Artistic Effectiveness Of Allusions In The Return Of The Native

Well versed in classical. Greek and biblical literature, Thomas Hardy utilizes the rich material in the form of allusions in his works. The reason for which Hardy seems to favor allusions is that his sources with the truth they contain are parts of shared human experience and the spiritual identities of different cultures. This thesis, focusing its discussion on the allusions used in The Return Of The Native. Hardy's first mature novel, is to study what the use of allusions, as an aspect of Hardy's fictional art. accomplishes in the novel.A main method of scientific research is to break down an object into component elements. Applied to our field this approach allows me to deal with the subject in terms of its artistic effectiveness in the setting, characterization, plotting and the theme. I Artistic effectiveness of allusions in the settingBy the sheer and almost systematic accumulation of allusions to the Bible, mythology, literary works, legends, geography and history, Hardy evokes the large and heroic world-Egdon Heath. By so doing, he fixes the otherwise purely local action of the novel within a frame of reference that gave it dignity and meaning. He labors to establish, in his novel, the kind of artistic climate and environment which will enable him to handle his story with conviction. As an archetype, the image of the Heath descends from the ancient tradition, elaborated by Hardy, and will necessarily advance forward. II Artistic effectiveness of allusions in characterizationAlluding to some pre-exist pattern in human imagination and still stayalive as archetypes in the collective unconscious, Hardy creates characters who are both physically and psychologically alive. The use of allusions allows the reader access to the inner life of the protagonists, permitting him or her to learn about many sides of the characters. The protagonists thereupon, seem round and have a higher level of artistic appeal.The characters are constantly evaluated, or more accurately, transvaluated, according to a scale provided by classical history and literature.Allusions also form comparison between its original connotation and what they work on the characters, and thus provide readers with ample room of imagination.Though he makes the least effort to create the foil characters, that is, his favorite rustic persons, Hardy alludes a lot to historical events and names, tunes, dances .songs, mythological tales and folklores to justify their existence.III Artistic effectiveness of allusions in plottingUsing of allusions partially explains Hardy's extraordinary juxtaposition of events which is often taken as clumsy because of too many coincidences. Hardy's plot is rounded, often intricate; but it is neatly worked out instead of blundering forward. Many of his allusions foreshadow the coming events.Hardy does not heap up events; on the contrary, he arranges them skillfully in a transition accomplished by allusions. Even within the narrow scope of a specific passage, allusions sometimes function as transitional phrases or sentences. Some of the allusions are dominating within the novel or some specific chapters.IV Artistic effectiveness of allusions in the themeThat a beautiful country girl Eustacia is drowned in an elopement with her love is nothing but a commonplace story or material for the gossip of country ladies.Thanks to Hardy's successful interpretation, the story becomes a revealing literary work. Hardy concerns not with the everyday surface of things but with the deeper principles and forces that lie behind them. In The Return of the Native, Thomas Hardy shows his concern for human anxieties , the deepened theme, through dealing with the theme of the escape from either a convention or destiny mostly symbolized by nature. In achieving this aim, Hardy uses allusions to support his ideas and to adjust things unusual to those eternal and universal.In articulating his view with conviction, Hardy writes in the disguise of the past genius whose achievements have been a part o...