Rustic Characters in Hardy’s Select Novels

Abstract

This paper aims to present Hardy’s “Rustic Characters” through his novels. Hardy’s characters may be divided into three groups. First those who are protagonists in the whole human drama who take leading parts, secondly those who are in contact with them and have some part in their affairs, and lastly “the rustic bystanders not only provide comic relief, but also to fulfil a much more important function. Their services in making the machinery run smoothly and perspicuously are invaluable, and they also help to bring out not only the immediate but also the ulterior significance of all that is taking place. In a sense, they represent Hardy himself. They are quiet but deeply interested observers who see more of what is going on than the gentlefolks are aware, and they are continually dropping shrewd comments… they are asked in tradition, the traditions of a primitive class, rooted in the soil, which it is their function to typify. They are as external as the woods and fields and heaths; whereas the diffident lovers, the weak or faithless women, are anguished victims of despair, are symbols of a present phase of disturbance, restlessness, and maladjustment”.