Transcription
[Music] Hello everybody. Today we are going to talk about a very important novelist, short story writer, and poet: Thomas Hardy. Thomas Hardy was trained as an architect, and he lived in the very poor countryside of Dorset. Dorset is later represented in his novels as Wessex. Hardy lived at a time when the Industrial Revolution was at its peak, 1840 to 1928. Hardy represented the poor working classes of Dorset in the era before the railways and the peaking of the Industrial Revolution. Hardy was a fatalist; he talked about these poor villagers being dominated by fate. You know, Hardy had a problematic religiosity; he did not completely believe in orthodox or conventional religion. He was an agnostic who thought that nothing can be understood for sure about God and religion. So this agnosticism is visible in his fatalism. Hardy was deeply influenced by the life of the Dorset peasantry, and there was a Dorset poet, a Dorset dialect poet called William Barnes, who influenced him. Hardy married Emma Gifford, with whom he had a problematic relationship. Hardy himself had different love affairs that also informed his writing. His pessimism and bitterly ironic tone connects Hardy with the modernists who came later. Hardy was a realist; he is also showing signs of modernism. His greatest novels of Wessex, starting from *Far from the Madding Crowd*, are called by Hardy himself as novels of character and environment.
Early in his career, Hardy started writing poems, but it is only after he wrote his last novel, *Jude the Obscure*, that these poems and other poems were all published. First, his career was established as a novelist. The first novel that Hardy wrote was *The Poor Man and the Lady*, which did not get published in his lifetime, and it is a very, uh, strongly class-conscious novel, as his later novels also are. Hardy's first published novel was *Desperate Remedies*. I have given, in our encyclopedia, a very detailed discussion of all the major novels of Hardy. I will use the book as I talk to you so that you will get all the points. I don't want to just say a few things and give an overview; I want to go a little deeply, for which I can use the encyclopedia as I talk to you. Did you know, guys, *Desperate Remedies* was written at the suggestion of the fellow novelist George Meredith, a very major novelist. I will be talking about George Meredith also in the next video. And *Desperate Remedies*, his first published novel, shows the influence of the sensation novels of Wilkie Collins. Remember Wilkie Collins, the author of *The Woman in White* and *The Moonstone*? He was a friend of Charles Dickens. *Desperate Remedies* was published in 1871. Remember to know, to study, and memorize the years along with the studying of the novel itself: *Desperate Remedies*, 1871.
Following which he wrote another important novel, *Under the Greenwood Tree*. In these times he was writing in realism, the tradition of George Eliot. Before Hardy, George Eliot had already established realism and regional realism in her novels. George Eliot wrote about Warwickshire, like Hardy wrote about Wessex. George Eliot wrote about Warwickshire, and, uh, Hardy, from the first novel itself, shows his strong criticism of the Victorian society. Now, *Under the Greenwood Tree*, published in 1872, immediately after, one year after *Desperate Remedies*. The title *Under the Greenwood Tree* is taken from *As You Like It*; it is a famous song in *As You Like It*, and it is subtitled "A Rural Painting of the Dutch School." *Under the Greenwood Tree* talks about the stories of the people of the Melstock parish choir—choir in church, the singers in church. Melstock parish has a choir, and this is a simple marriage plot centered on the Melstock parish choir. Then there is the novel *A Pair of Blue Eyes*, which is about his own relationship with his wife Emma. And then, in 1874, came *Far from the Madding Crowd*. *Far from the Madding Crowd* is one of the proper Wessex novels of Hardy, and it is his first major literary success. *Far from the Madding Crowd* has a title taken from Gray's Elegy, Thomas Gray's *Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard*: "Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife, Their sober wishes never learned to stray, Along the cool sequestered vale of life, They kept the noiseless tenor of their way." What does it mean? It shows the values of rural people; the rural people never strayed; they never strayed from their village life towards the madding crowd, towards modernity. The poor people of the rustic villages never strayed, which is given as a very major quality of those people by, by Gray as well as Hardy, Thomas Gray as well as Hardy; they are praising the values of the village folk. So *Far from the Madding Crowd* shows the perennial values of village life.
In *Far from the Madding Crowd*, we have a very powerful but erring heroine, Bathsheba Everdene. She comes into the possession of a farm, and she is a self-made woman. One mistake she makes is she does not recognize Gabriel Oak, the farmer, the talented, skilled farmer, Gabriel Oak, who's a very good man. She does not recognize him as the man of her life; he loves her, but she rejects him, and she sends a Valentine to her wealthy neighbor, William Boldwood, getting him enamored and attracted to her. He wants to marry her, but she is not interested in him. That was also a playful mischief that she did, which eventually led to a lot of tragedy. Another mistake she did is she thought the swordsman and warrior, Frank Troy, is an ideal man suitable for her, and she got married to him. That was a mistake. Frank Troy had already been like a playboy; he had fallen in love with Fanny, a poor girl. She got pregnant, but they did not get married because of some mistake, uh, with knowing about churches; Fanny went to the wrong church and waited there for marriage, and things like that. And Frank Troy gets married to Bathsheba after that. Bathsheba comes to know about this Fanny backstory. Fanny Dai is also giving birth to Troy's child. Fanny is a poor victim; is shocked to know the past story of her husband. And Frank Troy runs away from Bathsheba without facing the situation. See, she made a mistake; this is not the kind of man she had wanted to be with. And then what happens? Frank Troy comes back after some time; William Boldwood mistakes him to be a ghost and shoots him dead. So William Boldwood, the man who was wanting to marry Bathsheba, is now in prison; her own husband is now dead. Bathsheba has learned bitter lessons in her life; she has made wrong choices; she did not understand the value of Gabriel Oak. He was always there with her: first as her neighbor, wanting to marry her; then as an employee in his, her own farm; and finally, after all this, Gabriel Oak decides to go to California, and then Bathsheba realizes the value of Gabriel Oak once again. He proposes to her, and they are married. So what do you learn from this story? This is a domestic realistic novel where there is a stereotype of an erring woman, and she learns to cope up with life from bitter experiences, and finally she marries the man who was always there waiting for her. This is one of the plot lines typical of domestic realism. And what Hardy shows here is the values of village people and village life; how, you know, human life changes and brings unexpected things to you, and ultimately we are all victims; it is not anybody's fault, but circumstances lead you to various situations in life. So Hardy has a fatalism here. This is a novel that ends happily; most of his novels do not end happily; they are not comedies; they are tragedies. So fate really crushes Hardy's characters in most of the other novels.
Next, I will talk to you about an 1878 novel, again depicting an erring woman. Can you guess the title? It is *The Return of the Native*. Remember, guys, I'm laying the foundation for a proper, uh, understanding of the text here; I am giving you a perspective as well as some major points. Please make sure you read extra if you can; you should read the novel or at least read detailed summaries from the internet. You should go through these classics in detail because you will be required to know the story, and only then will you be able to interpret the story and incidents and character. That interpretation level, analysis level, is very, very important for NET, as well as many other exams, up to UPSC English Mains. So do that. *The Return of the Native*, 1878. Remember *Far from the Madding Crowd* came four years before, 1874. *The Return of the Native* is set in Egdon Heath, and it is about Eustacia Vye's desire for a luxurious life. She wants an upper-class life, like Madame Bovary, and this story warns us against transcending our class, foolishly desiring to belong to a better class and foolishly destroying your life. That is the warning in *The Return of the Native*. And this novel was published in *Belgravia* magazine, which is a fashion magazine, warning people against fashions and luxury and desire for wealth. Eustachia Vye is a village beauty, and the novel begins on a Guy Fawkes Day, or a Guy Fawkes Night, rather. Diggory Venn is a poor man; he loves Thomasin Yeobright, but Thomasin Yeobright is going to marry Damon Wildeve that day. Their marriage was fixed and supposed to happen, but it doesn't happen. Diggory Venn is taking home Thomasin Yeobright—she's a woman—to her own house. And Diggory Venn loves her, but he's ugly and old and poor. Not old, poor. Damon Wildeve, meanwhile, loves Eustacia Vye, but Eustacia Vye is more interested in rich men so that they will take her to Paris, probably give her a luxurious life in Paris. That is what she wants; she thinks that she does not belong to this poor Egdon Heath. So when Thomasin Yeobright's cousin, Clym Yeobright, comes from Paris—he was a diamond merchant there—he is now disillusioned; he doesn't want wealth; he doesn't want materialistic riches; he comes to Egdon Heath. And Eustacia Vye wants to marry Clym Yeobright. Clym falls for Eustacia and marries her against the wishes of his mother; his mother, Mrs. Yeobright, does not want Clym to marry Eustacia, but the marriage takes place very soon. Eustacia realizes that Clym is not interested in money; Clym is not interested in going back to Paris. She may not get what she wants from marriage, and she is disillusioned. Clym wants to start a school for poor children, and he's studying for that. Eustacia is frustrated, and Eustacia once again starts a relationship with whom? Tell me. Damon Wildeve, her former admirer. And then things go bad. Mrs. Yeobright once comes to visit her son to forgive him, and Eustacia cannot open the door because Damon Wildeve is inside the house. Mrs. Yeobright dies without meeting her son; an adder bites. Clym Yeobright comes to know that his wife is having plans to run away with Damon Wildeve and become his mistress. At the end, tragedy: Eustacia dies; Damon Wildeve dies. You know, tragedy results when you stretch your limits, when you try to do things that are too much beyond your limits, when you cross over, you know, towards the forbidden. And finally, Clym becomes a wandering preacher. So class creates a lot of problems in people's minds; you get too many desires for a materialistic life that ultimately leads to your own destruction. Don't you see parallels between *Madame Bovary* and *The Return of the Native*?
Now, after giving us such a warning, Hardy turned to a historical novel; the only historical novel that he wrote is *The Trumpet-Major*. It came in 1880. Now remember: *Far from the Madding Crowd*, 1874; *The Return of the Native*, 1878; *The Trumpet-Major*, 1880. As you study, you can get the chronology correct like this: study the years along with it. *The Trumpet-Major* is the story of John Loveday; that is the protagonist, and this novel is set during the Napoleonic Wars. We will talk about one more novel of Hardy in this video: *The Mayor of Casterbridge*. *The Mayor of Casterbridge* came in 1886. It is prescribed in many universities; a very important novel. *The Mayor of Casterbridge* was serialized in the magazine *The Graphic*, and it is a story of Michael Henchard. He is a very erring human; we can say he is not a perfect man, but in his life he learns a lot of lessons; at the end he becomes mature, and that is why the novel is subtitled *The Life and Death of a Man of Character*. Actually, when the novel begins, Michael Henchard is not at all a man of character. In the novel, you see Michael Henchard first as a 21-year-old man; he's a drunkard; he goes to a fair with his wife, Susan, and daughter, Elizabeth-Jane; gets drunk there, and he's telling everybody, "I got married too early; I don't want to be married; if anybody wants, I, you can take my wife and child away." Wow, that is something that nobody should say, and Michael Henchard does it; not only says it, does it; he gives his wife and child to a sailor called Newson. In his drunkenness, he sleeps over it. The next day when he wakes up, "Oh my God," he thinks, "There is no Susan, no Elizabeth-Jane." He searches for them everywhere, but they are gone. Susan actually wanted to go; she was fed up with her husband, actually, and we don't hear of them for another 21 years. 21 years later, Susan and Elizabeth-Jane come back; they are poor; Newson has presumably died, and they want to meet Michael Henchard. Elizabeth-Jane doesn't know who Michael Henchard is; she thinks she, her daughter, she is the daughter of Newson. And then Susan again meets up with Michael Henchard, and Michael Henchard marries her. He was always waiting for her; he has given up drinking for the past 21 years, and he's happy to get Susan again. So he's not an evil man; he's good, even though he has problems; he makes mistakes. At this time, a Scotsman called Donald Farfrae is helping Michael Henchard in his grain business. Michael Henchard is a very powerful man; he is the mayor of Casterbridge at this time. And Donald Farfrae falls in love with Elizabeth-Jane—I mean, not really, because Susan gets them to meet each other; they might have got married, but at this time Michael Henchard is angry with Donald Farfrae because people love Donald Farfrae more than Henchard these days; you know, his ego is working. And he also comes to know from a letter that Susan wrote in her dying moments that this Elizabeth-Jane is not Henchard's own daughter; that little girl had died, and this is indeed Newson's daughter. Oh, Michael Henchard suddenly stops loving Elizabeth-Jane like a daughter; he shows his ego; he quarrels with Donald Farfrae; he is hurting Elizabeth-Jane now; he shows his true colors; he shouldn't have done that. And then Elizabeth-Jane goes and lives with another girl, a woman called Lucetta Templeman, a French woman in the, uh, village. And Lucetta used to be, once upon a time, Michael Henchard's girlfriend; Michael Henchard was going to marry her, but he didn't. Now Elizabeth-Jane is living with Lucetta Templeman. Donald Farfrae has given up on Elizabeth-Jane; they have, they didn't proceed with their affair because Michael Henchard messed it up. And now Donald Farfrae is pregnant again. Michael Henchard does one big mistake: he was in possession of Lucetta's letters, and there are many enemies that Henchard has because Henchard is very angry with people, and he ill-treats people. And Michael Henchard sends these love letters through one man called Jopp, who opens these love letters; he was sending it back to Lucetta, but Jopp, on the way, opens these letters. Jopp does a lot of mockery of these letters; there is also a scheming ride on a donkey that people do, making fun of Lucetta and Henchard. Lucetta is not there; the people are making fun of them in their absence, in a scheming ride on a donkey. But hearing about all this later, Lucetta is so shocked, she gets an epileptic fit, and she dies of it. See, Michael Henchard's actions lead to the death of Lucetta; he has caused so many people so much trouble, even though he always meant well; he was a good man. So appearance and reality—this issue is there throughout 18th and 19th-century fiction; from *Tom Jones* we have seen it. And at the end, Henchard—Henchard is a changed man. Donald Farfrae marries Elizabeth-Jane finally, and Michael Henchard is a changed man; he has regretted all that he has done; he comes to their wedding with a goldfinch bird, but Elizabeth-Jane does not meet him. Donald Farfrae and Elizabeth-Jane are angry with him; they don't meet him; it's okay. Michael Henchard knows that he deserves this treatment; he is very ill; he goes back, and he dies. His last wish is to be forgotten; he knows that he has made a lot of mistakes in life, but he was not an evil man. Human beings are like that; nobody is perfect; everybody makes mistakes. The greatness of Elizabeth-Jane and Donald Farfrae are that later they realized their mistake; they come in search of Henchard, and they realized that he's just died. The goldfinch bird in the cage also has died; he had left it there, and that bird also dies; it is a symbol of Henchard. So people make mistakes; the great thing is to make amends for it; the great thing is to forgive each other, not to, uh, you know, continue your mistakes; you have to repent. That is the message of the story. So Michael Henchard ultimately looks like a strong man because he learned from his mistakes; he made amends for his mistakes and died a good man. Remember Leo Tolstoy's *Ivan Ilyich* like that. So this is a very mature novel, a novel that shows character very deeply; there are no black and white characters; there are no watertight compartments. The greatness of the novel is the moral ambiguity, the liminality or the in-betweenness of character depiction; it is an amazingly powerful novel for that reason. Now there are more amazing, powerful novels that we need to talk about: *Tess of the d’Urbervilles* and *Jude the Obscure*, but I will do that in another video because they are also very profound novels; we need time to discuss them. Think about Michael Henchard and these novels; Bathsheba Everdene; read about them extra, and I will come back with more, more discussions on more wonderful novels of Hardy. Until then, bye-bye.