Eustacia is a character that stands out from the rest of the other female characters. The book is set during the period of the Victorian Era, yet Eustacia is different from the typical women of this period. This is shown through her actions and beauty ‘She had pagan eyes, full of nocturnal mysteries, and their light, as it came and went, and came again, was partially hampered by their oppressive lids and lashes; and of these the under lid was much fuller than it usually is with English women.’
By showing the many different sides of her character, Hardy makes it impossible to analyse her personality and come up with a single characterisation. The type of personality is hinted at the beginning of the chapter possibly to get the reader to develop their own thoughts and ideas of this character ‘You could fancy the colour of Eustacia’s soul to be flame-like.’ This hints at both sides of her personality. She is this aggressive person inside ‘her temper could always be softened by stroking them down’ - revealing that she has tempers. The other side of her personality again links to love and passion ‘As she seemed to long for the abstraction called passionate love more than for any particular lover.’ The colour red could symbolise love and anger, this is where l get the impressions of her personality.
Eustacia’s beauty is highlighted and expanded in full detail to emphasise the difference between her and women of the Victorian Era. ‘Eustacia Vye was the raw material of divinity.’ This is almost beyond any other beauty. Yet, Hardy still goes on to describe the beauty of Eustacia, emphasising more by going in to very fine detail ‘So fine were the lines of her lips, that though full, each corner was clearly cut as the point of a spear.’ Lips are small features and yet such detail is used.
Another point to be made that highlights Eustacia’s difference between her and other female characters is the fact that she hates the heath and she hates tradition ‘Egdon was her Hades’ (Hades meaning place of death in Greek mythology) Eustacia hates it so much she believes it will be the death of her, she appears as a person struggling to come to terms with a lifestyle that has not turned out at all according to her expectations. As the ‘odd one out’, the reader gets the feeling that no matter what she tries to do, she will never be able to integrate herself into the rural society in which she finds herself and is therefore fighting a losing battle from the beginning - ‘O deliver my heart from this fearful gloom and loneliness and send me great love from somewhere, else I shall die.’ Her hatred for heath emphasises her difference again, and not fitting in with the rest or society. ‘Hence she hated Sundays, when all were at rest.’ This proves she hates tradition.
The presentation of Eustacia in ‘Queen of the night’ in the beginning of the chapter is not necessarily a negative outlook of her until we acknowledge her shallowness. ‘By idealising Wildeve for want of a better object.’ In this case we are shown that she refers to people that she “loves” to being objects. She clearly only “loves” Wildeve because he is the best person available. The one thing that would get rid of Wildeve would be if a better man were to replace him ‘But there was only one circumstance which could dislodge him, and that would be the advent of a greater man.’
Hardy uses the characters to represent social criticism of society during the period of the Victorian Era. Eustacia is used as a way of over-throwing the stereotypical outlook of Victorian women. They were thought to have a low intellect whereas Hardy contradicts this theory and criticizes it through Eustacia – ‘She seldom schemed, but when she did scheme, her plans showed rather a comprehensive strategy of a general than the small arts called womanish, though she could utter oracles of Delphian ambiguity when she did not choose to be direct.’
In many of Hardy’s works, he initially comes across a characteristic Victorian novelist, particularly in terms of his style of writing and sensitivity to class issues. However, his writing gradually began to change and take on a sensitivity and moral code that diverged from accepted Victorian values. There is perhaps a parallel here between Hardy’s refusal to write within the accepted format of the time and his portrayal of Eustacia as a misfit within the society in which she lives. Both Eustacia and Hardy are bound by what is socially and artistically acceptable at the time but both have an independent, non-conformist spirit. Hardy demonstrates this by giving Eustacia one particular quality of character – even though much of her life is lived as if in an illusion, she is realistic about herself. She is honest in this regard and knows her own faults even though she is not able to accept or change her fate in life.
To conclude, the way in which Hardy uses a whole chapter to introduce one character, filled with detail, is to really bring a clear image for the readers. This clear image is then easy to recall and Eustacia being a main character, and an important one (representing the social criticism that Hardy is trying to bring across) makes it easier for the readers to understand Hardy’s point of view.
Hardy’s portrayal of Eustacia Vye has given us one of his most memorable literary creations – a character with many different traits that at times seem to go against each other.