A Language Picture Of Pastoral Life

Thomas Hardy is a great novelist and poet in English Literature, who is best known for his artistic use of language. A remarkable example to show his language achievement is his Far from the Madding Crowd. In this novel, he presents a vivid picture of the Victorian life by describing the economic activities, social order and traditional customs in Weatherbury. He also displays his attitude to an idealized society and a harmonious life within that society. Once industrialization is let free, it destroys many things that are considered traditional, as is now happening around the world. However, in Far From the Madding Crowd, we find Hardy trying to preserve traditional native customs in the process of a rapid industrialization in England.This thesis attempts to investigate the language features of Far From the Madding Crowd to see how Hardy’s language actually works to portray a fictional world in which different people are distinctively presented to serve his affections to a pastoral life. Apart from introduction and conclusion, this thesis consists of three chapters. Chapter One focuses on the diction of the novel by analyzing certain words and expressions that are deliberately used by Hardy for his depiction of different characters. The purpose of this chapter is to see how Hardy depicts his characters with different words to show his concerns of and affection to them, regardless of their roles as major characters or as minor characters in this novel. Chapter Two is to concentrate on the syntax of the novel by analyzing some extracts from the conversations between the main characters. It aims to show how Hardy’s syntax helps to disclosure Oak"s enduring affection and Troy’s fickle attitude even though these two men openly declares their love to Bathsheba. It also aims to find out how Hardy indicates his positive attitude to Gabriel’s reliable personality. Chapter Three focuses on the themes of novel, taking the pastoral mode and the lyric songs as examples to reveal how Hardy uses language to reproduce his idealized pastoral life in Weatherbury.