A Study Of The Physical And Social Space In Tess Of The D’urbervilles From The Perspective Of Henri Lefebvre’s Spatial Theory

Recently, the criticism of Thomas Hardy’s works has not emphasized on the psychological analysis of the main characters or the influence of Hardy’s life on his novels. However, it stresses the geographical environment and regional difference, which affects the Victorian people greatly. Some critics combine the geographical spatial theories and literary criticisms to interpret the geographical spatial value in Hardy’s works, and they further discuss the impact of the spatial value on the ideology and behavior of the Victorian people. The domestic studies of Hardy’s works started early and Tess of the d’Urbervilles has been one of the hot topics in the study. However, domestic scholars tend to use traditional criticisms to interpret the characters and themes in the novel. The physical space of a place is related to the personality of one, while the social place makes full of the living and the working places which will unconsciously influence one. Due to the great influence of physical and social space, the ruling class uses physical space to shape personality and uses social space to discipline souls. Laws and policies are tools of the ruling class to squeeze the surplus value of the working class after the ruling class occupies the social space.In this thesis, Henri Lefebvre’s spatial theory is applied to interpret that the physical and social space have great impact on the main characters in Tess of the d’Urbervilles. The physical space means the natural geographical of a place and the difference from one place to another. The physical space includes scenery and culture which will impact on the personality. After one country occupies the physical space, then the social space is produced. With politics and domination, a country uses laws and policies to organize production and discipline the domestic citizens, even the international citizens. Although the social space is not easily to be found, it changes the characters’ behavior unintentionally. These two kinds of space push the character forward, which is reflected well in Hardy’s novel –Tess of the d’Urbervilles. Tess of the d’Urbervilles is one of the most famous novels of Hardy. The main characters are Tess, Angel and Alec who lived and worked in different places and the change of places has positive and negative effect on them.The key points of my thesis are the eight significant places in Tess of the d’Urbervilles. The different physical space plays important role in the developing of personality. The distinctive Marlott, bleak Flintcomb- Ash farm, ancient Kingsbere, and modern Sandbourne transferred Tess from an innocent girl to an insensitive and deserted wife; she cruelly murdered Alec in the coastal city. The traditional Emminster, picturesque Talbothays Dairy, different Brazil changed Angel from a rebellious young man to a positive skilled worker, but he found himself in Brazil and forgave his wife. In the flirtatious Trantridge, Alec was influenced by the bad customs and he seduced Tess. For the social space, the particularity of a place(to collect memories and orient the future), Enclosure, Industrialization, British leasing policy, modernization, the changes of family relationship, the employer- employee relationship, world trade and the moral standard have impact on the main characters. Personality of the characters in Tess of the d’Urbervillesis changed by physical space and the soul is disciplined by social space.The study of the physical and social space in the novel will be enlightenment for the economic and social development of China, especially for the social phenomena like the urbanization, immigration waves, and peasant-workers. According to the international and domestic literature review, this study is helpful to explore the personality of the characters in Tess of the d’ Urbervilles from the perspective of the physical and social spatial theory, which is an academic contribution of the thesis.This thesis is divided into five parts. The first part is the introduction of the motivation, critical theory of Henri Lefebvre, significance and structure of the thesis. The second part is the literature review, which reviewed the research findings of international and domestic studies on the space of Tess of the d’Urbervilles. The third part is the critical approach which is mainly about Henri Lefebvre’ spatial theory, the importance of physical and social space, comments on the relationship between his spatial theory and Tess of the d’Urbervilles. In the fourth part, I use Henri Lefebvre’ s spatial theory to discuss and analyze the physical and social space in the novel. In the last part, I conclude the major findings, implications and limitations of the thesis, and suggestions for further study.