Tragic Effect Of Thomas Hardy's Major Novels

The thesis discusses the tragic effect of Hardy's four major novels through the forms and contents, namely, The Return of the Native (RN hereafter), The Mayor of Casterbridge (MC hereafter), Tess of the D'ubervilles (TD hereafter) and Jude the Obscure (JD hereafter). The end of tragic art is to produce the kind of emotional effect proper and peculiar to tragedy as a particular art form. His major novels are very powerful in producing the kind of emotional effect proper to tragedy. The intensity of tragic experience in Hardy's novels is significantly enhanced by his conviction that there is a fundamental dissonance between humanity and the ruthless fate the individuals struggle against. We have a vivid impression of the feebleness of his main characters before the onslaught of that blind force, thus experiencing an intense feeling of pity and fear.This thesis is divided into three chapters. Chapter One is an introduction. Chapter Two shows the life and works of Thomas Hardy. Chapter Three discusses the tragic effect of Thomas Hardy's major novels. Chapter Three consists of two parts. The first part analyzes the tragic effect achieved by the use of central characters and central events, suspense, recognition and reversal, accidents and coincidences, rhythmic movement in the four novels. The second part analyzes the tragic effect and tragic conflict from the contents of Hardy's four novels. The last Chapter is a conclusion based on the discussion in the previous chapters.