Associated Asia Research Foundation (AARF) A Monthly Double-Blind Peer Reviewed Refereed O pen Access International e-Journal -Included in the International Serial Dire ctories. THE CONCEPT OF NATURE IN THOMAS HARDY'S NOVELS (original) (raw)

Thomas Hardy is considered as one of the best English writers of novels and poems. His melancholy view of man's lot caused him to examine some answers to the problem of man's destiny as he felt that man was always in conflict with the Laws of Nature. Inevitably, he became aware of the dual power of Nature: a Nature of beauty and grace, and a Nature of ugliness and cruelty. Nature in Hardy's novels becomes not only the foe against which man battles all his life, but also the real actor in lie's drama on the stage, while man was only a passive player. In Hardy's novels we find a description of the external world that is hardly rivaled. The beautiful hillside country, the sound of the wind at night, the face of a mountain, the patter of rain against the window during a stormy night etc. are parts of this external world. Hardy uses agents of Nature to spur the characters toward some tragic ending. After studying the concept of Nature in Hardy's novels, we see that Nature becomes a definite instrument-an instrument chosen to mark the sad progress of man's brief stay on earth. It will also be noticed that Nature assumes an impassive, scrutinizing ace when man acts, and that it is an impartial observer to whom man is almost sub-servant. Nature is the outside world of grass, animals, sunlight, flowers etc. It is also the external world of somber majesty-both evil and breathtaking.