How does Hardy use his knowledge of the Bible, Art, the universe and Wessex folklore to add depth to his novel?

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How does Hardy use his knowledge of the Bible, Art, the universe and Wessex folklore to add depth to his novel?

Hardy began writing Return of the Native in 1877 and Hardy includes may of the beliefs and views of the Victorian period in his writing including concerns about God and religion, scientific theories, moral values and cultural attitudes of the people of the day.  Hardy wrote the novel at a time when he was happiest, when he had returned to his native Dorset after living for a time in London.  He loved the countryside but realized that with this great time of change, with the industrial and agricultural revolution, that the customs of rural England were under threat.  He was concerned that local traditions and regional identity would be forgotten through the civilizing of the masses.  Hardy was keen to preserve a record of the local folk history and superstition which continued to play a major part in the lives of the Dorset people, even in the 1890’s.  By drawing on his knowledge, Hardy was able to illustrate to the reader the changing beliefs of the period at the same time as giving deeper meanings to the story and giving the reader a better understanding of the characters through his extensive use of Greek mythology and biblical references.

Hardy began his life with strong religious beliefs.  He was born into a very active Christian family and regularly attended church services.  His faith was devout until 1862 when he moved to London.  There he was exposed to new ideas and scientific advancements and as he started  questioning religion and searching for the meaning of life, his faith weakened and his spiritual beliefs were strengthened. It was a time when the bible had been brought into question through Darwins work ‘The Origin of the Species’ which suggested that evolution had been responsible for man’s development rather than being created by God.  With this and other discoveries, people had started to think about the nature of existence.

In Return of the Native, Hardy writes from the point of view of an agnostic as his characters, although uneducated, question traditional beliefs.  Conventional Christian religion is conspicuous by its absence in the novel.  Although the Church did play a central part in most rural communities at the time, in the world of Egdon Heath, the heath folk rarely made the effort to attend church services.  When Fairway recounts the story of Mrs Yeobright forbidding the wedding banns in book 1 chapter 3, he says ‘ah well I was at church that day ....... which was a very curious thing to happen’ and Humphrey replies, ‘I haven’t been these three years’.  This suggests it is an unusual occurrence for the local people to go to church. Hardy also describes in Book 2 chapter 4 how the local inhabitants of Egdon are unlikely to visit church, even on Christmas Day, as because of the weather ‘they did not care, to trudge two or three miles to sit wet footed in the church’.  If their belief had been strong, then it wouldn’t have mattered what they had had to endure to demonstrate their faith.  

Hardy’s views on religion are obvious in his writing.  He is almost mocking of Clym as when he first returns to the Heath, he is likened to a Victorian missionary in his aim to improve the lives of the common workers through education.  Hardy describes him as ‘John the Baptist who took ennoblement rather than repentance for his text’ and his further comment that ‘the rural world was not ripe for him’ seems to criticise his unwelcome intentions.   Hardy ends the novel with Clym as a rather pathetic and tragic hero, preaching his ‘Sermons on the Mount’.

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Hardy uses a great deal of religious imagery in the novel and the purpose of this reference to biblical characters and disasters, gives the reader a better understanding and magnifies the importance of events.  In book 1 chapter 4, Eustacia explains her hatred of the heath as she tells Wildeve, ‘Tis my cross, my shame, and will be my death’.  The imagery anticipates her failure to escape the heath and foreshadows her death.  In the chapter The Night of the 6th of November, Hardy describes Eustacia’s last walk on the Heath.  He refers to the ‘agony in Gethsemane’.  Eustacia’s thinks ...

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