Thomas Hardy
Mr. Thomas Hardy was born in 1840 at the Upper Bock Hampton near Dorchester where he lived a secluded life being far from the madding crowd. In 1860 he read in King's College in London. There he showed the signs of his future genius works. He studied the modern Gothic architecture under Sir Arthur Bloomfield. Soon he got his recognition as a writer. His prose, poetry, and novels attracted the readers. Most of his writings are on simple village life. The Wessex novels are his masterpieces. The pastoral extravaganza is revealed in "The Well Beloved." And the pastoral romances are best expressed in "Far From the Madding Crowd."
Hardy was not much concerned with the upper aristocratic life. For him it was difficult to portray the character of the upper classes that live the life in an unnatural way. Rather he chose the village folk who were open-minded. So he chose the Wessex as his province both for living and writing. He is both romantic and scientific in his treatment of characters. The overpowering spirit of nature and the shallowness of men and women found its expression in his novels and other writings. Chance plays a great role in his novels. He is rightly called an interpreter of nature of character and of life. His interpretation of nature is to some extent like Wordsworth to whom nature is brooding.
The customary rural ceremonies and merry-makings caught his fancy with landscape and with the historic past. He shows the keenness of perfection in nature. He loves the rustling of the wind, the sea, the woods, the vales, and the rich pastures, the sober hills of his native village and the gloomy vastness of the moors. He is not pagan in his attitude to nature. But some critics described his humour as anthropomorphic. His description of the sheep washing pool strikes us by its minute vividness and also moves us with its intrinsic beauty. Man is inconsequential compared to nature. Nature is a mighty force Hardy has shown how fate plays an important role in life.
Hardy is called a pessimist .He takes a tragic view of life. For him the tragedy of life is the complete and final truth. His outlook on life was a sombre one. In the "Return of the Native," Yeobright saw in life what Hardy himself had seen," the whole creation groaning and travelling in pain .It is very clear to Hardy that life on this planet is meant for sorrow and not happiness. He saw no abiding place for men in this world. We are all subject to careless fate and the imminent will of the Almighty. Sorrow is unavoidable from humanity. Life is nothing but melancholy.
Life is full of betrayal, ironic misfortunes, misunderstandings, conflicts, follies, cruelties, prides and false promises. Men suffer for their uncontrollable desires. He is not optimistic in the sense that "God in His Heaven and all is right in the world." Actually he wants us to endure the pangs of life. He teaches us to be practical and see life as it is without being emotional and unpractical.
Hardy invests the tragic passion with warm kindness that overflows from his heart. It is essentially quiet and tender. It is never uproarious like the humour of Dickens. Neither is it poignant like Thackeray. Hardy's specialty lies in his rustic scenes and manners. He portrays the simple nature of the innocent village folks. They laugh and jest and chaff with each other without a care for the future. They discuss their own weakness very humorously as if they are of one family. Their fun is childish and we enjoy their fun. They have an unconscious type of humour. They have their quaint oddities. Henry Fray, who always spelt his name as H-e-n-e-r-y and thought himself to be an all knowing important person in the world. Joseph Poorgrass was afflicted with the misfortune of blushing always and with other various afflictions.
In order to stop blushing he was placed in the company of girls. But it was in vain. He could not look at his wife due to blushing. Mr. Coggan knew how to do justice to a cup of ale in company with Mr. Clark who was junior to him by twenty years. The conversation of the rustic folks is illuminated with homely wisdom that is born of proximity with nature. It is a sort of breezy innocence that whistles away the serious passions and maxims of the cultured folks. Hardy is so gloomy and grave that, one cannot expect humour of him. But yet it is there.
It is never satirical. He does not make us laugh with the follies and foibles of human life and character .He aims only to make us laugh. Laugh for the sake of laughing. In fact we are made to laugh at the immemorial butts of village life-garrulous, reminiscent old grandfathers, hand-pecked husbands, ludicrous, timid simpletons and the incongruity between the facts of life and on the common ignorant themes. His humour is very much leisurely. There is nothing sharp or slick about it. His humour is very much whimsical. He makes fun out of coffins and funerals .He makes fun with words. A writer who is so simple yet so practical is always loved and respected by all.
All the novels of Thomas Hardy like his plays have plots. The characters reveal themselves and their intentions through dialogue. The novelist himself gives his own view about the particular character and his background. Hardy is a master writer. His flowery language, his description of men and manners are unparallel in the history of the English literature. In his greatest novels, plot and characters are organically connected, as they are in the Spanish masterpiece," Don Quixote".
His stories not merely the stories of the joys and sorrows of human heart, they also testify to some beliefs. Of-course it is argued by some of the critics that Hardy's plots are mechanical. They argue that his characters do not grow as they should. But we cannot hold the same view about the characters like, Gabriel Oak, Bathsheba, Troy, Henchard etc. It is true that his characters are true to this world. We cannot expect magnificent characters as we see in Scott and Shakespeare. His works are not "Art for art's sake". As a novelist he gives us a message. It is the message of the true nature of men and women. He shows us the reflection of the same dynamic energy that pervades this world, which is nothing but the will of the Almighty. We are but toys in the hands of the unforeseen power. This is the only message of Thomas Hardy, the great novelist of the Victorian era.
Original Authors: P.C. Ray
Edit Update Authors: M.A.Harris
Updated On: 23/07/2008
