Breve riassunto su Thomas Hardy

THOMAS HARDY SUMMARY

Thomas Hardy.

Thomas Hardy was born near Dorchester, in June 1840. harchitecture in London and he began to write poetry at this time. One of his most important novel was Jude the Obscure, that scandalised Victorian public opinion with its pessimism and immorality. He died in 1928.
In his works Hardy express his deterministic view about life, man and universe. According to this philosophical idea, man can not change his destiny. This view was influenced by the Oxford movement, by  his reading of classics, from which derived the notion of cruel God and indifferent Nature. So human life is  purely tragic process over which man had no power. The only positive aspect is altruism, because mancan help each other.

Thomas Hardy: vita e opere

THOMAS HARDY POEMS

His major novels are set in a semi-fictional region of England, called Wessex as the old Saxom Kingdom of Alfred the Great. Hardy describes ruins of churches, walls and monuments like Stonehenge and he had an acurate knowlodge of the country traditions.
Very important themes in Hardy’s works are environment, that influenced life of man, and Nature, that is not a background, but it is presented as a co-protagonist with the character. Hardy had a romantic view of Nature but also indifferent.
In his novels Hardy exposes the most moralistic, hypocritical aspects of Victorian society, that is completly negative.
Hardy’s language is detailed, controlled and rich in simbolism, more rational and realistic than Dickens. He was very experimental. He continued to employ the Victorian omniscent narrator but Hardy often presents actions trought the eyes of a hypothetical observer.

THOMAS HARDY: JUDE THE OBSCURE

Jude the Obscure. Jude is a boy from a poor village and he has the ambition to become a student at the University of Christminister. He work as brick-layer and studies at the same time. After his marriage to Arabella Donn ends, he moves to Christminister where he meets his cousin Sue and they fall in love and decide to live together, refusing the istitution of the marriage, but Christminister’s people don’t accept their relationship. The climax is reached with the death of their children. Jude is “obscure” because he does not exist for others, is never seen by them, he tries to improve his conditions but he failes.