Feminist Reading of Hardy’s the Return of the Native

Feminist Reading of Hardy’s The Return of the Native Most of Hardy’s novels or better to say all of them are considered to be modern. In fact, one can notice so many features of modern novels in his fiction. By referring to Robert Schweik’s article (1994) pertaining to the idea that Hardy has influenced so many modern novelists such as D.H. Lawrence, one of the key critics of Hardy novels, chiefly in the notion of feminine and treatment of women which is one of the distinguishing features in his fiction. One can regard this type of treatment of women in Jude the Obscure, the sixth and the last of his major fictions, in a way that Sue, the heroine of the novel, is a liberated, unconventional and broadminded feminine who rebels†¦show more content†¦One can observe how the folk women hate her, that how they talk behind her or also there is almost no conversation between Eustacia and the other female characters throughout the novel. As evidence, there is a scene in the church, exactly the time of Wildeve and Th omasin marriage, â€Å"Susan had pricked Miss. Vye with a long stocking needle† (RN: 149), as a means of her hatred. But, just in opposite, whatever is thought by the folk people is not Hardy’s objective. He attempts to criticize the narrow-mindedness of such people, their counterfeit superstitions particularly religious ones. Using Althusser’s â€Å"Ideology†, here, it is very much pertinent to the social laws, the church and what the â€Å"Fathers† are establishing. By reading closely the chapter called â€Å"Queen of Night†, the mysteries regarding Eustacia is unfolded. The common element in the chapter is the high spirited woman rebelling against the constructions of her prescribed â€Å"woman’s lot† and seeking a life of wider personal freedom than customarily granted to women: â€Å"she had the passions and instincts which make a model goddess, that is, those which make not quite a model woman.† (RN: 55) Through st udying theShow MoreRelatedAn Analysis of the Causes of Tess’s Tragedies in Tess of the D’urbervilles3739 Words   |  15 Pagesmodernist either notwithstanding the traits of modern innovation as is clearly shown in his major works. Reflected in Hardy’s literary works is the transitional trend from traditional to modern literature, and the inspiration from both inheriting and challenging conventions of nineteenth-century at the same time. Among all his most known novels, Tess of the D’urbervilles is Hardy’s representative masterpiece which serves as a strong demonstration of his perspectives as a thinker and techniques asRead MoreIndian English Novel17483 Words   |  70 Pagesliterature. Hence the post colonial literature in India witnessed a revolution against the idiom which the colonial writers followed. Gradually the Indian English authors began employing the techniques of hybrid language, magic realism peppered with native themes. Thus from a post colonial era Indian literature ushered into the modern and then the post-modern era. The saga of the Indian English novel therefore stands as the tale of Changing tradition, the story of a changing India. The stories were