An Eco-ethical Reading Of Far From The Madding Crowd

Thomas Hardy is recognized as one of the most outstanding writers in Britaineven in the world. He is famous for his excellent depiction of nature and of thetraditional patriarchal life in his hometown in southwest England. Far from theMadding Crowd occupies a very important position in his novel writing career. It isHardy’s first novel which attracts wide attention from common readers and literarycritics."Wessex" first appears in this novel following which Hardy creates a series offamous novels of character and environment. Taking Far from the Madding Crowd asan example, this article explores the inherent value and equal rights of nature, theharmonious relationship between man and nature in Hardy’s works. A close reading ofthis novel is meaningful to get a comprehensive understanding of the writer’seco-ethical awareness.The thesis consists of six parts.Chapter one is an introduction, summarizing Hardy’s life experiences as thebackground of his literary creation and previous research and study at home andabroad on this great writer and his novels.Chapter two gives a brief overview of eco-ethic ideas. Following the worldenvironmental protection movements, people’s ecological-ethical consciousness hasbeen improved. There appear various eco-ethical thoughts and ideas during thedevelopmental stages of eco-ethics, such as anthropocentrism, animal liberation andanimal rights, biocentrism and eco-centrism, deep ecology as well asbiotic-community. The eco-ethicists believe that nature as a subject has its owninherent value and transformative value. The vision from eco-ethical criticismchanges the narrowness of anthropocentrism, and emphasizes that human beings canbuild a harmonious world with nature (including animals). Hardy’s ideas with hiswriting technique "perspective from nature" are highly consistent with those ofeco-ethicists. Chapter three discusses sources of Hardy’s eco-ethical thoughts mainly from thefollowing three aspects: Hardy’s early life experiences, British Romanticism andcontemporary western philosophies as well as social changes in Victorian age. Firstly,Hardy’s early life experiences in the countryside cultivate his sincere love and respectfor nature, leaving everlasting influences on his writing of Wessex novels. Naturealways gives endless inspiration to his creation. Secondly, by reading and inheritingBritish Romantic poets like Wordsworth and contemporary philosophers, like Darwin,the author gets his own understanding of nature and the Evolutionary theory. Thirdly,England in the late nineteenth century is in the process of Industrialization. The bigsocial changes in his time unavoidably shape Hardy’s eco-ethical awareness. In hisworks, he tries to encourage landless and homeless people to go "far from themadding crowd" and return to nature for better living conditions.Chapter four is a case study of Far from the Madding Crowd. Based on fouraspects--land ethics, animal and plant ethics, ecological refugees and psycho-ecology,this chapter explores the intrinsic value of nature and the harmonious relationshipbetween human and animals and Hardy’s other eco-ethical thoughts well reflected inthe novel aiming to get a complete view of Hardy’s eco-ethical awareness and hisspecific ways of expression.Chapter five discusses the limits in Hardy’s eco-ethical thoughts hidden in hisnovels from three aspects: principle of Utilitarianism, more emphasis on Man’sfeelings and pessimistic beliefs in fate. Being not an eco-ethicist and restricted by thetimes, it is quite acceptable that there may be certain limits and contradictions in thewriter’s eco-ethical thoughts according to modern eco-ethicists’ view. For instance,Hardy lays great stress on the innate value of nature, yet he never forgets its beinguseful to human beings. While protection of small animals is necessary, man’s feelingsalways go first. Besides, Hardy’s pessimistic beliefs in fate make his eco-ethicalthoughts difficult to get more developed.The last part comes to a conclusion that Far from the Madding Crowd is a goodexample to get an all-round understanding of the author and his works. Such anexploration and analysis of Hardy’s eco-ethical thoughts embedded in this novel are meaningful and useful for readers to appreciate Hardy’s other novels of Character andEnvironment from the same perspective or other perspectives. Moreover, for a seriesof environmental and social problems caused by the process of Industrialization, thewriter’ eco-ethical awareness is also of great value to modern China being in a similartransitional period from an agricultural society to an industrial one.