Thomas Hardy and the meaning of freedom
Abstract
This is a study of the
meaning of
freedom in Thomas Hardy's
fiction. The first section of the thesis is concerned with
the influences in Hardy's thought
and view of man and man's
position
in the universe. Attention
will
be
given mainly
to
three sources of influence on
Hardy's thought.
Darwinian theories of evolution and the secular
movement of
the nineteenth century and the
change they
brought
about
in
man's view of himself and his state in the
world can be seen clearly
in Hardy's personal writings as
well as his fiction. His childhood contact with
Dorset folk
beliefs
and superstitions can also
be
perceived
to have a
great influence not only on
his art but on his thought and
outlook as well.
In the second section an investigation in detail of the
meaning of
freedom in four
of
Hardy's
novels will
be carried
out. In the novels, man will
be seen as essentially
free
and not an automaton or a plaything of necessity or nature
or fate, for
example.
However, we shall see
that man's
freedom
of action as well as of choice
is severely
limited
but not annihilated by a number of
factors working
from
within and from
without man's character.
In this, nature
both as phenomena and as system plays a great part. Society
with its standards, norms,
laws and implied understandings
is another contributing
factor in
constraining man's
freedom. Man
also has his freedom limited by chance
happenings and coincidences that he cannot control.
"Character is fate", quotes Hardy from Novalis, and
everywhere
in the novels we see characters'
destinies linked
tightly with
their personal traits, unconscious urges and
peculiarities of character either passed to them by heredity
or formed by early
life conditioning or both.
Nevertheless, man
is responsible in Hardy's
view
because he has that essential sense of freedom;
and hence
that tragic flavour that tinges Hardy's fiction
which would
have been impossible
with machine-like people as characters.
Type
Thesis, PhD Doctor of Philosophy
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