 f * Ii Only now are we beginning to reap the full harvest of what f . i was sown; only now do we under stand the fear of those who doubted, and refused to accept the optimism of those who judged life in terms of power and wealth and prestige. Thus the metamorphosis of English society wa .s the price paid for man's physical exploitation of his independence; the scientist had shown him he was master of his environ- ment, the priest had assured him that God helps those who help themselves, and therefore a concentration of his own rational efforts was the means to the highest end.

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