The Study Of The Contradiction Of The Creative Thoughts Of Hardy's Novels

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) was a brilliant realistic novelist and poet in English literature in the late 19th century and early 20th century. As a literary giant, Hardy had inherited the traditional culture of Britain by his realistic creation and also had the spirit of the times and the modernity. He had inherited the past and forged ahead in English literature. In Hardy's novels, we can see the praise to the patriarchal society and the critique of its own backwardness, the identity to the social progress brought by the industrial civilization and the queries to the tragedy caused by the invasion of the industrial civilization, the praise to the true, the good and the beautiful of the Christianity and the rebellion against the dogmatic religion and marriage and morality. His novels reflect the contradictory creative thoughts of Hardy.The thesis is divided in three chapters, which mainly focuses on the"Character and Environment"novels, and analyzes the manifestation of the contradiction, the reasons of the contradiction, and Hardy's exploration in the contradictory dilemma.Introduction: A general introduction of the life of Hardy, the creations of Hardy and the research status of Hardy.Chapterâ… : The contradiction of the creative thoughts of Hardy's novels. This chapter mainly discusses the manifestation of the contradiction. The author thinks that it mainly displays in three aspects: the attachment and the critique to the homeland, the identity and the queries to the industrial civilization, the passion and the rebellion to the Christianity. Hardy loved his homeland strongly, but he had to criticize it for its backwardness. Hardy sang cheerfully for the social progress brought by the industrial civilization, but he sang mournfully for the decline of the patriarchal society caused by the invasion of the industrial civilization. Hardy praised the true, the good and the beautiful of the Christianity, but he rebelled against the formal and dogmatic religion.Chapterâ…¡: The reasons for the contradiction of the creative thoughts of Hardy's novels. With the environment and the personal experiences of Hardy, the social and historical conditions at that time and the major changes happened in the ideological field, the author analyzes the reasons for the contradiction. Hardy grew up in the countryside, so he had deep feelings to his hometown. But he also received modern education, so he yearned for the flavor of modern times in city. This unique life experience of city and rural overlapping made Hardy fall into the confliction between emotion and reason. Meanwhile, he had the contradictory feeling and experience for the hit of the capitalist industrial society and the patriarchal rural society in the late 19th century. And the intense confliction between Evolution and the traditional religion caused him to choose difficultly between emotion and reason. All these factors produced the contradictory creative thoughts, which was special to Hardy.Chapterâ…¢: Hardy's exploration in the contradictory dilemma. This chapter analyzes Hardy's efforts to the contradiction. Hardy could not find a foothold in the contradiction between emotion and reason, so he turned to the religion which can give people spiritual consolation and hoped to obtain self-perfection in Christianity. However, the background of the 19th century and the personal experiences had denied his change. Hardy found that people live in a world forgotten by God, so he fell into pessimism. The pessimism is not pessimistic, but is responsible. So, as a humanist, Hardy decided to find the solution. Since the traditional religious world filled with pain, he must find a new carrier of hope to improve people's plight. Finally, Hardy placed the hope on the perfection of human and the improvement of society. Hardy proposed the theory of social evolution and virtuous-toward and he called for the love and good. Although the way is ideal, Hardy's efforts and exploration have the positive social significance.Conclusion: A summary of the whole thesis. The contradictory creative thoughts which was special to Hardy showed that Hardy was a responsible writer, he paid attention to people's spiritual world and the fate. Although Hardy ultimately failed to find a way to improve people's plight, his exploration and efforts in the contradictory dilemma were respected, and his creative thoughts in the history of literature have the positive significance.