Discuss Hardy’s treatment of nature in Far from the Madding Crowd.

Discuss Hardy’s treatment of nature in Far from the Madding Crowd.

As Hardy grew in stature as an author, his scenes of Nature began to take on a darker, more pessimistic tinge, The trees and the flowers, of course, were still beautiful objects to behold. But he was no longer content to discuss the pastoral aspects of the blissful sunshine. The Nature Hardy had known and loved as a youth had changed visibly, he became impressed, now, with the grand face of nature — the melancholy solemnity of Nature. In short, he gradually came to realize that Nature could be a monster as well as a friend. The very first chapter of Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd delineates this aspect of his Nature philosophy. In the opening description of Norcombe Hill the pastoral element is totally lacking. It is not a place of serene beauty, but a place of desolateness, loneliness, and sadness. It is with the description of Norcombe Hill that the reader becomes fuily aware of the pessimistic outlook that Hardy now begins to incorporate into his ideas concerning the Nature he has known and has loved as a child. The trees on Norcombe Hill  ‘groan and grumble,’ in a ‘weakened moan’; the leaves are ‘dry’ and move in haphazard fashion across the earth. This then, is the Nature seen in death — ‘the Autumn Nature of yellow boughs’ — that Hardy pictures as evident on Norcombe Hill.

Naturalism in literature asserts that man is controlled by forces more powerful than himself that guide his course as if he were nothing more than a puppet. One force, in many instances, becomes Nature, or man’s universe, and this Hardy employs in his novel, Far From the Mad ding Crowd. Nature becomes the impenetrable, inexorable force, ordering man’s life, pinning man to the wheel of fate. Gabriel Oak, in his most tragic moments, becomes a victim of Nature’s unerring course. He loses his sheep to the forces of Nature, in fact, to one of Nature’s humblest creatures, a dog. Oak stands at the summit of the broad precipice of Norcombe Hill and sees his flock of sheep a slaughtered mass, lying in a heap at the bottom of the hills. It is the death of the sheep that causes Oak to encounter Bathsheba Everdene again. Nature has played Fate and has determined the course of Gabriel Oak’s life, He can no longer raise his sheep in contentment and is forced, through Nature’s commands: not through any will of his own to give up his life as a sheep—farmer......................................................................................................................................

TO GET COMPLETE STUDY MATERIAL JOIN NSOU ENGLISH COACHING

SHARE

Milan Tomic

Hi. I’m Designer of Blog Magic. I’m CEO/Founder of ThemeXpose. I’m Creative Art Director, Web Designer, UI/UX Designer, Interaction Designer, Industrial Designer, Web Developer, Business Enthusiast, StartUp Enthusiast, Speaker, Writer and Photographer. Inspired to make things looks better.

• 
• 
• 
• 
•