The Success of Thomas Hardys Novel The Return of the Native as a Trage

The Success of Thomas Hardy's Novel The Return of the Native as a Tragedy On the first chapter of this novel Egdon Heath is presented as an untameable force "unmoved during so many centuries, through the crisis of so many things, that it could only be imagined to await one last crisis - the final overthrow". Thus, from the very beginning of the novel we can expect an outcome of tragic possibilities. Similarly to ancient Greek tragedies, the action in "The Return of the Native" takes place during a restricted period of time. Usually, in Greek tragedies the plot developed within 24 hours, while Hardy limits himself to the space of 5 books, which represents an exact time of 1 year and a day. Although the novel extends to a 6th book; the main action and the tragedy itself is developed within the first five books. As its title indicates, the sixth book, "Aftercourses" was added to please the readers of the magazine in which his novel was published, in order to put a more closed end to the series. He provided them with a happy ending; as Thomasin and Venn end up marred. However, in its 1912 edition, Hardy included a footnote at the end of the book in which he stated that it was left to the reader to choose whichever ending he/she preferred. Ironically, Hardy declared "à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦and those with an austere artistic code can assume the more consistent conclusion to be the true one". By this, Hardy suggests that the real appraisers of tragedy would conclude on the tragic ending as the most fitting; consistency being also considered by Aristotle as an essential element for tragedy. As a result, similar also to Shakespearian tragedies, which were divided into five acts, the action in Hardy's novel is set up in the first... ... of place, time and other tragedy conventions; the way the plot develops with a sense of foreboding in the novel's consequences, convert this book into a classic of the genre. The relentless mood and development, the numerous lucky (or unlucky) coincidences that are later to determine the future of the characters and the way people continually strive to change the way things are, combine the prefect ingredients of a tragedy. As often in Greek tragedies, fate plays an essential role and the people in the novel can't escape it because it would only keep coming back. Chance seems to dictate the destiny of the characters, playing around with their lives as if they were mere pieces on a chess board. The forces of the heath seem to inflict some sort of control on the characters, fulfilling the Greek tragedy convention of gods playing around with humans' lives. The Success of Thomas Hardy's Novel The Return of the Native as a Trage The Success of Thomas Hardy's Novel The Return of the Native as a Tragedy On the first chapter of this novel Egdon Heath is presented as an untameable force "unmoved during so many centuries, through the crisis of so many things, that it could only be imagined to await one last crisis - the final overthrow". Thus, from the very beginning of the novel we can expect an outcome of tragic possibilities. Similarly to ancient Greek tragedies, the action in "The Return of the Native" takes place during a restricted period of time. Usually, in Greek tragedies the plot developed within 24 hours, while Hardy limits himself to the space of 5 books, which represents an exact time of 1 year and a day. Although the novel extends to a 6th book; the main action and the tragedy itself is developed within the first five books. As its title indicates, the sixth book, "Aftercourses" was added to please the readers of the magazine in which his novel was published, in order to put a more closed end to the series. He provided them with a happy ending; as Thomasin and Venn end up marred. However, in its 1912 edition, Hardy included a footnote at the end of the book in which he stated that it was left to the reader to choose whichever ending he/she preferred. Ironically, Hardy declared "à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦and those with an austere artistic code can assume the more consistent conclusion to be the true one". By this, Hardy suggests that the real appraisers of tragedy would conclude on the tragic ending as the most fitting; consistency being also considered by Aristotle as an essential element for tragedy. As a result, similar also to Shakespearian tragedies, which were divided into five acts, the action in Hardy's novel is set up in the first... ... of place, time and other tragedy conventions; the way the plot develops with a sense of foreboding in the novel's consequences, convert this book into a classic of the genre. The relentless mood and development, the numerous lucky (or unlucky) coincidences that are later to determine the future of the characters and the way people continually strive to change the way things are, combine the prefect ingredients of a tragedy. As often in Greek tragedies, fate plays an essential role and the people in the novel can't escape it because it would only keep coming back. Chance seems to dictate the destiny of the characters, playing around with their lives as if they were mere pieces on a chess board. The forces of the heath seem to inflict some sort of control on the characters, fulfilling the Greek tragedy convention of gods playing around with humans' lives.