An Analysis of Hardy’s Writing Styles on His Novels of Character and Environment in Tess of the D’Urbervilles

An Analysis of Hardy’s Writing Styles on His Novels of Character and Environment in Tess of the D’Urbervilles

By Zhang Ling

In partial fulfillment of the requirement

For the B.A. degree

Department of English

School of Languages and Cultures

Nanjing University of Information Science amp; Technology

May, 2016

Acknowledgements

For the completion of my B.A thesis, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to a host of people, without whose assistance the accomplishment of this thesis would have been impossible.

First and foremost, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to Professor Zhang Jun, my tutor, who has given me the most valuable suggestions and made necessary corrections during the writing of this thesis as well as in the course of my undergraduate studies, and also to the professors and teachers at the department of English for their insightful lectures, which provide inspiration for me to compose this paper.

Second, my thanks would go to my beloved family for their loving considerations and great confidence in me all through these years, especially when I was working at this thesis.

At last, I also would like to sincerely thank all my classmates and friends, who have given me generous support and helpful device in the past few years.

CONTENTS

Abstract. 1

摘要 2

Chapter One. Introduction 3

1.1 About the author and his Novels of Character and Environment 3

1.2 About the literature review on the Novels of Character and Environment 3

Chapter Two. The Relationship between Character and Environment in Tess of the D’Urbervilles 5

2.1 The character of Tess 5

2.2 The background environment of the novel 6

2.3 The effect of surrounding environment on the characters 6

Chapter Three. The Flexible Usage of Coincidence in the Plot 8

3.1 A brief introduction to the novel 8

3.2 The example illustration of coincidences set in Tess of the U’Drbervilles 8

3.3 The functions of coincidence 9

3.3.1 As a realization of reader’s dreams about legend or romance 9

3.3.2 As a reflection of Hardy’s vision of love 10

3.3.3 As a symbolism of the failure in challenging fate 10

Chapter Four. Hardy’s Tragic Consciousness 11

4.1 Being rooted in the author’s family backgrounds and personal experiences 11

4.2 Being influenced by the theories of Herbert Spencer and Charles Robert Darwin 12

Chapter Five. Conclusion 13

References 14

An Analysis of Hardy’s Writing Styles on His Novels of Character and Environment in Tess of the D’Urbervilles

Zhang Ling

Department of English

School of Languages and Cultures

Nanjing University of Information Science amp; Technology, Nanjing 210044

Abstract: Thomas Hardy, an important poet and novelist in the late period of the Victorian era, lives across two centuries, whose early and middle novels writings inherit and develop literary tradition of the Victorian era. One type of Hardy’s work, called Novels of Character and Environment by himself, are recognized as Hardy’s maturest pieces of work in terms of ideas and arts. All the time, many scholars have made lots of analyses and researches from different aspects with regard to this type of novels with unique styles. Tess of the D’Urbervilles is acknowledged as one of Hardy’s most outstanding writings, also one of the representative works of his Novels of Character and Environment. In order to explore Hardy’s writing styles of his Novels of Character and Environment, Tess was chosen as a research object; and on the basis of detailed reading, the novel is analyzed from such aspects as character portrayal, environmental description, plot development and its theme, with an extended mode of thinking based on the principle of the universality of contradictions.

The paper is made up of five chapters: Chapter One is the introduction, which mainly introduces basic information of Hardy and his Novels of Character and Environment. Chapter Two specifically analyzes an interactive relationship between characters and environment in Tess. Chapter Three particularly explains flexible employment of coincidences in the plots of Tess and the functions of the coincidence technique. Chapter Four explores the embodiment of Hardy’s tragic consciousness in the novel. Chapter Five makes a conclusion, where a brief summary will be given.

Key Words: Character and environment; tragic fate; Hardy; Tess of the D’Urbervilles

摘要：托马斯·哈代是英国维多利亚后期重要的诗人，小说家，他横跨了两个世纪，其早期和中期的小说创作继承和发扬了维多利亚时代的文学传统。他自称作品中一类为“性格与环境”小说，一般认为它们是哈代思想及艺术上最为成熟的作品。一直以来，许多学者针对哈代这一类具有独特风格的小说进行了各方面的剖析和研究。《苔丝》被视为哈代最优秀的作品之一，也是其“性格与环境“小说的代表作之一，而本文旨在以《苔丝》为研究对象，在细读文本的基础上，通过对该作品人物性格刻画，环境描写，情节发展，主题思想等方面的分析，采用以矛盾的普遍性原理为基础的拓展型思维方式，探究哈代“性格与环境”小说的写作风格。

本文由五个章节构成：第一章主要对哈代与“性格与环境”小说进行介绍。第二章具体分析了《苔丝》中人物与环境的相互关系。第三章具体阐释了《苔丝》情节上对巧合的灵活运用以及巧合这一手法的功能。第四章探讨了哈代悲剧意识在作品中的体现。第五章则对全文进行了总结。

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