CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

(A) DELIMITING THE SCOPE

The purpose of this thesis is to study the novels of

Thomas Hardy(1840-1928)in the context of nineteenth century

(Victorian) philosophy with special reference to the concept

of Evolution of Consciousness. The ambit of Victorian

philosophy, broadly speaking, includes and enfolds various

schools of thought such as Calvinism, evangelicalism,

humanitarianism, positivism, utilitarianism etc. However,

the scope of this thesis is limited only to the concept of

Evolution of Consciousness, and that too as understood mainly

by such Victorian philosophers as Auguste Comte (1798-1857),

Charles Darwin (1809-82) and Herbert Spencer (1820-1903).

The concept of Evolution of Consciousness concerns

the comprehensive process of the growth of man's awareness

relevant to the emotional, intellectual and social life. This

involves continual "knowing, learning and growing", and it is

these cyclic stages that "round out the whole orbit of human
performance".^ In essential terms, evolution of

consciousness inheres a moral phenomenon and has its roots

and rise in the inherent energy oi the individual and hence,

1 Encyclopaedia Dritannica, 7 (Chicago: William Bentor

Publishers, 1969), p.20.
quality of achievement is the main concern. In point of

fact, by evolution of consciousness is meant a

slow and
,2
yradual growth of man's "reason" and "understanding,r in

terms of his comprehensive awareness of the world around.

Broadly speaking, the growth of awareness in an individual

leads to the growth of social consciousness, since social

consciousness is esessentially an individual phenomenon

multiplied. The concept, therefore, constitutes a key to the

process of the efrowth of man's awareness and sentience and a

secret of the evolution of social consciousness. This

individual growth essentially fructifies into cultural and

intellectual advancement of mankind. The concept, thus,

points to the fact that "civilization has moved, is moving

and will continue to move".^

In view of the vast range and sweep of the concept of

Evolution of Consciousness and in order to present a

coherent perspective, it is decided to delimit the thesis to

the ideology of Comte, Darwin and Spencer, and in their

system of ideas also the researcher has considered only those

four points which are common to all and also traceable in >
Hardy's novels. It must be mentioned that though the seeds

2 The Great Ideas: A Syntopicon of Great Books of the

Western Woiffi.:., 2 (Chicago: William Bentor Publishers,
1977{, p.445.
3 Dictionary of the History of Ideas ed. Philip P. Wiener
(New York: Div of Macmillan Publishing Co.,1973),p.637.
 8

of the concept of Evolution of Consciousness are discernible

in almost all of Hardy's novels, but in this study his six

major novels - Far From,the Madding Crowd (1874), The Return

of the Native (1878), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), The

Woodlanders (1887), Tess of^£'Urber-Villes (1891) and Jude

the Obscure (1895) have been selected for detailed analysis

and exemplification.

(B) A ^COMPENDIOUS VIEW OF THE HISTORY OF THE CONCEPT

The concept of Evolution of Consciousness has never

been altogether absent from the world of thought. In fact, it

is traceable to the dawn of civilization. Encyclopaedia

Britannica bears out the assertion that the growth of

sentience in man can be "traced down to the speculation of

, 4
ancient Greece Ionian poet-philosopher Xenophanes

(570-440 D.C.) came right down to this speculation that

"progress depends on man's own efforts, not on the arbitrary

5
gifts of any cultural God". Anaxagoras (500-428 B.C.> and

Sophocles (495-406 B.C.) made significant contribution to

this concept by emphasising the role of human intelligence in

man's emergence from animals. Sophocles declared that "man's

C
achievements are his oi/n". Democritus (470-380 B.C.)

emphasised the idea that man's natural endowment was

4 Encyclopaedia Britannica, 8, 917.

5 Dictionary of The History of Ideas, 3, 625.
6 Sophocles, 'Antigone', The Great Books of The Western World
^Chicago: William Bentor Publishers, 1977),p.41.
 4

malleable and could be reshaped by education and thus?

indirectly added to the concept of Evolution of

Consciousness. Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) contributed

significantly to the same view in as much as he observed that

the phenomenon called man

a gradual forms progress and is
7
"affected by a perfecting principle".

In the Middle Ages, Roger Bacon (1214-94) came

forward v/ith his ingenious idea of the 'Solidarity of the

Sciences' and thus^ proclaimed the idea of progress for the

first time. St. Thomas Acquinas (1225-1274) made ample

contribution to this concept by his declaration:

The World is moving towards its natural summit

which is man who has intellective cognition...
that gathers up into its fold everything that is
knowable. 8

Jean Bodin (1530-1597) and the widely known philosopher of the

modern world Francis Bacon (1561-1626) expressed their views

which directly facilitated the idea of man's intellectual

growth. Again, in the seventeenth century, this concept came

to bo handled by Rene Descartes (1596-1650) who upheld "the

supremacy of reason or intellect" and said that "it grows

with expereinces". ^ Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) further

7 Britannica Perspective, 1 (Chicago: William Bentor Publishe

1968), p.251.
8 Louis Boc^Lolo, Philosophical Anthropology, 1 (Calcutta:
FIRMA KLM Pvt. Ltd. 1984), p.30.
9 The Great Ideas: A Syntopicon of Great Books of the Western
World, 2, 180.
 5

affirmed and strengthened the concept with his pronouncement

that evolution of sentience in man is a continuous process of

learning. Then came John Ray (1627-1705), Robert Hooke

(1635-1703) and Pierre Louis Moreaude Maupertius (1698-1750)

who considered evolution of human consciousness a reality.

Thereafter, the works of Linnaeus (1707-1778) actuated

research along evolutionary lines, which was continued further

by his successors, prominent among whom were Buffon

( 1707-1778) and Lamarch (1774-1829). It was I.amarch who

arrived at a telling conclusion that "evolution is a general

fact embracing every, form of life in a single historical

process".Then came Condorcet (1743-94)who enumerated the

stages of development through which society has passed and

thus, gave a new touch to the concept of Evolution of

Consciousness.

Hereafter, the concept of Evolution of Consciousness

passed into a new phase. Hitherto the concept had been vastly

amorphous, but eventually^ it came to receive systematic

treatment at the hands of thinkers including Jeremy Bentham

(1748-1832), Friedrick Hegel (1770-1831), Saint Simon

(1760-1825), Charles Fourier (1772-1832) and August Comte

(1798-1857). All put together, their primary endeavours

to mould up the concept on general scientific principles and

10 George G. Simpson, The Meaning of Evolution (Calcutta:

Oxford & IBH Co., 1960), p.266.
thereby, "ascertain the direction in which humanity is
moving"!1 Uy and l.artjc, it was AugusteComte who promulgated

that "the development of man— individual and collective

—consists in growing ascendancy of our human attributes over

our animal or purely organic ones, and this is achieved by
the increasing command of the intellect over passion"1^

Comte came to feel concerned about the secret of social

development that he came to see as the multiplication of

individual development and therefore, he made ceaseless

efforts to remould the concept on scientific principles. In

fact, he indisputably did more than any preceding or

contemporary thinker to appropriate the concept by reducing

the social phenomena to invariable natural laws. He

reinterpreted and reco-ordinated all branches of knowledge as

a part of a whole new system and propounded a new law — the

law of three stages (theological, metaphysical and

scientific) — and called it 'sociology'. Thus, Comte came
to be "the first thinker to visualise a general science- of
scoiety”^and devoted himself unflaggingly to the cause of

human betterment. It was Comte's conviction that human

intellect and perception have * "capacity for indefinite
14
extension'. He was mainly concerned to show that in course

of development, intellect and social impulses tend to support

11 J.B. Bury, The Idea of Progress, 3rd ed. (New York, 1955),
p.278.
12 Louis Bogliolo, Philosophical Anthropology, I.p.
13 Henry David Aiken, The Age of Ideology (New York, n.d.)
p.22.
14 Dictionary of the History of Ideas, 3, 642.
 ,* *
7

each other. The altruistic tendencies are invigorated by the

great command which the intellect gives man over his passion

and bestows on him a deeper insight into the need of others.

Comto, thus, gave a new and systematic handling to this yet

vague and chaotic concept of Evolution of Consciousness.

By 1850, the concept of social evolution was a

familiar idea in Europe though it was not yet universally

accepted. People were sceptic of it in the absence of any

verifiable proof. J.B. Bury pertinently highlights that in

terms of development and acceptance , "the hypothesis of...

evolution was in the ' same position as the Copernican

hypothesis in sixteenth century”.^ It was at this stage

that Charles Darwin (1809-1882), a Galileo and a Newton to

the nineteenth century and one of the greatest "heroes of

man’s intellectual progress"}6 significantly contributed to

the great revolution of thought by bringing hypothesis within

the realm of fact. He assembled the whole available evidence

to establish in essence that theworld is a growing concern

rather than a going one. In point of fact, Comte's

sociological theory found its scietnific counterpart in

Darwin's epochal findings embodied in his The Origin of

Species (1859). This magnum opus disproved definitely the

dogmas of fixity of species and assigned real causes for

transformation, superceding the belief in the separate origin

15 J.B. Bury, The Idea of Progress, p.335.

16 Leo J. Henkin , Darwinism in the English Novel (New
York, 1963), p.36.
 of man. Evidently, Darwin's substantiation was simply "the

capstone of the arch built up block by block by century of

17
scientists." Nevertheless^ his books in their essence read

like an answer to many pertinent questions regarding the

very basis of the concept of evolution. It was for this

reason that Arthur . Kenyon Rogers confirmed that the

philosophical outcome of Darwin's scientific doctrine have
simply been "most far-reaching".18 Thus, Darwin's theory

seeped into the warp and woof of thought of the nineteenth

century and paved the way for the general acceptance of the

truth of evolution.

Consequent upon this far-reaching development, social

theorists also came forward and gave Darwin's new emphasis a

more dynamic pattern. Herbert Spencer (1820-1903), the

leader of this new train of scholars, enunciated his

evolutionary philosophy in his essay"The Development

Hypothesis (1952)". Subsequently, his ten-volume Synthetic

Philosophy (1862) gave a new impetus to the already reasoned

out deductions of Comte and Darwin and made him "the prophet

of evolution and progress". 19 He transformed the

philosophical implications of the evolutionary theory "into a

grand synthesis of human knowledge, complete with a

20
cosmology, an ethics, and a politics". Through such a

17 Leo J. Henkin, Darwinism in the English Novel, p.36.

18 A Students History of Philosophy, 3rd ed. (New York:
Macmillan, 1962), p.449.
19 Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2, 202.
20 A Students History of Philosophy, p. 454.
comprehensive generalization, Spencer came, as Arthur Kenyon

Rogers aptly puts, "even more than Darwin... to be regarded

priest". 21 .
as its high He boldly seized upon the more
general implications of the theory whereas Darwin cau^tiously

confined himself to science. In point of fact, Spencer

introduced biological concept of evolution into his social

speculation and thus, gained ascendancy over Darwin.

Specer's classical attempt The Principles of Ethics

(1879-83) stands to highlight the universal truth that there

is an unfailing tie between cause and consequence and that

growth is shaped and conditioned by the vicissitudes of a

blind struggle concerned with the problem of individual in
progressive endeavours. Accordingly, evolution came to be

treated as part of nature's game and it was believed that

social institutions are not made-, on the contrary, theygrow.

To Spencer, evolution proceeded from simple to complex, and

its goal was the growth of individual as a unit of society.

As such, he came to see evolution an a procosG of

individuation. Thus, by linking the idea of social

evolution to the organic evolution, Spencer became the

starting point of all further progress in social sciences.

(C) THE AGE OF HARDY AND THE CONCEPT

No one can keep himself aloof from the cross-currents

of the age he belongs to. It was in this context that Hardy

21 A Students History of Philosophy, p. 454.

 10

came to be influenced by the contemporary concept of

Evolution of Consciousness, v/hich he eventually incorporated

in the ideft of his novels. A sensitive and responsive soul

as Hardy was, he could not wholly dissociate himself from the

impact of the contemporary events.

Hardy appeared on the scene when science and religion

had come into a violent clash and the atmosphere "witnessed a

22
crisis in English intellectual life "* In this context^G.M.

Young rightly observes that "Victorian England was a period

of great upheaval", David Cecil qualifies the Victorian

period as "an age of transition"?4 Tn fact, the industrial

revolution was in the process of destroying the old

acfricultural England. The old ties which had united the

small communities of the past were breaking bit by bit.

Simultaneously t there occur»**«(. a disintegration of ideas in

the realm of religion, society and politics. It was during

this epoch that the concept of evolution made its way to all

fields of human endeavours including literature, art, music

and the history of ideas in general. Consequently the

Victorian world came to be governed by a keenness for a

sharper ethical sensibility and an irresistible itch for

enlarged knowledge. These visualizations were realized

22 VJilliam Rutland, Thomas Hardy: A Study of His Writings and

their Background (New York: Russell & Russell,1962),p.49
(Hereafter this book will appear abbreviated as Thomas
Hardy).
23 G.M.Young, Victorian England: Portrait of an Age (London;
Oxford Univ. Press, 1983), p.l.
24 David Cecil, Hardy the Novelist: an Essay in Criticism,
(London: Constable, 1960), p.20.
 11;

through the far reaching impact of the findings of Auguste

Comte, Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer. The work of this

trio unveiled, more than ever before, the vastness and

inter-relationship of knowledge. Darwin came forward with

his carefully collected and systematically arranged mass of

evidence in support of evolution and hit the nail on the

head. But this evidence was only the capstone of the arch

built up block by block by century of scientists. Darwinian

ideas spread rapidly into the whole intellectual domain. The

social sciences, lor example , became strongly evolutionary.

Facets of human culture came to be investigated in terms of

their ori gi n, rlevel opment, survival and disappearance.

Darwinism excited the interest and frequently the

antipathy of Englishmen of letters such as Tennyson, Samuel:

Butter and Geo yge Bernard Shaw. Above all, it gave

"a
2E
renewed impetus to cosmogonic speculations m philosophy".'

As a resultjvarious systems of metaphysical evolutionism were

constructed after 1859. In fact, evolution became the magic

conception which could solve every cosmic riddle. Thus, as

Rutland comments, at a time when "scientific thoughts and

critical researches were making their early undermining
2g
impact on the foundation of established beliefs", a series of

books by Comte, Darwin, Spencer, Mill and Huxley made a

landmark and troubled alike the men of science, the moralists

25 Dictionary of the History of Ideas, II, 216.

26 William Rutlnd, Thomas Hardy, p.49.
 12

and the theologists. On every side,they raised a hue and cry

of mingled wrath, wonder and admiration.

Towards the middle of the century, not only

Christianity was attacked but all religious and ideal

interpretations of the universe also were struck by a severe

blow by the new ideas. The intellectuals found themselves

"swept upwards from darkness to darkness like a straw on a

torrent".^Comprehensively seen^it is evident that the dream

of enlarged knowledge had come to be realised "through the

revolutionising impact of Comte's positivism, the epochal

findings of DarwinTs evolutionism and the creative synthesis

of Spencer's cosmic progressionism"?8 in 1061, Huxley pub­

lished his book entitled Man's Place in Nature, declaring

that man could not claim any special place in nature and

thus, refuting the popular superstitions. In fact; the

scientific theories regarding man and nature came into the

theological world like a plough into an ant-hill. . The

principle of natural selection was considered by many as

having dealt a fatal blow to the validity of the ideological

argument for the existence of a Supreme Intelligence. Thus, a

general atmosphere of war of Genesis Versus Evolution was

prevailing at the time when Hardy opened his eyes in the

world as a conscious being. In fact, it was the first stage

of flux resulting from the overthrow by science of standards

27 David Cecil, Hardy the Novelist, p.21.

28 Irving Howe, Thomas Hardy (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson,
1968), p.13.
 13

accepted for many generations". These cross-currents of the

age in which Hardy came to maturity got absorbed into his

consciousness and became a part of his creative genius.

Hardy entered upon the threshold of manhood at the

time, when the first publication of the Origin of Species and

a volume of essays entitled Essays and Reviews appeared.F.E.

Hardy testifies to the fact that Hardy read these books

shortly after their publication and that they left an

indelible impact on Hardy who was "seriously considering

30
ordination" at this Lime. Hardy road Comte and was convinced

by his Religion of Humanity in which he found the seeds of

his own hope of the gradual perfection of the world.

Comte's immanentist religion in which a transcendent God was

displaced by Humanity conceived as a single entity advancing
toward perfection became Hardy's gospel and the guiding

canon so much so that Pinion comments that "Hardy’s

31
philosophy is rooted in Comte's positivism

However, this strife-stricken atmosphere brought a

remarkable change in the literary world which was to be the

domain of Hardy. A class of new writers appeared on the

stage to deal with the controversial issues of the day. The

Victorian intellectuals prepared themselves to transform this

new controversy into the matter of fiction. The idea of

evolutionary progress was set forth in a series of

29 William Rutland, Thomas Hardy, p.45.

30 F.E.Ilardy, The Life of Thomas Hardy (London: The Macmillan
i’ress Ltd. 1975), p. 15.(Hereafter this title will appear
dabreviated as Life).
v_R. Pirvi nn . rPhrun a c: . n. 1 1 4
 14

philosophical novels assuming the continuing advance of

modern man and representing him as evolving along moral,

aesthetic and mental lines. Drummond's The Ascent of Man

(1873) "rechristianized Herbert Spencer's

lav/ of altruism,
struggle for racial as well as individual life". 32 Ivi fact the
whole period was deeply influenced by seriousness of thought
and sclf-disciplintof character.

This was the intellectual atmosphere which Hardy

entered as a child and attained maturity ' as an independent

writer. In his remarkable study on the background of Hardy's

thought and ideas, Rutland pertinently comments that this

period of "general intellectual upheaval" of the age

"coincided with the period of Hardy's mental development". 33

In this distracted age of new knowledge and old belief,

collision <>f YUt, I ona.ll Srn .md tltfncli tionnl Christianity, gloom

and despair and in an atmosphere of jumbled ideas of harmony

and progress, it was well-nigh impossible for a reflective

mind like Hardy to remain aloof from these influences.

In fact, Hardy's literary work and ideas belong to

the day and generation in which he was born. Urged by the

modern positivist and scientific philosophy of particularly

Comte , Darwin and Spencer, Hardy came to view that human

welfare depends on the human heart's resources alone.

32 Leo J. Henkin, Darwinism in the English Novel, p.220.

33 VJilliam Rutland, Thomas Hardy, p.45.
Spencer, who carried forward the mid-nineteenth century
belief in progress by extending the principle of evolution

from biology to sociology and ethics, left an indelible

ideological influence on young Hardy. As such, the general

tfct
drift of philosophical speculations ofAage got infilterated

into Hardy's mind and he grew out to be a sensitive and

reflective evolutionist who believed in the growth of human

sentience and awareness. In fact,Hardy immersed himself in

the contemporary philosophic current of evolution as he found

it conducive to the urges of his intellect for the making of

vision of life. In this way Hardy, who was troubled precisely

with the scepticism and maladies of the Victorian era ,

came out to be the true product of his age.

(D) THE LIFE OF HARDY AND THE CONCEPT

With a viev; to further comprehend the process of

gradual growth and maturity of Hardy's concept of Evolution

of Consciousness, it seems essential to have a close peep

into his essential self interacted upon the total set of

significant events and impacts that went a long way in shaping

his creative self, his convictions and concepts.

The earliest most signifient and perennial influence

on young Hardy was that of his mother Jemima Hardy, a woman

of strong character, marked originality and the keenest love

for literature. She motivated Hardy to read Dryden's Virgil,

Johnson's Rasselas and Paul's Virginia when he was barely
eight years of age. Learning was in Hardy's blood and this

perspective is testified by F.E.Hardy that "he was able to

34
read before he could walk". His mother encouraged him to

develop great love for the classics and Bible. From the very
beginning, Hardy, a "precocious child" 35 showed some signs
of grown-up manners in his behaviour. Recounting "some

characteristics of his personality" during childhood, Jemima

Hardy once referred to Hardy's sensitivity and gravity at

about, t ho ago of ton and told that he used to "recite to

himself a lino from Dr. Watts's Hymns "And now another day is

gone"whenever he saw the crimson light of the setting sun.

In fact Hardy's biography provides sufficient anecdotes to

prove that inherently he was very sensitive and

philosophical. That Hardy developed a habit of

introspection and rumination at this tender age is evident '

from his "reflecting on his experiences of the world so far

as he had got " and then wishing "not to grow up".3 7

From the very beginning, Hardy had decided, in the

words of Rutland, that "his destination was to be different

from the members of his family".38 However, even as a child,

he had the inborn conviction that he was born to attain

34 Life, p.15.
35 Life, p.16.
36 Life, p.15.
37 Life, p.16.
38 will iar.i Rutland, Thomas Hardy, p.2.
 17

great heights. It is remarkable that Hardy's was not the

normal education, shaped for utilitarian ends. He never

studied the practical subjects which the son of a mason could

easily put to use. In 185G, he was articled to John Hicks, a

Dorchester architect, who encouraged Hardy to read great

classics in Latin. There, Hardy came in contact with William

Barnes (1801-1886), who left an ever-lasting impact on his

mind. Barnes was the first poet whom Hardy came tO< know

intimately and who proved a ready help to him in solving

"knotty points in dispute" 39 regarding classics and Latin.

He gave Hardy some poetic works of George Crabbe (1754-1832)

to read. These poetic works made "an appeal" to his

"emotions" for which Hardy remained "indebted"4® to George

Crabbe throughout his life. By the time Hardy was sixteen,

he had read Iliad, Aeneid and Greek Testament thoroughly,

which go to prove his extraordinary eagerness for studies and

his unquenchable thirst for knowledge. F.E. Hardy refers . to

"the peculiarity of his inner life" at this stage, calls it

"academic" and writes that he had been living *a triple

existence, unusual for a youngman — a life twisted for

three strands — professional life, the scholar life, and the

rustic life"4.1 in fact, this period of architectural

pupillage is a significant stage in the intellectual

expedition of Hardy's mind. It was here that he came in

39 Life, p.28.
40 William Archer, A Real Conversation (London ;Heimann, >
JOl .
no
 18

contact with Horace Moule (1832-1873) and Hooper Talbort

(1831-1887) who encouraged him to read more and more.

In 1862, Hardy went to London to join a course in

architecture. There, he entered a setting that was

intellectually as stimulating as any he could have found. In

the words of Christopher Walbank, "the architect's office was

a place of lively arguments and discussion,

which much of
contring either on the classics or philosophy or religion".42

These years in London (1862-67) proved to be a turning point

in Hardy's intellectual life. Up to this time, Hardy had

43
been "seriously considering ordination" and wanted to go

to the church as a curate , but his introduction to this new

world of thought awakened him to deep reflection of the fact

that the world is not made but it has evolved slowly and

gradually to the present state. The wave of rapid change in

our cultural history began to seep into his studies and shaped

his ideology. The publication of The Origin of Species in

1859 and Essays and Reviews in 1860 evoked Hardy's vibrant

response and he found himself in a state of intellectual

renaissance.

Benjamin Jowett's article on "Interpretation of

Scripture", which was in the main a piece of textual

criticism, cracked Hardy's belief in Orthodox Christianity.

By and by, Hardy met doubt and scepticism v/hich demanded the

42 Christopher Ualbank; Thomas Hardy (London: Blackie & Sons

Ltd., 1979 ), p.7.
43 Life, p.50.
 lfl

careful evaluation of the old religious doctrines. Ht* fellow

apprentice, Henry Bestow, had lengthy discussions with him on

philosophy and religion. These discussions along with

inherent scepticism helped Hardy come out of the narrow

doctrinal world of traditional Christianity and opened out

before him a wider horizon of evolutionary thought. Darwin's

theory of evolution confirmed Hardy's own evolutionary ideas .

and he became one of'the earliest a'cclaimer44 of The Origin of

Specie:;. A:; a ni.ilfei of fact, the moulding thoughts of

contemporary leading luminaries and the interaction of the

minds of his friends went a long way in shaping Hardy's

creative genius.

The role of Horace Moule in Hardy's intellectual

formation was lasting and decisive. In fact, it was Moule who

encouraged Hardy to discuss modern thoughts and introduced

him to the evolutionary ideas of the contemporary thinkers.

Under Moule's mentorship, Hardy became a serious and regular

reader of the Saturday Review to which Moule contributed

essays and articles on science and religion. He introduced

Hardy to radical, philosophical and theological writings of

mid-nineteenth century, particularly the higher criticism

which had begun to corrode Christian belief, and thus,helped

him mould his intellect. It was Moule who persuaded him to

read Essays and Reviews (1860), a collection of powerful

44 Life, p.153.
polemical studies. It was in his company that Hardy's hungry

intellect began to deduct his own concepts and ideas. The

effect of Horace Moule on Hardy's intellectual formation v/as

so indelible that Irving Hov/e pertinently comments:

Upon Hardy the effect of Horace Moule was to crack,

once and for all, the surface of orthodoxy, thereby
opening him to the harsher batterings of outright
scepticism.45

In fact Horace Moule stirred Hardy's exceptionally powerful

brain by introducing him to Comte's philosophy. He gave

Hardy a copy of Comte's A General View of Positivism

translated by the English positivist, J.H. Bridges.

It was during these years (1862-67) that Hardy

completed his apprenticeship to the advanced scientific

thoughts of the day. He read Darwin, Spencer, Huxley, Mill

and Comte intensively and thus/ came to cultivate an

inquisitive attitude toward God, religion, nature and the

cosmos. It v/as this nev/ly-found interest in scientific

investigations and advance thoughts of the time which got

absorbed into his consciousness and helped him evolve his own

concept of the Evolution of Consciousness. However, Darwin's

evolutionary ideas proved "no less than revolutionary" for

him and he felt "confirmed" 46 in his ov/n viev/s

. that pain and

suffering are woven into the texture of life. As a result

45 Irving Hov/e, Thomas Hardy (London :Weidenfeld & Nicolson,

1968), p.10.
46 Life, p.315.
 21

of these readings, influences and impressions of various

intellectuals among whom Comte, Darwin and Spencer are

outstanding, Hardy's views regarding conventional

Christianity and the origin of man underwent a total change.

Nov; to IIardy; the world was not wielded by God' s love but by

a concept of evolution and it was governed by natural forces

which were neither "moral nor immoral, but unmoral, which

47
neither good nor evil knows". Finally , he came to view

that the higher impulses in man would, in course of time,

lead to the v/orld' s amendment. In fact, Hardy could find the

seeds of his concept x>f Evolution of Consciounsess in

Darwin's evolutionary findings, Comte's altruism and

Spencer's positivism. However, his intensive readings of

these thinkers only strengthened his inherent evolutionary

ideas.

After the death of Horace Moule in September, 1873,

Lesile Stephen took the role of Hardy's guide and mentor.

Robert Gittings aptly evaluates "the guiding intellectual

influence" of Lesile Stephen and comments that Hardy used to

"discuss positive philosophy" with him. F.E. Hardy

confirms Gittings's point by stressing that Lesile Stephen's
"philosophy was to influence his own for many years, indeed
more than that of any other contemporary"?^ Another

significant influence on Hardy's mental-make up was that of

47 Life, p.409.
48 Robert Gittings, The Older Hardy (London: Heimann, 1978),
p.21. ’’
I A 1 A A
George Meredith who, himself, was "a strenuous believer in

the progress of race and the upward march of humanity".

He advised Hardy on the subject of writing novels. He

confirmed Hardy in his hope for the future progress of man and

thus, made an invalvmiable contribution to the shaping of

Hardy's intellect and to the growth of his concept of

Evolution of human Consciousness by adding that the acme of

human evolution results from an aesthetic, mental and

spiritual development.

It is in this context that Hardy's stay in London

proved to be a crucial turning point, a mind-expanding

expedition in more than one way. In 1880, Hardy became the

member of Savile Club where all the literary, scientific and

intellectual luminaries used to assemble. There he came in

clone contact with Prof. Huxley, George Smith, Matthew Arnold,

w
Browing, Tennyson, J.R. Lowell and others. Thus, through
n

this contact with the finest minds of the day, he made a

distinct advance toward achieving a mature vision of life and

finally, came out to be, in the words of Pinion, "an

51
independent thinker". As such, it proved to be the period

of his most rapid intellectual development that eventually

helped prepare him for the venture of creative writing. He

found himself immersed in the ferment of advanced ideas

through his interaction of thoughts with these intellectuals.

50 Leo, J. Henkin, Darwinism in the English Novel, p.189.

51 F.B. Pinion, A Hardy Companion (London: Macmillan,1976),
p. 4.
He emerged out of his intellectual confusion with certitude

as his broad ideas and concepts had taken a definite shape.

It was in London as such that he matured under the shaping

influence of friends, literary personalities and their

revolutionary ideas and shed the circumscribed outlook of a

provincial man. In 1893, when he returned from England for

the second time, he was a man with a clear concept of life

and people It was as such that through well-defined

intellectual stage's, Hardy attained to the status of the

intellectual novelist as he stands today.

(E) THREE THINKERS AND THE CONCEPT

The general curve in the graph of Hardy's

comprehensive growth relevant to the concept of Evolution of

Consciousness was continually affected by the New England

ethos and the various conditioning factors in his life.

Besides that Hardy evolved out of his in-built self, his mind

and method came to be interacted upon by Comte's positivism,

the evolutionary ideology of Darwin and the synthetic

philosophy of Spencer. In order to comprehend the total

phenomena, it seems essential to have a look into the salient

features peculiar to each of the three thinkers — Comte,

Darwin and Spencer.

(T) AUGUSTE COMTE AND THE SALIENT FEATURES OF HIS PHILOSOPHY

It is a matter of record that intellectuals in

 24

England had come into effective touch with Comte's writings,

but Hardy came to be interacted upon by his thought, as F.E.

52
Hardy confirms, only when he "read Comte in 1867". It was

Horace Moulc, an intimate friend and spiritual mentor of

Hardy, who gave him a copy of A General Viev; of Positivism

translated by the English positivist, J.H. Bridges. Mrs.

Hardy highlights the profound impact of Comte's ideas on

Hardy's evolutionary perceptions in his biography and

stresses how some of Comte's expressions "passed into his

53
vocabulary" perceptibly so much that when his first great

novel Far From the Madding Crowd appeared in The Spectator

in 1974, it was immediately taken to be from the mighty pen

of George Eliot. F.E. Hardy gives the reason that "he had
laterly been reading Comte's Positive Philosophy". ^4 Hardy

was deeply influenced by Comte's analysis of the concept of

altruism, which further confirmed his . own melioristic ideas

that the higher impulses of man would, in the course of time,

lead to the world's amendment by bringing about a positive

change in people's attitude. That Hardy acknowledges Comte's

55
positivism as having "the germs of a true system'*^ becomes

clear from his diary note dated 29th November, L.880. For

him, Comte's Positive Philosophy (1853) came to serve as a

compendium of the true lav/s governing the natural functioning

52 Life, P* 146.
53 Life, p. 146.
00
kO

54 Lif e, P-
*

55 Life, p. 146.
of society. As such, his own convictions were confirmed and

strengthened by Comte's ideas that positive system can help

man face the harsh realities of life through sympathetic

attitude and evolved thinking. No doubt, Comte's system was

simply an enlargement of Hardy's own belief concerning the

concept of Evolution of Consciousness, but in as much as he

was significantly impressed by Corate's philosophical

deductions, it seems essential to have a peep into the main

tenets of his doctrine.

(i) LAW OF THREE STAGES"

The process involved in the evolution of individual

consciousness and progress of the world is explained by Comte

by his law of three stages, which he put as "Loi des Trois

Etats". Corate's well-known lav/ of three stages

theological or ficticious, the metaphysical or abstract, and

the positive or scientific — covers the comprehensive

process of human awareness from the vague to the definite.

It means a movement from myopia to vision. In the first

stage, the human mind is gripped with illusions of the self

and. sees the entire phenomena as reflection of personal

pov/er. In the second stage, > he mind abstracts and by

general phenomena, constructs the essence v/orking behind as a

result of which a division arises ^between the heart and the

intellect. In the third stage, the mind submits itself

solely to positive facts and comprehends the particular

only by the actually demostrable conditions. In the final

stage — positive stage •— the mind gives up the vain search

after absolute notions and comes to rely on those facts and

conditions in life which are experimentally verifiable.

These stages testify to the postulate that the knowledge of

the simpler must precede that of the more complex. Man's

innate impulses and restless search for better understanding

and control of the environment has always been the motive

force in leading him from a theological to a metaphysical and

consequently to a positive way of thinking. As such, Comte

holds the conviction that the process of "the progress of the

individual mind is not only an illustration but an indirect

evidence of that of the general mind"^Comte's law concerning

evolution of human mind is broadly positive on comprehensive

human phenomena including much political and social phenomena

in it, yet the most significant factor involved is the human

intellect at the root of which is the individual. All put

together, development of intellect and the evolution of

consciousness point to the stage when the individual realises
"the distinction between theory and practice".57 In essential

terms, Comte shows how humanity evolves higher and higher

through transcendence of its inherent animality, thereby

highlighting the significance of scientific perspective in

56 The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte trans.Harriet

Martineau. (New York: AMS Press, 1853), 1,1.
57 Auguste Comte, System of Positive Polity (New York:
Somerset Press, 1875-77) p.71.
thought and literature.

(2) RETRIBUTION AND THE RISE OF SOCIAL SENSIBILITY

As a systomatizer of sociology, Comte analysed the

complex interactive forces in nature and life and deducted

that every significant occurrence in the social organism is

relative or co-relative. In the process of showing how every

effect is preceded by cause, Comte seeks to establish the

recurrence of positive ' lav/s' and avoids any explanation of

particular facts. In terms of an example, Comte talks, in

broad context, of a system wherein it is natural that

phenomenon A is invariably connected with the phenomenon B.

Through this straight equation, Comte co-relates the human

situation to the universal cause of things. In this regard,

Comte makes a succinct but significant observation in his

Positive Philosophy;

One real business is to analysis accurately the

circumstances of phenomena, and to connect
them by the natural relation of succession
and resemblance. 58

It is significant to note tha t this aspect of Comte1s

philosophy implies an element of ethics and judgement of

value which mean a study in retribution through the

inexorable working of consequences, but the philosopher does

not say it in so many words. In as much as "individual acts

and motives are determined or conditioned by their

58 Auguste Comte, Positive Philosophy, 1,5.

institutional settings"59 and in view of the fact that man's

movement toward harmony is hardly ever in a straight line#

Comte shows how the evolution of consciousness finds effect

through the operation of inevitable checks and balances.

Significantly, Comte’s definition of life as "a continuous

and close adjustment of internal spontaneity with external
fatality" 60 is found to be in full conformity with the

process of retribution and evolution of consciousness.

(3) LIVING FOR OTHERS

Governed by the conviction that society is a closely

woven web whore every thing is inter“dependent, Comte shows

how man is obliged to observe social obligations. Comte's

grand conception of "solidarity’ entails adjustment of the

individual to the community through the keenness to live for

others. As a close corollary to Comte's system, there comes

about a struggle in the individual mind between egoism and

altruism. Before this struggle finds resolution or say

before social feeling (altruism) comes to triumph over

selflove (egoism), the individual is swayed by conflicts.

Through the realisation of his position in the

all-integrating universe and his role in society, the

individual finds harmony with things and persons around and

this leads to his development and eventually ensues the

59 Encyclopaedia Britannica, 6,250.

60 Positive Philosophy, 1,5.
onward movement of society. Through this positive

realisation of the individual, the idea of abstract religion

comes to be replaced by the idea of humanity. In this way,

Comte's social view stands for the same thing as moral

progress. The total situation peculiar to the individual and

relevant to the society is, as Comte points out, "an advance

If
. . . towards 'altruism' and 'rationality'.61 in terms of the

operational part of this systera, there occurs and continues

at once simple and complex organisation of social forces

for the exercise of social functions. In this complex and

self-existing system, individuals participate spontaneously

and thereby, n until in the 1.i 1't* of one and >f the whole. In

fact, Comte shows that comprehensive "progress is the

development of order".62

Comte's philosophy came to be the culmination of

social speculation that had begun with Rousseau's enigmatic

idea of the general will and "the concept of society as a

collective entity which has its own properties and which

over-reaches the purpose and will of its members".63 He

visualized the rise of general interest in the individual

units of the social organism* in this context, he praised
family as the foundation, preparation and pattern for social

life. In point of fact, family, for him, was the link

between the individual and the species that served as an

61 Auguste Comte, Systera of Positive Polity, I, 71.

62 Auguste Comte, System of Positive Polity, II, 152.
63 George H. Sabine, A History of Political Theory (New York:
Holt Rinehart & Uinstone Inc., 1961), 7, 716.
 so

i nfjl.it ul ion whore unfiel f i shnosB was taught as the primary

lesson and which eventually worked as an antidote to egoistic

and narrow-minded tendencies.

(4) CHARACTER IS A CONTINUOUS GROWTH

In as much as Comte's essential thought is rooted in

his recognising the value of history which generalises from

the past the element of progress in civilization, he firmly

believed that the historical processes are revelatory of

human nature. Proceeding* on this broad premise, he further

applies his concept of Positivism as the process of character

assessment. In terms of $n<juiring, Comte suggests that a

close observation and relevant investigation of the general

facts in the life of a person will reveal and aggregate into

a complete picture in retrospect. And thereby, human

character can be objectively assessed only by looking at it

retrospectively. So, a harmonious .whole of a character

implies a union of past and present which put together

constitute history; history v/hich is a timeless present very

much like human character. Man's movement from the

theological to the positive stage through the metaphysical

stage determines the history of humanity. And as the

analysis of this process clearly shov/s that human character

is the child of his past and by implication, the father of

his future life. In this v/ay it becomes evident that

 31

character is a process and an unfolding and since positive

knowledge is the outcome of historical evolution,, a character

can be truly judged only by knowing him positively. This

evaluation must involve every known factor and situation in

his life from the stand point of all its antecedents in its

true poropective.

More than that, a still more logical and accurate

evaluation of character can be made by comprehending the

working of his motives and intentions rather than actions.

Since character is based on organisation and is the result of

all that has gone before, it cannot be judged on the merits

of only one action or stage in its life. So, a proper and

qualitative evaluation of character necessitates the

recognition of the importance of his intentions, feelings and

motives rather than actions. Accordingly, it is not the

committance but the intention which is the sole judge of the

nature of an action. It is only through this evaluative

exercise, as Comte significantly points out, that we can know

. t>4
"the distinction between . . . education and action".

Significantly, it was through such a subtle analysis of the

process of character assessment in its ultimate analysis that
Comte "laid the oasis for social history through his emphasis

on the social conditioning of human actions and motives

64 Auguste Comte, System of Positive Polity, I, 71.

65 Encyclopaedia britannica, 6, 25.

 32

In point of fact/ this process signifies the historical

dialectics involved in character formation and evaluation.

(II) DARWIN AND THE SALIENT FEATURES OF HIS THOUGHT

Besides Comte, the other deep and significant impact on

Hardy's thinking was that of Charles Darwin. Darwin's

postulates further clarified and confirmed Hardy's ideas

regarding evolution and growth of human consciousness. If

Hardy's reading of Comte's Positive Philosophy (1853) was

virtually the first stage of his initiation into evolutionary

philosophy, the second great stage in that regard started

with his keen reading of Darwin's Origin of Species (1859).

The lappearance oi this epochal work was a IrcmondouB event

in the history of thought. As a result of Hardy's reading of

this book, his views found scientific confirmation that it
was not God but the higher and ever-forming impulses and

ideas in man that lead to the betternment of the v/orld. The

comments of C.C.J. Webb bring to the fore the significance of

Darwin's impact on Hardy:

The evolutionary ideas of Darwin proved no

less than revolutionary for Hardy and helped
him feel confirmed in his views. 66

F.E. Hardy testifies that "as a youngman, he had been among

67
the earliest acclaimers" of The Orgin of Species. Hardy

was so much impressed and influenced by Darwin that he

66 C.C.J.Webb, Religious Thoughts in England Since 1850, p.12.

67 T.ifo, p. 153 .
 "attended his funeral in Westminister Abbey" when he died on
April 26, 1882. Like so many young men of the time, this
book became, as Rutland puts it pertinently, "the gospel" ^

of Hardy.

It is not to emphasis that Darwin was a regular

philosopher since he did not draw any philosophical or

sociological inferences but he revolutionized the essential

features of thought by giving it a new direction. For all its

sketchiness The Origin of Species is "one lony aryument"

with its rich wealth of evidence to support the broad

mechanism by which the evolutionary hypothesis worked, and

what is more important, from which certain basic clues can be

gleaned. Further, Darwin detailed his ideas concerning the
more comprehensive and wider application of the principle of

evolution in such of his later works as The Descent of Man

(1871) and Expression of Emotions (1872). Hardy read almost

all of Darwin's books and he drew very deep inferences from

their study as is evident from his diary note dated June,

1909:

The discovery of the lav/ of evolution, which revealed

that all organic creatures are of one family, shifted
the centre of altruism from humanity to the whole
conscious world collectively. 71

68 Life, p.153.
69. William Rutland, Thomas Hardy, p.54.
70 Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, ed. Francis Darwin
(London: 'William Clowes Sons, 1887), I, 103.
71 Life, p.346.
A close analysis of Darwin's observations and arguments
readily yields most of the basic perspectives of his thought

comparable with those of Comte, Spencer and Hardy.

(i) PERFECTION IS AN ENDLESS PROCESS

Basing his argument on the unfailing laws of nature

and proceeding with the promise that the world has arisen

little by little from small beginnings, Darwin pointed to the

inevitability of progress of nature to higher and higher

forms. Deductively, Darwin saw that the cause of evolution

necessarily implied universal struggle for existence and the

survival of the fittest.' This discovery finds mention in his

autobiography as he highlights that "all the corporeal and

mental organs of all beings have

developed been through
natural selection or the survival of the fittest".72 In the

given environment, the filtering process of natural selection

works as a sieve retaining the better organism, which means

after the competition for survival those best adapted to the

environment have the best chance. By implication, Darwin

eylabliuhocl that t hings; in t ho universe are constantly

developing in cultural evolution as they do in biological

evolution. It is in view of the similarity of the process
in this two-fold phenomenon that Greene agrees over the

72 Charles Darwin, Thomas Henry Huxley: Autobiographies,

ed. Gavin de Beer (London: Oxford Univ.Press, 1974),
p. 51.
 35

inevitability of such a pattern in the human situation where

essentially "man is ... a culture beariny, culture-transmitting

animal" 73 Analytically moving on these moorings, Darwin

further proclaimed that perfection is an endless process in

as much as the intellect can develop indefinitely. For this

matter, Darwin looked on society as a laboratory of evolution

where there is incessant development by orderly, progressive

changes in the direction of greater complexity and higher

degree of organisation. Darwin's analysis was hinged on the

law of 'continuity' and naturally therefore, he held that man

progresses through his own intentions in respect of training

and education. Fa i. ring Lon iterates this point through his

comment that "at the human stage man's development is guided

more and more by the purposive action of man himself"7^ The

puLpoulve acl ion in thin context relates to the functioning

of elemental forces which are impelled by the internal

perfecting tendency existing within the human organism. This

process goes on and gradually paves its way to greater and

greater perfection of the human element.

(2) EVALUATION IS A PROCESS OF TRIAL AND ERROR

Vastly comparable with situations in life a continual

struggle for existence goes on in nature. In the cause of

73 J.C.Greene, Darwin and the Modern World View (New York;

1963), p.91.
74 Benjamin Farrington, What Darwin Really Said (London;
Sphere Books, 1966), p.77.
 3G

this struggle, Lhoro occurs the phenomenon of natural

selection and necessarily, the weaker organism which is less

adapted to the environment yets eliminated. Darwin has

clarified this aspect of his analysis in his autobiography

saying that "favourable variations would tend to be preserved

and unfavourable ones to be destroyed and the result of this

would be the formation of new species". At the same time

Darwin clarifies that evolution itself does not necesarily

imply, especially when applied to society, the movement of

man to the chosen target because it is a neutral scientific

conception, analogous either with optimism or with pessimism.

In this context, Burrow has pertinently pointed out that

seen in this light evolution becomes "a great adventure in

what man, product of random mutation ... becomes at least in

part, arbitor of his destiny"7^ Deductively, it become

evident that in this world of struggle natural selection

continues to operate in the stream of life as it flows.
Referring to the free operation of the struggle and its

inevitable consequences, Darwin clarifies that "the action of

natural selection will probably w'. oftener depend on some

of the inhabitants becoming slowly modified: the mutual

relations of many of the other inhabitants being thus

disturbed" ^

7!) The Autobiography of Charles Darwin, ed. Nora Barlow

(London: Collins Clear-Type Press, 1958), p.120.
76 'Introduction1, The Origin of Species, ed. J.W.Burrow
(England: Penguine Books, 1971), p.46.
77 The Origin of Species, Ed. J.VJ.Burrow, pp. 52-53.
 Darwin relies on his conviction that development

occurs through causation leading to effects to eventually

show that evolution implies a series of attempts on the part

of nature to produce more perfect forms. Also through this

theory of natural selection, Darwin accounts for both the

intellectual and the moral progress of the human race. In

this context, he further highlights that ethical behaviour

develops in individuals and evolves in societies. It needs

to be pointed out that natural selection proves to be a

continuous process of trial and error on a gigantic scale.

And thus variation, a progressive factor, forms the basic

prerequisite to evolution. Although the evolutionary forces

operate on individuals, the consequential effects are worked

out within associated groups of individuals and over the cause

of successive generations. Within these dimensions, what is

significant is that evolution in general and of consciousness

in particular is inbred in these mutations.

(3) EVOLUTION AND ADAPTATION

The third feature of Darwinian analysis of the

process of evolution relates to its impact on human psyche

that the living world is a vast and sensitive web of

inter-relations. Nature presents a living example that animal

species survive by adaptability and the operation of this

phenomenon is true incase of human race. Darwin has made an

 38

explicit reference to his conviction in his letter of 1844

addressed to J.D.Hooker that species are not immutable

adding:

I think I have found out the simple way by which 73

species become exquisitely adapted to various ends.

His note-book clearely evinces that human beinys share common

origin with animals and therefore, we are all netted together

naturally. Darwin further clarifies this point in The Origin

of Species:

I ... use the term struggle for existence in a

large and metaphorical sense, including depen­
dence of one beiny on another.79

Darwin's later books including The Descent of Man (1871) and

The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animal (1872; are devoted

to the completion of this aspect of his theory by further

analysing that all organisms which exist or have <■ existed are

blood-related and for that matter, human beings also

necessarily come to cultivate the quality of adaptation

within the social fabric. This phenomemon implies that

"adaptation to environment is one of the most obvious and ...

remarkable qualities of living organisms" in so far as "it

80
sums up nearly the whole result of evolution" And

78 The Life and Letters >f Charles Darwin, ed. Francis Darwin,
II, 23.
79 The Origin of species, ed. J.W. Burrow, p. 116.
80 Richard Swan Lull, Organic Evolution (New York: Macmillan,
1958), p.246.
 adaptation to thin effect in one of the most fundamental

pre-requisites for the evolution and progress of mankind.

Encyclopaedia Britannica refers to such a conviction of

Darwin as it records that "all morality was the result of

evolution and in man, it had been produced not by natural

selection workrfjnpcp on the individual but by the improvement

of social standards, conferring survival values on the social 9

81
units whose members show them".

The process of comprehensive evolution continues till

his sympathies arc so cultivated and widened that he extends

them "not only to other, men but to the humblest living

82
creature". This unceasing process of evolution culminates

in a stage where the social man becomes thoroughly aware of

the conflict between its individual impulses and the demand

of the group. At this stage, man's higher impulses motivate

him to broader adaptation which further results into multiple

progressive sequences. Darwin has referred to this

phenomenon in Descent of Man, saying that in future "there is

no cause to fear that social instinct will grow weaker, and

we may expect that virtpus habits will grow stronger,

83
becoming perhaps fixed by inheritances". In this v/ay, it

becomes evident that Darwin recognised the unity of life and

81 Encyclopaedia Britannica, 7, 84.

82 Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species and The Descent of
Man (New York: Random House Inc, ), p.920.
83 The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex (New
York: Appleton, 1886), pp.133-34.
 40

conducted a scientific analysis of his conviction in an

effort to help mankind realise the unity of life and the

possibilities of brotherhood of man.

(4) EVOLUTION INVOLVES THE PROCESS OF BEING

Still further, the Darwinian spirit that rules the

system of physical evolution is also perceived to be operative

in matter of judging human character. As a matter of fact,

Darwin's effective method of studying the meaning of various

forms and functions of things in relation to their historical

setting places nature virtually under a category of history.

Naturally, in the v/or-ld of continual variations and

transformations, there is a perennial proces in the totality

of which each significant occurrence is connected with the

rest by a series of slight changes. In terms of physical

development, all forms of mutations and variations in each

oryan are to be explained genetically. This form of

explanation qualifies the entirety of development within that

particular juncture that acquires the quality of a temporary
climax. This universal lav; of evolution and growth is

equally applicable to man. Naturally, therefore, the

conclusion of the whole analysis is to use the words of Beer

that "the tilings which exist are as they are because

84
they have become what they are". In this way, the

84 Govin de Beer, 'Preface' The Origin of Species (London,

196.3), |j. XVTTT.
 41

He was also impressed by Spencer's agnosticism) his respect

for natural lav/s and individualism. Spencer's Principle of

Equilibrium deeply analysed in his Synthetic Philosophy

(1862) helped Hardy feel confirmed in his optimistic views

that the events in one man's life are a part of the pattern

in the great web of human actions. This web involving

interaction of events and inter-dependence of human beings

became a remarkable feature of Hardy's concept of life which

he represented in the weft of his novels showing how cause

and effect are linked on an extensive and complex scale in

this universe. Talking about Spencer's impact on Hardy,

Irving Howe clarified significantly that it was Spencer who

"provided the germs of Hardy's later notion about Emergent

QC
Consciousness". In fact, Hardy had imbibed numerous

influences, but, for the introduction of a meaningful insight

into the concept of Evolution of Consciousness, he owed

immensely to the impact of Herbert Spencer. It was Spencer

whose ideas confirmed him in his views that the best way is

to apply the scientific methods of investigation to all the

problems of life. It, therefore, seems essential to have a

peep into Spencer's ideas and modes on the solid strength of

which built a system as he might have built a bridge.

Q5 i h<^ , .ZDipyrhlL.JJiCUukfir/'fr' I i ci . I i.

T' l- -
 42

the historical method becomes a pre-requisite to highlight

the fact of evolutionary distinction which is substantially

the consequence of what has gone before. Going by the

conviction that human beings are governed by complex codes of

behaviour and depending on the conviction that the universe

was not the result of chance, Darwin pointed to the

conclusion that various happenings in relation to man are

also not a chance. In essential terms, history represents a

comprehensive unitary process that evinces how something has

come to be and therefore, no event in the history of man or

the total system around can be treated merely as a record of

separate consequences of events.

(Ill) SPENCER AND THE MAIN FEATURES OF HIS THOUGHT

Herbert Spencer had predilection for the company of

men of intellectual cultivation in different discipline of

life. In his unsagging pursuit of learning, he had widened

his intellectual horizon through his study of Comte's books

on sociology and Darwin's epoch making studies on evolution.

During his stay in London from 1862 to 1867 when he was

completing his apprenticeship to the advanced thoughts of his

time Hardy had the opportunity to read Spencer under the
mentorship of his friend Horace Moule. He was immensely

fascinated by Spencer who had made evolution a universal

solvent by joining hands with Darwin's biological evolution.

 43
(1) EVOLUTION IS A NECESSITY

The first significant aspect of Spencer's cosmology

is rooted in the principle that all things advance from the

simple to the complex. He sees that principle exemplified in

the origin and development of the earth, its flora and fauna,

and finally, in the evolution of society. As early as 1851,

Spencer, the passionate systematizer, had deduced and

declared in his Social Statics (1851) that "progress ... is

86
not an accident but a necessity". Later on in his article

entitled "Progress: Its Law and Cause" (1857), Spencer

enunciated that progress essentially consists in the
metamorphosis of the' hamogeneous into the heterogeneous.
Five years later, Spencer reiterated this very basic truth in

a more sophisticated manner in his First Principles (1862),

highlighting that progress of mankind and evolution of

consciusncss involve "a change from an incoherent homogeneity

to a coherent heterogeneity, accompanying the dissipation of

•
motion and the integration of matter". 87

Spencer continued grinding down and polishing his

concept and further came to maintain that evolution of human

society and for that matter of individual consciousness

covers a phase of "mighty movement towards perfection" to

an indefinite degree. Spencer analysed his concept still

86 Herbert Spencer, Social Statics, (U.S.A.Gregg International,

1970), p.79.
87 Herbert Spencer, First Principles, (London : William
Horgate, 1862),p.291.
 44

further, emphasising that evolution functions in about the

same manner in which "the anthropoid ape grew into the

hemo-sapiens, and in the same way in which the foetus becomes

the philosopher". As a logical deduction of this

hypothesis the controvertible fact emerges that the

fundamental form in which the Absolute manifests itself is

evolution of temporal form as well as of consciousness.

Naturally, therefore, the ultimate development of the ideal

man is logically certain. In this way, this aspect of

Spencer's philosophy inheres the cosmic truth that evolution

of consciusness is a necessity rather than an accident.

(2) CAUSE AND CONSEQUENCE

Spencer further extended his principles of evolution

to ethics by highlighting the universal truth that there is

an unfailing inter-relationship between cause and

consequence. He orients this analysis into the thick of

blind struggle in nature which, equally well, comes into

operation relating to man's problems in relation to society

in the course of his progressive endeavours. When these

endeavours are not marked by co-ordination, equilibrium and

harmony, there occurs pain and suffering. In ultimate

analysis endeavours and their consequences become a matter of

conduct which, according to Spencer, is simply adjustment of

89 Herbert Spencer, Principles of Sociology, I, 414.

acts and ends, and therefore, it is nothing but

non-adaptation which is mainly responsible for

inconveniences, sorrows and m»f feriny. Non-adaptation in any

form is basically against the undeviating laws of nature, and

since nature cannot tolerate any gaps and breaks, it tends to

maintain continuity and ensures progress by the application

of the unalterable and perennial laws of consequence which we

call retribution. This retributive action springs from

causes and manifests itself in the form of consequences.

Consequent upon this pain and suffering, the individual is

moulded into adaptation and the process of rectification

"continues until the adaptation is complete".^ in terms of

this analysis and the procedure involved in growth of human

consciousness, the highest conduct is that which conforms to

improvement.

In terms of requirements and ways of nature, evil and

incompetence yet eliminated continually. Keeping in view the

healthy effects of this exercise of nature in the social

context, Spencer warns against interferance with suffering

for sentimental reasons. In fact, nature remedies all forms

of non-adaptation, incompetence and ignorance by

inconvenience, suffering and death. And in Spencer's system

nature eliminates the unfit and ensures the survival of the

fittest only through its remedial penalty. In this manner

90 Herbert Spencer, Social Statics (U.S.A. 1970), p.60.

 40

suffering and death, to the less adapted organisms come to

ensure a constant improvement in the quality of the human

race. In the light of the understanding of the lav/s of nature

regarding its cause and effect, it becomes evident that

development oi the individual and o£ uocioLy will reach its

natural culmination only when a condition of equilibrium has

been gained.

(3) FROM SELF TO SELFLESSNESS

Another aspect of Spencer's synthetic philosophy

concerns his deduction that society, like the universe, is a

closely woven web where everything is inter-dependent.

Grounding his argument on the natural fact of the mutation of
au
species and on the assumption th^ life is a progressive

adaptation of inner to outer relations, Spencer postulates

that there is a cosmic inter-relationship between human

beings. Through his study of the chaos of phenomena in which

man was born, Spencer perceived the dim outlines of a

gigantic plan in which "everything from the stars to the

embryo, from civilization to the individual, was in progress

of ... interaction, change ... and progress" Spencer

further elaborated his conception of man's movement from self

to selflessness in his epochal book The Study of Sociology

(1873) highlighting that "mutual dependence of parts is

essential for the commencement and advance of individual

91 'Introduction', Spencer, ed. Ann Low Beer (London, 1969),

p. 8.
 47

organization". ' Accordingly, the most perfect life would be

that in which there is complete adaptation between internal

and external relations in respect of social interaction.

This argument becomes all the more convincing when it is seen

that social life,

in its entire historical course, has been
v
the progressive adaptation of man to his natu^l environment .

To illustrate this point, Spencer of fers an analogy-- Just

as the animal organism is a higher unit than the cell, in the

same way, society is a higher unit than an individual man.

The pith of Spencer's argument is that human nature is

subejet to the general lav/ of change which is synonymous with

adaptation and it is in the principle of adaptation that

human happiness is essentially rooted.

All nature including human society exists by virtue

of its cosmic equilibrium which, in its turn, comes about

though coordination of balancing forces. In the social

context, these forces are individuals and the operation of

their selves is in consonance with their internal and

external forces. This brings down the entire issue within

the bounds of conduct. In the over all analysis, conduct is

essentialy an adaptation of life to the ends that intensify

life so as to ensure survival and consequent happiness.

Spencer applied this idea further in The Principles of Ethics

(1879-93), pleading that man should take instinctively to

92 Herbert Spencer, The Study of Sociology, (Michigan:

Ann Arbor Paperback, 1961), p.368.
altruism, fashion his life in consonance with his
MUfi'cnnul i inj!i tiiul contribute to the completeness of life in

fellowman.

(4) CHARACTER AS CULTURAL HISTORY

As an evolutionist who deduced principles through

anthropological and sociological investigations, Spencer

introduced evolution as another version of his philosophy of

cultural history. He used the concept of cultural history

as a measure of historical investigation and applied it to

character study. Cultural history in this regard becomes a

timeless present and as the master conception which

interconnects the past and the present and shows how

cumulative development takes place. In view of the long

evolutionary past of man and in the light of fundamental law

of change, Spencer deduced that character too develops and

since the phenomenon involves a dialectical process, it

cannot remain static. In his Social Statics, Spencer has at

once generalised and particularised the fundamental law of

change in respect of character formation and its evaluation:

Nature in its infinite complexity is ever growing

to new development ... (man) also obeys the law of
indefinite variation. His circumstances are ever
altering; and he is ever adapting himself to them.

In as much as character is a timeless present and has

evolved and is evolving, it must be studied retrospectively

93 Herbert Spencer, Social Statics (U.S.a. 1970), p.33.

 49

in order to make an objective asse§ment. As such, Spencer

contended that for a true assessment of character, conduct

must be comprehended as a whole. He insists on a

comprehensive view because man "with all his capacities,

desires and beliefs is not an accident, but a product of the

time" and therefore "all influences that have been brought to

94
bear upon him ... have conspired to make him what he is".

Since character is based on organisation, it cannot be judged

on the merits of only the isolated action or stage in its

life. Evidently one's behaviour at any given moment is the

inevitable result of all that has gone before and therefore

*

the complex of the entire evolutionary past behind that

action must be taken into account. To conclude with, the

entire set of actions and behaviour in an individual should

be measured by antecedents involving his intentions, feelings

and motives and not merely actions.

(F) MAIN CONSTITUENTS OF HARDY'S CONCEPT

Imbued with an intutive understanding of life which

got more penetrative through innumberable impressions,

interactions and influences, Hardy came to evolve a definite

set of ideas relevant to the evolution of human

consciousness. This set of ideas was further conditioned and

modified by his reading and understanding of thinkers such as

Comte, Darwin and Spencer. However, Hardy vehemently

94 Herbert Spencer, Social , p.474 •

rohtak
 50

repudiates having any definite or systematic philosophy and

claims to be an "impressionist" rather than "a philosopher".95

Certainly Hardy did not propound a philosophy of life in the

sense Corate, Darwin and Spencer did, nevertheless he did

evolve and use a broad system of analysis and creativity

which is operative in life and which Ilardy summed up as the

concept of evolution of consciousness. Ilardy came to evolve

this concept without adopting the philosophy of any

particular thinker though his concept is broadly comparable

with the ideas of Comte, Darwin and Spencer. In this regard

Hardy's diary note dated December 30, 1901 is highly pertinent

since it reveals his original mode of thinking:

Let everyman make a philosophy for himself out of his

own experiences ... if he values his own mental life.96

Hardy who valued "his own mental life" the most came to

evolve this- concept of life on the basis of his own

experiences and deep understanding of life through the robust

thrust of his intellectual expedition and active generalising

brain.

In point of fact, Hardy had great potentialities of

observation and sharp imagination to penetrate below the

surface into the heart of things. However, the seeds of his

intellect came to be fertilised by the potent environment in

95 Life, p. 411.
96 Life, p. 310.
 51

which he attained maturity. His philosophic profundity and

scientific attitude yave him an insight into the basic issues

of life, and gradually he cane to evolve a^ melioristic

attitude to life. He found the world as "an imperfect

machine" which requires "endless adjustments and compromises"^

on the part of man, the only sentient being on this earth, to

make it a happy and worth-living place. His sensitive heart

ached to see agonies and anguish all around and sat about
98
finding all means of "easing mortals' progress" in this

world. In this regard, lie advocated an "alliance between

religion and complete rationality" and "loving kindness"

because that way alone something could be done to minimise

the pain and suffering that are allotted to all, "tonyued dr

dumb".99

As a staunch believer in the gradual ennoblement of

man, Hardy explained his evolutionary ideas about man in one

of his well known letters of 24th December 1904 addressed to

Florence Henniker saying that "behind the imperfect lay the

perfect" Again in "Apology" to Late Lyrics and Earlier

Poems (1922) Hardy expressed the same view:

The visible signs of mental and emotional life must,

like all other things, keep moving, becoming.101
_ Life> ^ 364.
98. Thomas Hardy, The PJa/or of Casterbridge (London: flacmillan,
1984), b. 4li:
SS. ' Ajpolo^y' to Late ±L rics and Earlier Poems (London: Ilacmil.'
1922), p. 10.
100. The Collected Letters of Thomas Hardy, cd. Richard
little Purdy a I.ichael Ilillyate (Liew York: Oxford Univ.
Press, 1982), 3, 69.
101. 1Abology1 to Late Lyrics and Earlier Poems, p* 10*
 52

Tlri tfvS context Hardy's letter to Dr. Saleeby dated June, 1915 merits
mention since it highlights that "the world can improve only

if there comes about an increase in consciousness and we are

awakened to the world's need for conscious sympathy and

fairnessFurther Hardy, very much like Comte, firmly

believed that this "advance" of mankind is "never in a

straight line but in a looped orbit". J This very idea

furnished the foundation-stone of Hardy's concept of

Evolution of Consciousness which he eventually came to evolve

after passing from idea to idea leading to cositation, deep

meditation and eventual ii\taitioa» One can pertinently quote

from Hardy's diary note dateu June 2, 1906 to confirm this

point:

The unconscious will of the universe is growing

aware of itself I believe I may claim as my ov/n
idea solely — at which I arrived by reflecting
that what has already taken place in a fraction
of the whole is likely to take place in the
mass, — that is, the universe — the whole will
becomes conscious therebyj and ultimately, it is
hoped, sympathetic.104
Closely perceived this diary-note virtually
constitutes the proclamation of Hardy's mature vision of

life. Tn osonfial
A,
terms, his idoololgy includes the

following four prespectives which together cover the various

stages in the process of evolution of human consciousness:

102. The Collected Letters of Thomas Hardy, 3, 169.

103. Ibid., 1, 311.
104. Life, p. 335.
 53

(1) Ignorance to Knowledge (Transcendence as Self

Discovery).
(2) Uses of Chastisement (Baptism through Suffering).

(3) Self to Selflessness (Egoism to Altruism).

(4) Character as a Growing Concern (Linking Past with

Present).

(1) IGNORANCE TO KNOWLEDGE

The concept of Evolution of Consciousness as Hardy

evolved and then assimilated it creatively implies first the

experience of man in the course of which he evolves from

ignorance to knowledge. This process entails a movement from

myopic egoism to the gras** of objective truth. Growth of

individual self in terns of sentience and broad awareness

constitutes the basic theme of almost all of Hardy's novels.

It is in this context that Baker evaluates Hardy's novels as

"histories of men and women in the act of living and

achieving themselves or becoming".-*-05 In the initial stages,

the individual is naive and narcissistic, ignorant and

self-righteous, governed purely by fantasies and fallacies.

In fact, the egocentric individual lives in an illusionary

world and therefore, thinks wrongly and acts fallibly. A

diary note from Hardy dated 4 March, 1887 is revelatory of

this stage of man in general and his protagonists in

particular:

105. E.A. Baker, History of the English Novel, (New York:

Galaxy Books, 1960), p. 13.
 54

Every error under the sun seems to arise from

thinking that you are right yourself because you
are yourself and other people wrong because they
are not you. 106

Owing to the pursuit of wrong commitments, the

individual unwittingly lands himself and others around into

otherv/ise avoidable troubles and tribulations. His traumatic

experiences prove a blessing in disguise at least in as much

as they stir his intellect and sharpen his reasoning power.

He is virtually obliged to reflect over the issues and

self-introspection opens the gates of self-knowledge which is

the first pre-requisite of knowledge about others. He begins

to interrogate his own conduct and this "questioning" proves

to be, "in the exploration of reality, the first step towards

soul's betterment".107 This process of knowiny, learning and

growing is cyclic and involves a series of self-assessments.

As such, it begins with the auto-transparency of self to

self. When the pall of ignorance is removed, the individual

recognises his sho'rt-comings and eventually perceives

reality. Thus, this process of growing and moving toward

self-realisation "step to step and stage to stage"^-®®as

Virginia Woolf has put it in a subtle way, gradually leads

the individual to recognise the formidable forces around and

106 Life, p.165.

107 Thomas I-Iardy's Personal Writings: Prefaces, Literary
Opinions, Reminiscences ed. Harold Orel (London:
Macmillan, 1967), p.89.

108 Virginia Woolf, Movtis Of HCUUty"

•Second Co>nvnorj /kacl£* , jo. /o.

 55

his own significant position in the context of "the truth of

things as they are"J09Thus awakened and enlightened Hardy's

protagonist learns to avoid egoistic indulgence by

"exploration of reality and its frank recognition stage by

stage along the survey with an eye to the best consummation

possible".110 In this way, he sheds his myopia, acquires

objective understanding, resigns to truth and finally

perceives the role of the individual in a stage of

predicament. It is as such that he comes out of "the

infantile state of reason and experience"*

111
* and attains to

the state of mental maturity.

(2) USES OF CHASTISEMENT

The second of the four aspects of Hardy's concept of

Evolution of Consciousness relates to the ethical concept of

retribution. In its extended form the concept concerns the

determining of moral responsibility of a character in

reference to the fact that every phenomenon has a phenomenal

cause. The operation of this phenomenon on the individual is

shown through the undeviating working of consequences. In

broad terms, whatsoever a man sows, that he shall certainly

reap and accordingly, no one can escape the self-acting lav/ of

moral consequences. Hardy accepts the inevitability of pain

109 J.H. Miller, Thomas Ilardy: Distance and Desire

(Harvard: Harvard Univ. Press, i 9 / 0 T, p.'2'z .
110 'Apology' to Late Lyrics and Earlier Poems, p.8

111 J.S.Mill, Auguste Comte and Positivism 4th ed.

(Michigan: Ann Arbor Paperbacks, 1961), p.10.
and suffering in life "until the individual learns to live at
perfect oneness Wxth the law whose shrine is society^

Comprehensively seen, the central issues in Hardy's

novels concern the problem of conduct, and the conflict

starts building when the myopic and egocentric protagonist

violates the laws of nature. Consequent upon this

transgression, things happen in such a way that the offenders

get subjected to suffering and. grief. Interestingly, the

repercussions of retributive justice inevitably involve both

the innocent and the guilty. Things happen this way for the
simple reason that society is like "a spider's web" ^^in

terms of relationships. On this analogy the life of one

individual is inextricably linked with others in society.

Necessarily, an act of wrong doing spreads in widening

circles and has its effect on the perpetrator as well as on

the innocent who, otherwise, have nothing to do with the

deed.. In this context, it would be quite pertinent to

mention Hardy's views, expressed in The Woodlanders that "by

virtue of the concentrated passions and closely knit

interdependence of our lives" 114even our "lonely courses

formed no detached design at all". H5 jn this way, the
protagonist suffers not only for his own follies and

112 Roger Ebbatson, The Evolutionary Self, p.17.

113 Life, p.177.
114 The Woodlanders (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981), p.8.
115 Ibid, p.154.
 57

fallacies but also for the myopic deeds of others.

Significantly this tragic experience proves a

blessing in disguise. In point of fact, the pain and

punishment arising from moral causations prove a potent means

of positive change. During suffering an inward teaching goes

on which enlightens and awakens the sufferer. This aspect of

Hardy's concept of Evolution and Consciousness finds a
parallel expression in George Eliot:

A great anguish may do the work of years and

we may come out, from that baptism of fire v/ith
a sense of new awe and a new pity. 116

As such, suffering makes man wiser in as much as it impels

him to see in his vital experience what he failed to see

earlier. In this way Hardy's protagonist is initiated into a

new awakening of the soul as a result of which he becomes

capable of deeper understanding and wider sympathies. In

view of this positive value of suffering in Hardy, Jean

Brooks highlights that "in the tragic battle of life, the

sense of tragic waste is tempered by tragic joy and tragic

gain"J17 Thus, suffering in Hardy, mediates the rise and

resurrection of a new consciousness.

(3) EGOISM TO ALTRUISM

The third stage in the evolution of human

consciousness in Hardy concerns his conviction that man is a

11G Adam Dedc (London: J.M. Dent & Conn Ltd, 1973), p.405.
117 Thomas Hardy: The Poetic Structure, p.15.
 58

self-evolving phenomenon and that the comprehensive growth of

his personality lies in his adaptation to the social

organism. This visualization is rooted in Hardy's belief

that all human beings are "members of one corporeal frame^

and in virtue whereof they are in the process of realising

the need for mutually sympathetic understanding and

adjustment. Preceding this stage, the individual is governed

by crippling myopia and wrapped in a cancerous cell of the

self but gradually he sheds his self-centredness and comes to

realize at once his inadequacies and social obligations. As
such, he discovers that ego is the dark force in man that

obstructs the course of sympathetic understanding. Hardy

significantly refers to this negative trait of man in one of

his letters of 1904 addressed to William Archer:

Whatever may be the inherent good or evil of

life, it is certain that man makes it much more
than it need be.il9

As a result of man's evolution from egoism to

altruism, he is so awakened and enlightened that he abnegates

the self and fills it with a sense of the collective. As an

ardent humanist and a staunch believer in the essential

goodness of human nature, Hardy maintains that man will

realise the significance of love and compassion when his
consciousness evolves through experiences enroute suffering.

110 Life, p.224.

119William Archer, Real Conversations (London: Heimann,
1906), p.69.
 50

This aspect of Hardy’s concept is further confirmed by his

letter to William Archer written in 1904:

My practical philosophy is distinctly meliorist.

Whul are my books but one Jong plea against man's
inhumanity to man.120

Himself "a spirit of noble genius and chastened

121
sublimity", Hardy visualises and represents a way in which

human beings become better through love and sympathy. Man

comes to realise the social ethics of human responsibility.

As a result of "gradual ennoblement" of the self which comes

about through "awakening and enlighcnment",122 a spring of

sympathy wells up in the heart of his protagonist. It is

this way that Hardy's novels show the process how the

individual transcends the self and eventually embraces the

higher ideals of mutual love and sympathy and develops the

disinterested ethics of social weal.

(4) CHARACTER AS A GROWING COIJCERIJ

As an evolutionist, Hardy firmly

thatbelieved
123
human character is "not a solid block but a continuous flux".

It was his conviction that dialectically, character is always

in a state of flux — continually growing and evolving. He

maintained that each new experience necessitates a

120 William Archer, Real Conversations (London: Heimann,

1906), p.69. ‘
121 Susan Dean, Hardy's Poetic Vision in The Dynast
(Princcton: Princeton Univ.Press, iy7/j, p.J4.
122 Ibid.
123 'Apology' to The Late Lyrics and Earlier Poems, p.12.
corresponding chanye in the individual and this process

evinces that character is a process and an unfolding. This

idea finds illustration in Hardy's letter to Florence

Henniker dated September 29, 1898 wherein he writes that "our

consciousness is always dissolving and the aspects of our

life (are)continually changing under it".124

Ontoloyically, character grows on like a seed which

develops in the course of time but always maintains its

inherent identity chiefly in terms of moral traits. This

phenomenon is aptly qualified by Boyliolo in his observation

that every progression and perfection is "an ontological

increment — in the act of existence" and it is "not a

renunciation of the past that is made perfect in the

present".125 Thus, the character of each man necessarily

encompasses the essence of his past which goes on merging

into the timeless present. As such, man’s character is a

single whole and therefore, its true quality can be

determined only by tracing- the continuum rooted in the past.

This significant aspect of Hardy's thought has been recorded

in a diary note dated 27 June, 1879 which highlights that

"behind our present is a long evolutionary past".126 jn this

context Hardy seems to be in total agreement with George

124 The Collected Letters of Thomas Hardy, 2, 215.

125 Louis Boyliolo, Philosophical Anthropology, I, 225.

126 Life, p.128.

 fij

Eliot who wrote:

Our deeds still travel with us frora afar*.

And what we have been makes us what we are. 127

As such, no human act or feeling is completely unconnected

with our past. It is exactly this perspective that Miles

stresses in reyard to Hardy:

We are all prisoners of our past actions and

bear Hiem along v/i t h us into the future. 128

Correlated with Hardy's predilection for historical method in

regard to character analysis is his conviction that character

is based on organisation. Therefore, any objective

assessment of character necessitates a look at his behaviour

129
in retrospect. In point of fact, "man is not an accident"

and for this reason, he cannot be properly judged in the

light of a single action or stage in his life. Still

further, Hardy delves deeper into the waters of life and

highlights the importance and relevance of motives, feelings

and intentions behind action. Theoretically, Hardy

underscores this very aspect of character analysis as he

evaluates the character of Tess:

The beauty or ugliness of a character lay not in its

achievements but in its aims and impulses; its true
history lay not among things done but among things
willed.130

127 George Eliot, Middle March (London: J.M.Dent & Sons,

1976), p.245.
128 Rosalind Miles, "The Women of Wessex", The Hovels of
Thomas Hardy ed. Anne Smith, p.27.
129 Herbert Spencer, Social Statics, p.476.
130 Tess ofAd'Urbervilles (London: Macmillan,1967),p.310.
 G2

Accordingly, Hardy attaches due importance to intentions in

human affairs and stresses that it is not the committance but

the intention v/hich is a dependable measure of judging the

nature of an action as also of the qualities of a character.

Very often the individual may chance to act in a way

otherwise than he intends and therefore, some significant

looking act may simply be alien to his essential character.

Hardy's novels testify to this belief in his use of the

dialectics of Historical Method. Through the creative use of

this method, Hardy "made his way towards", as Ian Gregor

points out, "a criticism of behaviour as an adequate moral

register".131

These four aspects of the concept of Evolution of

Consciousness put together constitute the broad basis of

Hardy's imaginative processes in the creative context.

Individually and collectively these four tenets came to form

the basis of the predominant theme of his novels.

Necessarily Hardy harnessed the spirit of these perspectives

as a sort of broad conceptual framework in his novels. These

four features find substantiation and exemplification from

his six major novels in subsequent chapters.

131 Ian Gregor, "The Novel as floral Protest" Twentieth Century

Interpretations of Tess of^b’Urbervilles (London: Faber &
Faber, 1962), p.44.