The Tragic Aesthetics Of Hardy's Novels Of "Character And Environment

AbstractThomas Hardy was the last imPortan novelist and poet of the Victorian age. Hestarted his whing career with poetry and tenninaed it ed poecy Howevef, hisfaIne chiefly rests uPon his creaton of the novels of "Character and Environment",they constitute the highest achievement of Hardy's realism. As far as the creation ofhis novels is concemed, it can be divided into three stages. The novels of the firststage is about pastoral ideal. full of romanc Stye, containing f Under theGreenwood Tree, Far hem the Madhe CrOwd The novels of second stage mainlydePict the tragedy of Wessex rural society The main works include The Return ofthe Native, The Mmpr Of Casterbrthe. The third stage is about the fate and fuforeof Wessex Peasantry \.TeSS the d'Urberrilles and Jude the Obscare are the mainworks. In his Wessex novels, Hardy vividly and truthfully describes the tragic livesof the tenans in the last decade of the l9th cenmpThe NoveIs of "Character and Envirbnment" have been Studied intensiveIy inChina. Most of the researches, howevef, focus upon the thematic aspect only Thereis seldom any systematic study on his tragic novel from the tragic aesthetics. Mythesis is based on the review of the ndies of Hardy's Wessex novels andapproaches it from the tragic atistic forms. Tragedy theories in the west originatedfrom Aristotle's poend. Ther have been colltrOversies on AnStOtle's theory ThenatUre of tragic hero and the cause of tragic fall and the tragic process, in Whichsharneful act, suffering, AnoWedge and chation are incIuded, shOuld be themajor factOrs of the tragedy The cause of tragic end is the "unwillingness" of thehero "to remain Passive in the face of a challenge tO his diwi".From the publication of the first major work Far hem the Madtw CrOwd tothe publication of Jude the Obscure, Hardy achieved the mdrity in both the artisticform and the tragic though. The tragic tone in Far hem the Mdeng Crowd isfound to be strengthened in The Return of the Native and reaches its highest pitch inIlThe Ma1or of Casterbridge and Tess the d'Urbervilles. Far from the MaddngCrowd as the first major word is the beginning of Hardy's tragic vision. In thisnovel, Hardy initiates the theme of disparity between romance and hard reality,which is to repeat in his subsequent works. The four characters at the beginning areshown to have false romantic illusion and their feelings are based on idealizationrather than on any realistic understanding of the objects of their affection. Theconflicts of man and the nature suggest the potential tragedy which is to develop in7he Relurn Of the Nalive. The Return of Ihe Native marks the new begirming ofHardy's literary career in both thought and aesthetics. Hardy depicts the infiuenceof the environment on man's fate and explores the tragedy caused by the conflict ofenvironment and character. Egdon Heath does not merely serve as background ofthe story, but in a way it has become an embodiment of the powerful and eternalfbrce of nature. Egdon Heath remains unchanged for a thousand years and then in a}'ear great catastrophes happen to the human beings and lead to the tragic death ofthree persons, while the force of nature symbolized by the Heath seems to look onand mutely watch the vicissitudes of human fOrtune. Egdon Heath has controllinginfluence upon the people living on it, the characters are doomed to submissive totllis vast natural environment. But it is undeniable that Clym's desire to operate aschool on Egdon Heath is a great challenge to the indifference of the naturalenvironment. The twor Of Casterbridge is about an ambitious man fighting againstthte, it marks a shift from man's relationship with the natural environment to hisrelationship with the social environment. Hardy makes a serious exploration fOr thefuture of the Wes sex society and truthfully and vividly describes the unavoidabletragedy of the society --the bankIuptcy and ruin of peasantry. Th...