| The novels by Thomas Hardy, especially those character and environment novels have made a great impact upon later centuries, which occupied an important position in English literature. The novels by Hardy reflected the invasion by the Capitalism industry civilization to the countryside, the ruin to the peaceful country life and the changes of the traditional lifestyle for several thousands years, therefore most of the novels by Hardy ended in tragedy.The thesis was divided in three chapters, which focused on the character and environment novels, analyzed the main tragic reasons, the historical and social sources of the tragedy, the tragic characteristics, the artistic characteristics and the ideological development process.Chapter I: the life and creations by Hardy. This chapter introduced the life of Hardy, the creation history of Hardy, the creation and ideology development of Hardy.Chapter II: the reasons for the tragedy in the novels by Hardy.The first section was mainly about the tragedy and the spirit of tragedy. What was tragedy, tragic and the development of tragedy? The tragic spirit was dwelled on that though ancient Greek people knew the revolt was in vain and their failure was inevitable, they still fought hard and struggled bravely.The second section explained the historical and social sources of the tragedy in the novels by Hardy. With the development of social science, the ghost and gods were no more, however, the tragedy by social change existed in the novels by Hardy.The third section focused on the ideological source of the tragedy in the novels by Hardy. Victoria era was the period that industry made rapid development, lots of innovations, and Capitalism was on the surge during the whole nineteen century in England. At that time, Proletarian and Bourgeoisie came into being, and their tragedy and contradictions sprang up. Biological Evolution by Darwin and On Pessimism Will by Schopenhauer had a great influence upon Hardy.Chapter III: the tragic characteristics of the novels by Hardy.The first section dwelled on the artic expression in those novels. Nature in those novels was not only the background of the stories, but also was intertwined with the performance of the characters. Those exotic scenic in the novels by Hardy always carried some new and pregnant meanings in the novels.The second section focused on the personality of the characters. Most of the heroes in the novels by Hardy were farmers in the lowest stage whose instincts, feelings and mentality were pictured vividly, whose struggles with the environment and the society were depicted exhaustively. The structure of the novels by Hardy was full of all kinds of coincidences, accidental incidents and multi-perspectives.The third section dwelled on the ideological characteristics of the novels. Hardy praised the countryside and country life in the past, while criticized the unjust and tragic phenomena by the Capitalism invasion such as religion, marital morals, which also reflected the thought change of Hardy. The heroines, with different personality and vivid images, though ended in tragedy in the novels by Hardy, made an intelligent, independent, and passionate impression upon readers. |
