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Thomas Hardy’s strongest stylistic technique is his use of setting, a device that is so intrinsic to his use of major works that it acts as a character. Setting is a facet of extraordinary importance to Hardy both as a Romantic and Realist writer. Setting molds and shapes the characters of Hardy’s novels, it envelops and suffocates, guides them through and out of the gilded path of their destiny, and it ultimately plays such a major role as to replace the characters, who fade into the background like a prop on a stage. But to understand the complex and dictatorial personality of Hardy’s setting, one has to first understand the boundaries and definitions of this literary term. Setting is identified by three aspects: time, place, and social context (“Literary Analysis – Basic Elements of Literature”). Most of Thomas Hardy’s novels take place in Hardy’s native county of Dorset, which Hardy chose to revive as the archaic Wessex. The idea of Wessex evolved as Hardy's work proliferated. The literal, or physical and environmental aspects of Wessex that are identified as part of setting include the geography, weather, seasons, vegetation, animals, and architecture. The changes and movements of these features directly affect the mood and direction of the story ( Plietzsch ).  A second component of Setting is the time. This aspect involves not only the century or decade in which the story takes place, but also the duration of the story and its impact on the main characters. The fact that the story is held during the 19th century obviously makes a difference from it being situated in the Middle Ages, etc. This is due to the different historical factors that determine several essential aspects of the story, such as who the ruler of the country is, what type of government is held, and what types of technologies are available. These features become all the more important after one takes into consideration the effect these determinants have on society. The societal context of the story if defined by the way in which society reacts to these other features of setting. Religious, political and cultural aspects of society are extremely important to a story, and even more so to Hardy’s novels. The Victorian era in England followed certain “19th-century ideals such as devotion to family life, public and private responsibility, and obedience to the law” (encarta.msn.com). Clearly, the way these values react to the actions of the characters is intrinsic to an understanding of the story. Hardy’s //Tess of the D’Urbervilles// is no more than a metaphorical reflection of the major conflict of the Victorian Era. Walter E. Houghton states that the “basic and almost universal conception of the period” is that it was an age of transition (42). It was a time when society was finally breaking away from Middle Age concepts, and facing an epoch of drastic change. Houghton portrays this concept by quoting the novelist William Thackeray who conveys his feeling of belonging simultaneously to two different ages: “It was only yesterday…. //Then// was the old world. Stage coaches… pack-horses, highway-men, knights in armour, Norman invaders, Roman legions, Druids, ancient Britons painted blue…. But your railroad starts a new era, and we of a certain age belong to the new time and the old one. We are of the time of chivalry…. We are of the age of steam,” (44). This vision of the Victorian era is one that Thomas Hardy clearly favors. In //Tess of the D’Urbervilles,// Hardy recreates this split through his setting. Industrialization is one major part of //Tess of the D’Urbervilles.// During the Industrial Revolution, women were integrated into the workforce. They held several job positions, and made up about one third of the labor force. Their jobs were “hard, dirty, and dangerous.” (Mitchel, 48). In the novel, Hardy describes in detail this aspect of industry. He describes how Tess’ job in Flintcomb-Ash, when Alec made himself present, became a fight against the machine. The sheer monotony and ceaselessness of the work was extremely exhausting. The natural landscape mirrors the mood in several instances in //Tess of the D’Urbervilles//. When Tess is listening to Angel’s lyre she is overtaken by lust and desire. This is vividly revealed through a description of the vegetation. “The outskirt of the garden in which Tess found herself had been left uncultivated for some years, and was now damp and rank with juicy grass which sent up mists of pollen at a touch; and with tall blooming weeds emitting offensive smells--weeds whose red and yellow and purple hues formed a polychrome as dazzling as that of cultivated flowers. She went stealthily as a cat through this profusion of growth, gathering cuckoo-spittle on her skirts, cracking snails that were underfoot, staining her hands with thistle-milk and slug-slime, and rubbing off upon her naked arms sticky blights which, though snow-white on the apple-tree trunks, made madder stains on her skin; thus she drew quite near to Clare, still unobserved of him.” Sexual diction is evident throughout this paragraph, which is filled with humidity and allusions to fertility. Another part in the story where setting mirrors the mood of the story is right before the rape. The woods through which Alec and Tess were “enveloped” in “a faint luminous fog” and “wrapped in thick darkness.” The obscurity reflects the lugubrious mood and acts as grim foreshadowing to what would happen next. The frigidness and desolation of Flintcomb-Ash during the winter represented the loneliness and loss of hope that overtook Tess as she began to release her dreams of being rescued from her poor and miserable state by Angel. In summation, Hardy’s setting is clearly a major technique of his style. It is such an essential part of his work that it obtains a personality of its own and participates in the story as a character.

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