Landscape Description In Tess Of The D'Urbervilles

In Tess of the d'Urbervilles(Tess), Thomas Hardy makes a keen and genuine description of the natural background, so the readers can get a better understanding of the natural scenery in this novel. But, what is more important is that landscape description is closely coherent with Tess's tragic fate. The author of this paper attempts to make a detailed and systematic s udy of the landscape description in Tess, one of Hardy's best-known novels, aiming to analyze its function in correlating the heroine-Tess's destiny and setting off atmos shere for the novel.Apart from introduction and conclusicn, this paper consists of four chapters. Chapter one focuses on the space transfer in Tess. In the novel, there is a continuous space transfer: from Blackmoor Vale, the cradle of innocence; then to Trantridge, the origin of Tess's misery; to Thalbathays, the paradise of love; to Filntcomb-Ash, the purgatory, and finally to Stonehenge, the destination of Tess's journey. The changing of places indicates and parallels the changing of Tess's fate at different stages of her short life. Hardy uses setting and atmosphere symbolically in the changing of scenes in the novel.Chapter two concentrates on the landscape in seasonal changes in Tess. The rhythm of the year and its relationship with Tess's experiences and fate are always consistent in the novel. The innocence of the spring opening, the richness cf full summer at Thalbathays and the harshness of the winter landscape at Flintcomb-Ash are all appropriate to Tess's story and powerful in helping the readers to respond to her situation at different periods. Hardy is also very successful in correlating Tess's experiences with different seasonal background to form a line of continuity in the whole novel.Chapter three deals with the landscape description in specific scenes in Tess. In each specific scene, a great deal of landscape description is employed to enhance the atmosphere and parallel the destiny of the heroine. Sometimes, the natural surroundings echo the development of an incident and the feelings of the character; at other times, the character even becomes an indivisible part of the landscape and the two are integrated into one. Hardy not only portrays the outward natural scenery but also reveals the character's inner state of mind by combining the two together.Chapter four analyses the techniques of pictorial arts used in the landscape description in Tess. The readers can perceive numerous pictures of landscape in this novel, which is mainly attributed to the pictorial arts used by Hardy. Like a painter, Hardy combined the painting techniques such as colour, ray and tone in the landscape description to enhance atmosphere as well as add to aesthetic effects.So, landscape description in Tess does not merely provide the physical background for the novel. Its main function lies in correlating spatial and seasonal changes with the changing of Tess's fate and contributing to the thematic depth and artistic charm of the novel.