Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy Return of the Native Summary. As the novel opens, the wild landscape of Edgon Heath broods alone, save for an old man walking home. The old man, Captain Vye, passes a reddleman, Diggory Venn. Diggory is discreetly transporting a distressed young woman. She is Thomasin Yeobright, humiliated that her wedding to Damon Wildeve was halted due to an issue with the marriage licence in a nearby community. The truth is more complicated, though. Wildeve is still infatuated with his former partner, the passionate and mysterious Eustacia Vye, who lives on the heath by circumstance but wants nothing more than to escape it. She lights a bonfire that evening to draw him to her. The fire attracts only minimal attention, since there are bonfires all along the heath to commemorate November 5th. Wildeve correctly interprets her signal, and meets her. When Diggory learns of their liaison, he plans to intervene on Thomasin’s behalf. He has long loved her, and though she once rejected his proposal because of his lower status, he is dedicated to ensuring her happiness, even with another man. Just as Eustacia’s affection for Wildeve begins to wane, an exciting prospect returns to Egdon. Clym Yeobright is a local man who has made his way in the world as a diamond merchant in Paris. His visit prompts Eustacia to facilitate a meeting between them, which eventually results in a mutual attraction. Eustacia makes her disinterest known to Wildeve, and he finally marries Thomasin. She is disappointed, however, to discover that Clym has rejected his cosmopolitan lifestyle in hopes of founding a school on the heath. Hopeful that she can change his mind, Eustacia agrees to marry him. Clym’s mother, Mrs. Yeobright, disapproves of both Thomasin's and Clym's weddings, and is further irked that her son Clym would refuse to exploit his intelligence and talent away from the heath. She refuses to attend his wedding. Clym's studies in schoolkeeping are so intense that his eyesight fails, and he is forced to take a job as a furze cutter to generate an income. Eustacia is further disappointed in Clym's choice of a low career, and realizes she might never escape the heath. Her feelings for Wildeve are reawakened, however, when she learns that he has inherited a fortune, and plans to travel the world. Wildeve visits the Yeobright house one day, but Clym is asleep. Eustacia is shaken by his visit, and then confused when Mrs. Yeobrght suddenly arrives on her own unannounced visit. Eustacia ignores her knocks, and, believing she has been spurned by her son, Mrs. Yeobright attempts the long journey back to her home, but passes out and dies on the heath from a snakebite. Clym holds first himself, then Eustacia, responsible for Mrs. Yeobright’s death. Spurned by his grief and hatred, Eustacia returns to her grandfather’s house, and Wildeve agrees to help her escape Egdon. She sets an evening for her escape, and does not cancel the plan even when that evening proves to be impossibly stormy. That night, Thomasin, Diggory, Clym and Captain Vye search for the missing couple, but discover only tragedy after Eustacia seems to drown herself and Wildeve dies in the rescue attempt. Clym, too, is wounded in his rescue attempt, but survives. Thomasin initially moves in with Clym and her daughter after the tragedy. Diggory Venn returns as a wealthy and dependable farmer, and she agrees to marry him. Clym never transcends his guilt and shame, and eventually turns to preaching to fill his solitude. The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy. The Victorians were influenced by the Romantic ideals of love, nature and expression of emotion, accentuated by poets such as Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley and John Keats, as well as the Gothic horror stories like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. In these times, the novel was often serialised in magazines, very much in the same way that a television programme is done today, to keep the prospective reader hanging on tenterhooks to the end of the tale. One of the most successful authors of the 19th Century utilised this method to produce a work that encapsulated love, loss, disaster and drama in twelve highly popular instalments. The Novel. Thomas Hardy's The Return of the Native could be described as a Greek tragedy in six Acts. It was first published as a serial in Volume 37 of the magazine Belgravia in 12 monthly instalments, running from January to December 1878 inclusive, and then published as six books in three volumes. It tells the tale of Eustacia Vye, a tempestuous young woman who yearns for passionate love and freedom from the barren confines of Egdon Heath, a wild tract of land in the Dorset countryside. With only her grandfather for company, she finds herself bored with her life and looks for the cure to this in finding the ideal man to spend the rest of her life with, hopefully away from this 'prison'. However, when Damon Wildeve, the only other person out of the inhabitants of the Heath who fits Eustacia's ideals, decides upon marrying the meek Thomasin Yeobright, Eustacia sets her sights on Thomasin's cousin, Clym, who is returning to Egdon Heath from living a lavish lifestyle in Paris as a jeweller. The temptation of rich luxury and escape causes Eustacia to fall hopelessly in love with a man she is yet to see, or know - a fantasy. It sounds fairly cut and dried, but as per usual - all is not well. Clym Yeobright's decision to abandon the Parisian life for teaching, and later, becoming a Heath worker alienates himself from the entire community of Egdon Heath, compared to his rich beginnings. This also damages his relationship with his mother, the elderly and ambitious Mrs Yeobright, Wildeve and Thomasin's marriage and his own ill-fated relationship with the desperate Eustacia. Through unfortunate circumstances - due to the characters' non-consideration of the outcomes - The Return of the Native is a tale that reflects the inability of human nature to change to do the right thing, ending in tragic consequences for all involved. The Characters. Along with clever narrative techniques, another method that Hardy uses for moving the plot of The Return of the Native along is the diversity of the characters in the novel. From all walks of life, they all contribute to the cumulative tragedies as the story unfolds. Eustacia Vye. It is best to let Hardy describe the incredibly deep female protagonist of the novel, with an entire chapter or few devoted to her physical and personal descriptions: In short, Eustacia Vye is a luxurious dark beauty who commands a great deal of respect from the lower classes. The daughter of a foreign bandmaster, she lived in the nearby seaside town of Budmouth as a young child, but the death of both her parents brought her to Egdon Heath to live with her grandfather, the Captain. She is a well-educated woman and considers herself to be a ladylike character, despite her rather dubious parentage (of which Mrs Yeobright continually reminds Clym), her on/off love affair with Wildeve and her peculiar tendency to wander the wilds of Egdon Heath in the middle of the night, as well as cross-dress, causing the rest of the Heath Folk to label her idle and a witch. Seeming to believe that she is competing in I'm A Typical Tragic Literary Character - Get Me Out Of This Unhappy Circumstance! 1 , Eustacia would do anything to get away from Egdon Heath and find love elsewhere. The arrival of Clym Yeobright from sparkling Paris sounds like the right thing - until he decides that he prefers the old Heath life, and Eustacia has to think again when Wildeve, whom she spurned, seems to be coming into a bit of money. Clym Yeobright. Clym Yeobright was a precocious youth, and Mrs Yeobright saw fit to fulfil her ambitions and give her son the best education to ensure that he would live happily ever after. Therefore, with a good job as a jeweller surrounded by finery in the fashion capital of Paris sounded like the right way to go. On the other hand, Clym has other ideas. On his return to Egdon Heath at Christmas, he immediately makes it clear that he is here to stay. His primary intention is to become a schoolmaster and set up a school for the Heath Folk, who he considers to be uneducated due to their 'low' upbringing. His infatuation with Eustacia's looks and curious personality causes a rift between him and his mother, and Thomasin is left to pick up the pieces. As fate would have it, Clym ends up becoming a furze-cutter 2 , now a rather unattractive catch for Eustacia. Unlike her, though, Clym is happy with his circumstances. Mrs Yeobright. As the head of the primary family on Egdon Heath, Mrs Yeobright has the 'lady' status that Eustacia Vye clamours for. The daughter of a curate, the Heath Folk hold her and her family in high regard, and would do anything for her. She spent a lot of time and money on making Clym have the best life that she believes would be the best for him, but naturally, Clym disagrees. Despite her eternal dislike for Eustacia, the two are very similar in character when it comes to talking about Clym. She tries to dissuade him from staying permanently on the Heath, and almost has a fit when she finds that he has become a furze-cutter.