Hardys Philosophy or The Role of Fate in The Return Of The Native

Thomas Hardys novels are always filled with coincidences, chances and unseen
monitoring forces. These powering forces are always seen drawing man towards chaos,
test, melancholy and turmoil. The underline message is always pessimistic in Hardy. Men
try their best but the results are always beyond their powers. Hardy is always posing
questions rather than defining answers. Man is bound to suffer in his novels. We, the
human beings, are helpless creatures in the hands of Fate as flies are to wanton boys in
The Fly. This seems to be Hardys philosophy. The unseen powers of Fate test Man and
after having sucked juice, throw him away on the heap of dirt. It is Fate, the ever
dominating force in Hardy, that is the cause of the tragedy in The Return of the Native.
The Return of the Native is formally conventional, thematically it thrives on doubt
and ambiguity. The book questions moral and ethical truths, implying the superiority of
relative to absolute truth. It is an eminently unreliable novel, peopled with unreliable
characters; even its narrator cannot be trusted. On the whole, Hardy presents unreliable
atmosphere usually not favoring man. In this novel, darkness prevails at the beginning
of the noel. It is also darkness when Eustacia travels from life to death. Hardys message
is pessimistic and Fate is always the destroying force in Hardy. Man is but a helpless
puppet in Fates hands. Even the natural setting is against human beings.
Egdon Heath, which forms the setting for the Return of the Native, is described as
"a place perfectly accordant with man's nature . . . like man, slighted and enduring." The
first "character",Egdon heath proves physically and psychologically important throughout
the novel: characters are defined by their relation to the heath, and the weather patterns of
the heath even reflect the inner dramas of the characters. Indeed, it almost seems as if the
characters are formed by the heath itself: Diggory Venn, red from head to toe, is an actual
embodiment of the muddy earth; Eustacia Vye seems to spring directly from the heath, a
part of Rainbarrow itself, when she is first introduced; Wildeve's name might just as well
refer to the wind-whipped heath itself. The heath seems to be forming fates of all the
characters in the novel.
For Clym, the heath is beautiful; for Eustacia, it is hateful. Most of the key plot
elements in the novel depend upon misconceptions--most notably, Eustacia's failure to
open the door to Mrs. Yeobright, a mistake that leads to the older woman's death--and
mistaken perceptions. Clym's eventual near- blindness reflects a kind of deeper internal
blindness that afflicts all the main characters in the novel: they do not recognize the truth
about each other. Eustacia and Clym misunderstand each other's motives and true
ambitions; Venn remains a mystery; Wildeve deceives Thomasin, Eustacia and Clym. The
characters remain obscure for the reader, too. All of the novel's characters prove
themselves deeply flawed, or--at the very least--of ambiguous motivation. Clym
Yeobright, the novel's intelligent, urbane, generous protagonist, is also, through his
impatience and single-minded jealousy, the cause of the novel's great tragedy. Perhaps the
most ambiguous aspect of the novel is its ending. The novel seems to privilege a bleak
understanding of human nature. Given the tragedy of the double drowning, it seems
impossible that the novel could end happily.
Conclusion: Hardy's whole novel is built upon the theme of the irony of fate. Thus
in this novel too, all the character are at the mercy of Fate. The same is the case with all
his novels. Hardy asserted that "tragedy always underlies comedy." One cannot modify
the will of destiny. In spite of themselves, and their good intentions, the characters in the
novel do not succeed in changing their sorrowful existences. Obviously, fate is in control
in the novel, and it is always a tragic fate at work in an indifferent world. And this is the
philosophy of Hardy.
Notes Created By: Zeeshan Nawaz Bhalli <MA>
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