An Application Of Eco-ethics Criticism To The Analysis Of The Mayor Of Casterbridge

The great English writer Thomas Hardy is prolific in his writing career. His writing career began in the 1860s and continued steadily into the twentieth century, he created 15 novels, 4 collected short stories, 8 volumes of poems and 2 poetic dramas., and was regarded by Karl Web as"Shakespeare in English novels"Born in a transitional age, Hardy was not only great novelist and poet but also a keen thinker and serious moralist. In his life, he never ceased to explore nature and human society and commented on morality of society and human's behaviors. As one of his tragic novel The Mayor of Casterbridge, this project is based on eco-ethic critical approach to explore the ecological ethic thoughts implanted in Hardy's books. Moreover the tragic aesthetics expressed in the novel will be deconstructed through this approach and illustrate the relationship between the deterioration of nature and Hardy's tragic thoughts.The thesis consists of four parts. Chapter one introduces the background of Hardy's writing and eco-ethic ideas and its study of Thomas Hardy. The eco-ethicist believes that nature as a subject has its own inherent value and transformative value. The vision from eco-ethic criticism changes the narrowness of anthropocentrism, and emphasizes that nature(including animals)can build a harmonious world with human beings. Hardy's ideas with his writing technique"perspective from nature"are consistent with those of eco-ethicists'. The following chapter try to extract Hardy's eco-consciousness that is embodied in his novels. Chapter two discusses the eco-ethic thoughts in Hardy's novels. A study of the best known books Far From The Madding Crowd and Tess of the D'Urbervilles to express the value of nature and the harmonious relationship between human and animals. Chapter three does an experiment to deconstruct the main reasons that lead the characters in The Mayor of Casterbridge into a tragdy from the perspective of eco-ethic criticism. And try to illustrate the deterioration of nature, the alienated social circumstance and the estranged personal relationships are the elements that devoted to the tragic aesthetics in the novel. Chapter four concludes that Hardy's tragic aesthetics embedded in his novels are related to the deterioration of circumstances. And I hope that the study of Hardy's novels will enrich the thoughts of eco-ethics, as our level of our ethical maturity is a decisive element to practice moral ethics. Furmore, the ahead conscious and eco-ethic insights provide enlightment for the modern world in the throes of its global crisis.