The Return of the Native, by Thomas Hardy
I am a huge fan of Thomas Hardy. His novels never fail to impress: he reliably writes books that are dramatic, gripping, emotionally powerful and linguistically rich. A Hardy is a guaranteed good read. Conscious as I am that Hardy's literary output is finite, I've been trying not to read all his books too quickly - I have to pace myself or else I'll have finished the lot and then the joy will be over all too fast. But when I saw 'The Return of the Native' winking at me from the library shelf, I decided it had been long enough since my last Hardy stint. Time to treat myself. And it was so worth it.
Eustacia Vye is a perfect tragic heroine. She is passionate, impulsive, and knows what she wants - which is to escape the rural confines of Egdon Heath. In her own words, she yearns for "music, poetry, passion, war, and all the beating and pulsing that is going on in the great arteries of the world", ideals which, of course, prove difficult to come by in little old Wessex. Eustacia is also tragically beautiful, with dark hair, heavy lashes and a chronically mournful disposition: accused by some of witchcraft, she is solitary, melancholy, and extremely alluring. Add to all this a strong streak of pride and a tendency to spitefulness, and you have the character around whom this whole tragedy revolves. She is delightfully doomed from the very outset.
Then of course there is her tragic counterpart, Damon Wildeve. That Eustacia's surname is a synonym for 'struggle' and Damon's contains the word 'wild' is surely no coincidence: the two really do vie with one another, in an impassioned love-hate relationship that seems both to fuel them and destroy them simultaneously. Wildeve is a classic rake, who falls most in love with the woman he cannot have (because he has chosen to marry someone else). When he marries Thomasin Yeobright instead of his old flame Eustacia, it only enlivens his former love. He is left in what Hardy describes as "a delirium of exquisite misery" in which "obstacles were a ripening sun to his [desire for Eustacia]".
Crucially, we know that were Wildeve ever to obtain Eustacia, the appeal would instantly evaporate. He desires her because she is forbidden. This is what Eustacia and Wildeve have in common, and it is the foundation for the tragedy: they long for what they can't attain, and they are permanently dissatisfied with what they have, whether or not they once wanted it. From the very start, the two main characters' wants are impossible to fulfil. This is complicated by the fact that their 'wants' include each other, even whilst they continue to bitterly spite one another. It's a fantastic premise for a tragedy.
The plot, as Hardy's stories always are, is filled with drama. Incensed by Wildeve's decision to marry someone else, Eustacia sets about finding an alternative man. Clym Yeobright, the eponymous native who returns from Paris to visit his cousin Thomasin, seems an attractive choice - not least because he might whisk her back to the glamorous French capital once they're married. Their love affair is a whirlwind, and turns out to have disastrous consequences: Eustacia is more trapped in Egdon Heath than ever before, and all too soon that roguish Damon Wildeve is very tempting... Thus Hardy spins a yarn full of passion, bitterness, love, lies, and tragic misunderstandings, in which pride is the inevitable undoing of everyone. It's brilliant.
Unlike Eustacia Vye, I absolutely loved the rural setting of 'The Return of the Native'. She's not at all wrong about the stifling provinciality of Egdon Heath, and Hardy portrays it fantastically. The novel's dramatic episodes are offset with comic scenes featuring a motley rabble of farming folk, who sing, dance, gossip, gamble and tease each other in Wessex dialect. They are invariably found drinking round the bonfire, or else in the pub, which is fantastically named The Quiet Woman. One can see why Eustacia feels cramped, but to the reader, Hardy's charming humour is delightful.
That said, Egdon Heath is also a brutal environment. Besides the pub, the church and the few houses, it's a wasteland. To get from one cottage to the next requires walking several miles, across vast fields and hills where the paths are unmarked. Romantic to some, perhaps, but when the night is pitch black and the wind is squalling, Egdon Heath is treacherous. Its brooding clouds and windswept marshes are a very fitting backdrop to the tragic events that unfold, and it goes without saying that it was all described in exquisite prose. Well done Thomas Hardy.
Overall, this was a dramatic, enthralling, excellent tragedy. It moved with pace and was told with flair, and its characters were wonderfully drawn. I really enjoyed it.
You can buy 'The Return of the Native' from Waterstones by following this link (I'll receive a small commission if you do):
The Return of the Native, Thomas Hardy - Waterstones
