The Use of Nature in Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles

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The Use of Nature in Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles

In this essay I have explored Hardy's skill in creating mood through

the use of nature in his novel 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles'. I

start with an introduction to Thomas Hardy, the writer, and a

brief discussion his life and his motivation for writing the Wessex

novels.

The three locations I have chosen to examine in this novel are

Marlott, Talbothays and Flintcomb-Ash as I think these environments

play an important part in the life of Tess, particularly as in regard

to the changes that she undergoes. In Marlott she is the spring bud

waiting to blossom in a protected environment. In Talbothays she is in

full flower and finds love in the summer fields and beautiful

surroundings of the dairy. Lastly, when winter sets in, withering the

spirit of the poor deserted Tess, time, place and circumstances change

and we are transported to the barren wasteland of Flintcomb-Ash.

Thomas Hardy was born on 2nd June 1840 in Higher Bockhampton, a hamlet

near to Dorchester in the county of Dorset. He was born five months

after the marriage of his mother Jemima Hands to Thomas Hardy, a

master mason. Prior to the marriage, Jemima had served as cook to her

future husband. Hardy?s birthplace was a thatched cottage, which

stood alone in woodland, on the edge of a broad region of open heath.

The bosky woodland gave way to the wide horizons of the heath, in an

area of idyllic rural countryside. Hardy was brought up as a cottage

child in this remote rural area, which proved an ideal backdrop and

provided the inspiration not only for ?Tess of the D'Urbervilles? but

also some of his other major narratives and poems. It was here in his

study that he would conjure up ...

... middle of paper ...

...y cannot even communicate because of the overpowering noise. Tess

is enslaved here by her poverty, her pride and her eagerness to take

all the blame for Angel?s desertion.

In all three places, Hardy literally sets the scene with graphic

description that immediately creates the mood of the place and gives

an insight into the storyline, by its clever descriptions of nature,

climate and season. He is conveying atmosphere and hidden emotion and

his vivid descriptions of the environment are paralleled to the

characters and the story. It is only when you start to analyse his

words that you realise Hardy is leading you in a certain direction or

putting you in a frame of mind relevant to the emotion of that

particular part of the story. In this way I think he completely

influences the unconscious mind of the reader and adds so much more

enjoyment to the book.

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