Tess as the archetype of the earth goddess in Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Ernst Hostettler (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Randolph Bulgin

Abstract: Chapter I sees Thomas Hardy's novels, especially Tess of the D’Urbervilles, as tragedies which lie outside the mainstream of the literary thought of his century. The rise of the English Novel was largely influenced by John Locke's philosophy of free will and by his concept of "tabula rasa." Hardy has approached the problem of man's development from a different point of view. Through Darwin's theory of evolution it became evident that man had a genetic inheritance which preceeded the later manifestations of his free will. This genetic potential has the ingredients of a tragic development, because it has many of the implications of the classical concept of Divine Providence. This view led again to the recognition of archetypal patterns which were preserved in mythology and in classical literature. Hardy used these archetypal images again, not according to the classical concept of tragedy, but according to a linear development where time governs the theme and structure of the novel. We will see that time, as Hardy understood it, has archetypal significance as well. We recognize this when we define the meaning of the archetype and its genealogy.

Additional Information

Publication
Thesis
Language: English
Date: 1967
Subjects
Hardy, Thomas, $d 1840-1928 $x Criticism and interpretation.
Hardy, Thomas, $d 1840-1928 $x Characters $x Women

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