Week 4: Hardy's Art of Characterization

Hardy’s art of characterization:

In his novels we see that all his characters belong to Wessex and are belong to poor class of society. He chooses deliberately characters from the lower class of society because he has mentioned that “the conduct of the upper class is screened by conventions and thus the real character is not seen”. In the lower ranks of society characters actions and conduct seem to be real. His characters are universal and deal with universal passions of man. His characters are common human beings with common human weaknesses and virtues. They commit sin as common human beings do so but they are considered mean. Male characters in his novels especially in Tess of D’Urbervilles are not complex but are rational in thinking while women are portrayed as always passionate and they love their lovers passionately. Hardy’s stories sometimes are love stories. They set a theme as D.H Lawrence used to believe that “if you step outside your circle you will die”