'It is not a character, it is not alive, it is just a vast barren landscape - yet it has an important influence on the behaviour of its inhabitants'.

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'It is not a character, it is not alive, it is just a vast barren landscape - yet it has an important influence on the behaviour of its inhabitants'.

Examine Hardy's depiction of the heath in the light of this statement.

Thomas Hardy presents Egdon Heath as a character and a vast landscape which is not barren but has an effect in the inhabitant's lives and decisions. Egdon heath rules the lives of the inhabitants and their relationship with the heath determines their lives.

In chapter 1, Thomas Hardy uses personification to describe the heath as a character: 'The storm was its lover'. This suggests that the heath controls nature. It also suggests that something as destructive as a storm can be tamed into loving. Through this, Hardy also suggests that the storm does not affect the heath or its inhabitants but it affects outsiders on the heath like Eustacia who realises during the storm that she cannot and it affects trees planted outside the heath. Therefore, the heath's importance cannot be ignored by the reader as Hardy presents the heath as powerful and dominating in the lives of the inhabitants as it is Eustacia's position on