Name:  Ankita Vadher.

Paper: Thomas Hardy as a Novelist

Sem-4,

M.A. -2

Roll No: 1,

Year: 2012-13.

Submitted To,

Dr. Dillip Barad,

Dept. of. English,

M.K. Bhavnagar University,

Bhavnagar.

Tess of the D’Urbervilles as a Wessex novel and Used of Local Color

   Hardy’s revival of an old name ‘Wessex’ was the old name for a territory in the south west of England, covering the present countries of Berkshire, wilts, Somerset, Horapshire, Dorest and Devon. Hardy revived this name for the region of which he himself a native, having been born in a village near Dorchester. He made this region the setting of almost all his novels which for this reason have come to be known as the Wessex novels and which belongs o the category of what is called “Regional Fiction.” His novels contained dense fate tragedy consciousness influenced by the fate concept in ancient Greek tragedy. He considered that there was a kind of mysterious force in the universe which stood above all and controlled out fate. This was the accurate comprehension of the cultural mentality of the people in Wessex which made the novels more authentic and more touching. Facing the tragic stories of the people living in Wessex hardy tried to give philosophic explanation to their predicaments and tragedies. This sort of setting is called a local color of the area of region such beautiful local color called “Wessex”  is painted by Thomas hardy in his novels if we read a wide range of his novels, the Wessex will emerge in front of our mind’s eye so beautiful, so vivid! Rudyard and Kipling’s India also shares the same local color R.K. Narayan beautifully portrays the imaginary village of “Malgudi” – set somewhere in south India in his novels. The representation of the local shad or color continues emerging in the writings of several writers. After the civil war many American writers concerned with the local color focuses mainly on the particularity of the area. It is basically about the comic or sentimental representation of the surface distinctiveness of a region it does not represent the deep, complex, and the generalized characteristics and problems of the region. 

    In Tees of the D’ Urberviilages, as in his other novels, hardy firmly establishes the imaginative reality of Wessex. The opening chapters pertain to Tess’s life in the village of Merlot which lay amid the north eastern undulation of the beautiful vale of black moor. The landscape changes when Tess goes to Talbothays situated in the valley of the great dairies Tess’s next place of work is the village of flint comb –ash situated on the irregular chalk table or plateau which stretched between the valley of her birth and the valley of her love here the air was dry and cold. There were few trees or none the soil was stubborn. The onset of the winter here is described by hardy as if he were a painter showing us the seasons in all its moods. Then one day peculiar quality invaded the air of this open country. There came moisture which was not of rain and a cold which was not of forest.” In this novel hardy narrated the short and Misfortunate life of rural women. Tess tragedy involved in many factors. At first it was the tragedy of society. Tess lived in the Victorian period when the capitalism began to erode the rural life and spoil the social atmosphere despite her intelligence beauty diligence and kindness Tess was destined to suffer all kinds of oppression and insult. It was the fate tragedy her tragedy was made up of a series of coincidence and accidence. She was covered in a shapeless not like a little bird and was pushed to words edge of tragedy. All these coincidence and accidence was the incarnation of the fate therefore her tragedy was also caused by the fate Tess’s tragedy embodies  hardy’s own tragic consciousness which ran throughout his novels character and environment and made these works reveal the sense of human tragedy. Tess of the D’Urbervilles was also infiltrated with pronounced local color which was another important feature of the novel of character and environment.

   The Seasonal Setting are carefully chosen they reflect a perception which any city dweller can understand that sunlight is beautiful and conducive to happiness and harmony and that bleak winter winds and dark skies suggest misery and discomfort. The novel is so structured that events take place in seasons which are artistically appropriate. At the most beautiful productive season of the year nature appears to be striving for perfection everything tends towards wholeness. Human beings are frequently shown to be integral to parts of the natural scene. The maturing love of Tess and angel is in accord with the fullness of the season Tess’s pure womanly form is enriched and enhanced by the abundance and richness of nature around her. She is a part of nature we must realize that the environment does not take on active part in the fate of the people of Wessex certain seasons and natural events did or hinder the progress of man in an impartial through predictable way. The “Pathetic Fallacy” is due to hardy’s structuring the coincidence of season and event combined with subjective impression of the characters. We next come to the belief and superstitions of the people of Wessex. Early in the novel we are told about the superstitious mind of Joan durbeyfild she has consulted the fortunes teller and come to the conclusion that Tess would get married to some fine gentleman through her school, education, retains much of her mother’s superstiousness. Hardy also makes specific reference to the problems the agricultural community of the time was facing. It is the powerful representation of the local color in the novels. The Wessex in hardy’s novels has become immortal in the history of literature.