Thursday 10 January 2013

A Study of Eustacia Vye, the Doomed Heroine of Thomas Hardy's 'The Return of the Native'


I found this post particularly difficult. Reigning in my thoughts and presenting them in an almost-coherent way did not prove easy as there was just so much going on with the deeply flawed character of Eustacia Vye. The Return of the Native was published in instalments throughout the year 1878 and the edition I have read is the Wordsworth Classics edition, published in 2000, with an introduction and notes by Dr Claire Seymour. I sincerely hope that I have succeeded here in posting something that not only makes some sort of sense but is also of interest to you. You shall have to forgive me for the spoilers; it was truly impossible to study Eustacia Vye without giving a few details.

Eustacia Vye is perhaps one of Hardy’s most alluring, fascinating and, to some extent, real, female characters. She is not the naïve, innocent Tess, nor is she the troubled and intelligent but ultimately tragic Sue Brideshead. Eustacia Vye is extremely complex, at times shallow and dependent, at other times almost unworldly in her command of her surroundings and the way in which she in her own mistress. Thomas Hardy’s treatment of female characters and the situations they face has long been a source of fascination for me, ever since I first read Tess of the D’Urbervilles five or six years ago. At times, these characters are hopelessly virtuous and innocent, and any sexual freedom which they embrace or obtain does not end well for them. However, Hardy is unique in my (limited) experience of Victorian era literature; he concerns himself with the inner lives of women in a way which the likes of Charles Dickens simply did not. It is not within my scope here to attempt to find a definition of feminism or feminist thinking, but it is my belief that within the confines of the 19th century, and in spite of any occurrences in his own personal life, Hardy was (and to some extent, remains) a champion of the female cause. In The Return of the Native, Hardy presents a complicated and enthralling character in Eustacia Vye – in other words, a genuine woman as opposed to an idealised one. It is because of this, I believe, that I often found myself rooting for Eustacia over Thomasin. The latter is an example of the generic woman in Victorian era literature and as such, is impossible to relate to. One could easily argue that at least Eustacia is real. She is not an easy character to sympathise with; in fact, she is often proud, egotistical and selfish. However, Hardy masterfully creates a scenario in which even she is to some extent tragic.

On the subject of the readers’ introduction to Eustacia Vye, there is plenty upon which to dwell. The first time her existence is mentioned, it is through the idle gossip of the locals. She is described as “very strange in her ways, living up there by herself, and such things please her,”p.25 while a local man points out that “she’s a well-favoured maid enough… especially when she’s got one of her dandy gowns on.”p.25 So, from the very beginning, the impression created of Eustacia is one of an attractive woman but one who is altogether strange. The first time Eustacia Vye features in the narrative ‘in person’, so much about her is a mystery – small details become apparent as she walks across the heath. The descriptions given by Hardy go on and on, making his admiration of his creation quite clear, as when he describes her ‘the raw material of a divinity’. The initial impression which Eustacia makes on the mind of the reader rapidly disintegrates throughout the progression of the novel. We see her as far less of an enigma and instead far more as a fickle, needy and selfish woman. This of course sounds like criticism of her character, and to some extent it is, but given the context of the Victorian era, and the fact that one can never quite be sure if she would be quite so terrible in other circumstances and, most importantly, other surroundings, it makes Eustacia quite fascinating. It should also be noted that Eustacia’s behaviour might be selfish but unlike Thomasin, who is protected by her aunt and cousin, Eustacia must socially fend for herself, as her Grandfather does not provide much moral guidance, something with even the narrator points out at one point.

Many of Hardy’s descriptions of Eustacia focus around suggestions of the supernatural, or Godly. He draws heavily of Classical mythology and attempts to show just how ‘unworldly’ Eustacia is. Indeed, this could be viewed as a very dramatic way of presenting the fact that she is an alien on Egdon Heath. Even the title reinforces this fact – Clym Yeobright is the returning native and, by contrast, Eustacia is from somewhere brighter and perhaps, in some small way, more exotic. As such, she has a different aura to the native inhabitants of Egdon. Hardy does not hesitate to describe Eustacia in supernatural terms, as when he describes her ‘the raw material of a divinity. On Olympus she would have done well with little preparation. She had the passions and instincts which make a model goddess[…]’p.55  There are numerous other Classical Greek references relating to Eustacia Vye throughout the novel, for example ‘it was as though side shadows from the features of Sappho and Mrs Siddons had converged upwards from the tomb to form an image like neither but suggesting both.’p.46. Hardy goes on to say that these passions are those that ‘make not quite a model woman’p.55 and this observation helps to form quite an interesting interpretation of Eustacia as a ‘fish out of water’, so to speak. An alien in Egdon, always pining for bigger and brighter things, it would be easy to view Eustacia as some sort of trapped Goddess, doomed by her fate and surroundings to live amongst ‘mere mortals’. However, as the novel progresses, it becomes clear that Eustacia is in possession of a fair few characteristics and perhaps even flaws, which ultimately lead to her seeming less than perfect. In fact, if Eustacia is something of a Goddess by nature, then she is at the same time very human. This dual-existence, being both supernatural and also painfully mortal, is relevant in itself, as it is a good example of what being human really means – people are generally extremely complex and conflicted, shifting through countless emotions, thoughts and personality traits in very short spaces of time. Eustacia is idealistic (a dreamer, if you will, although hardly in the usual sense). She is also full of her own importance, but at the same time is desperately seeking reassurance and needing to be ‘loved to madness – such was her great desire.’p.58 Eustacia is excessively jealous, mainly of Thomasin Yeobright. At first this centres on her relationship with Thomasin’s apparent fiancé, Damon Wildeve. In spite of the fears she has regarding the marriage of Wildeve and Thomasin, upon hearing that the latter has rejected a union between the two, Eustacia is troubled, thinking ‘-what was the man worth whom a woman inferior to herself did not value?’p.83 However, in keeping with her proud nature ‘she could not admit at once that she might have over-estimated Wildeve, for to perceive his mediocrity now was to admit her own great folly heretofore’p.84 This leads on to another interesting element of Eustacia’s personality; namely, that she is a woman very much in control. This contrasts very much with her eventual fate, as well as her symbolic entrapment on Egdon Heath, which I shall discuss later.  Later, Eustacia is driven to play the puppeteer with Thomasin’s fate, pushing forward her marriage to Wildeve, in order that Eustacia may be free to pursue Clym Yeobright (Thomasin’s cousin), whom she obsesses may eventually marry Thomasin.

The crippling boredom and feeling of being trapped (both physically by the landscape and also psychologically, by her position in the world) lead Eustacia to crave an unrealistic love, as ‘love was to her the one cordial which could drive away the eating loneliness of her days. And she seemed to long for the abstraction called passionate love more than for any particular lover’.p.58 In this sense, love is nothing more than a distraction for Eustacia, a way of passing her time and reassuring herself that here is something more; something real and a place for her. Her view of love is idealistic and best and cynical at worst – any love she experiences centres entirely around herself; how the relationship makes her feel, what her role is and how is best to maintain the power she craves. This is especially apparent in her wonder at the love Diggory Venn has for Thomasin, ‘a strange sort of love, to be entirely free from that quality of selfishness which is frequently the chief constituent of the passion and, sometimes, its only one!’p.126 With regards to her relationship with Damon Wildeve, there appears to be very little thought for who he actually is as an individual, which is possibly just as well, given that he himself is rather morally questionable. In fact, to some extent, Damon Wildeve is much like Eustacia herself; both are selfish, both are impulsive, and both make decisions without a good thought process. Eustacia’s ability to quickly forget her ‘love’ for Wildeve as soon as an apparently superior possible opportunity presents itself is very telling. Once she begins fixating on Clym Yeobright, Wildeve develops ‘the rayless outline of the sun through smoked glass.’p.122 All Eustacia ever really craves is a chance to escape the Heath and lead the life she so arrogantly presumes to be her right. In matters of love, Eustacia shows her pride with even greater strength, chastising Damon Wildeve and saying “Now Damon, do you see why I lit my fire? You did not think I would have lit it if I imagined you to have become to husband of this woman. It is insulting my pride to suppose that!”p.52  Her peculiar attitude to matters of love is again observed when she tells Wildeve “you have not valued my courtesy – the courtesy of a lady in loving you – who used to think of far more ambitious things”p.69 In some ways, one could wonder if Eustacia rather ‘misses the point’ of love. Her infatuation with Clym Yeobright, which begins before she has actually met him, stems entirely from her belief that she can use him to escape her fate. In this sense, Eustacia seems almost incapable of love, at least as we know it.


Eustacia Vye’s relationship with Egdon Heath is crucial to a full understanding of both her as a character and her place within the novel. A large part of Eustacia’s downfall is her constant desire for bigger and better things. She is of the belief that finding a way out of the heath (without having to engage herself in any sort of work) will ensure her continued happiness and she is unfortunately wrong. Eustacia is ignorant to the fact that the problem which stands in the way of her happiness is her own self – she is trapped by her own sense of self-importance and by a nature which always believes the grass is greener elsewhere. Clym Yeobright is at one with the heath, he ‘had been so inwoven with the heath in his boyhood that hardly anybody could look upon it without thinking of him.’p.142 Indeed, it should be noted that Clym is the returning native of the title, while Eustacia is a complete alien on the heath, making her entrapment upon it even more poignant. Her belief that she will be able to convince Clym to return to Paris after they are married is another part of her downfall; she has too much faith in her own power. To some extent, a reader may find themselves hoping against hope that this will come true; the symbolic way in which Clym tries to draw water for Eustacia, thus quenching a thirst she has held. Her hatred of the wilderness and longing for urban life at times makes Eustacia quite a sympathetic character, never less so than when she tells Clym “I am managing to exist in a wilderness but I cannot drink from a pond.”p.155 Eustacia’s fiery nature stands in direct contrast with the bleakness of the heath (or at least, the bleakness which she herself perceives). It is an interesting idea, this notion that Eustacia is connected to fire and flames. Hardy even goes so far as to say that ‘assuming that the souls of men and women were visible essences, you could fancy the colour of Eustacia’s soul to be flame-like.’p.56 Her personality is certainly what one would describe as fiery, and this connotation leads to an interesting comparison of Damon Wildeve and Clym Yeobright. Eustacia uses a camp-fire to bring the former to her, while she meets Clym under a lunar eclipse. Clym himself is far from reckless, far from over-passionate. Eustacia detests the heath, and her words later ring eerily true when she says of the heath that “’tis my cross, my shame, and will be my death!”p.71
Eustacia occupies an interesting position within The Return of the Native – she is in many ways the driving force of the novel and most of the major situations involve her. She is, for example, involved in three love triangles of sorts; the first is between herself, Thomasin and Wildeve, the second between herself, Thomasin and Clym, and the third between herself, Clym and his mother, Mrs Yeobright, though the latter is obviously not concerning romantic love as such. The fact that Eustacia winds up racked by guilt really fascinated me – she showed a selflessness of which I hadn’t known her capable. Whether or not Eustacia would have been better off had she stayed with Wildeve is impossible to know. Somehow, it is impossible to shake off the feeling that Eustacia’s fate had been sealed always; she was doomed to exist and die on Egdon Heath, as she herself predicted. Right at the end of the novel, Domon tells Eustacia “I see more and more that I have been your ruin,”p.282 to which Eustacia replies “Not you. This place I live in.”p.283 Eustacia’s position on Egdon Heath, as an outsider, and an educated one at that, could have been made easier if not for her snobbery and reluctance to be on friendly terms with the other inhabitants of the heath. Her pride, her restlessness and her ego all conspire to keep her trapped on Egdon Heath, where she will ultimately forever remain. Eustacia Vye might not be the nicest or the sweetest character in the history of literature, but it’s Hardy, so this is not a surprise. Aside from this, Eustacia is real. Real, tragic and doomed.My next post will be on the subject of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Beautiful and Damned. I am still busily working on my major project ‘The Representation of Jews in English Literature, 1380-1880’ and would appreciate any advice or help anybody has to offer. As always, thanks for reading, and feel free to drop me a comment, an e-mail or even a tweet!
-       K

7 comments:

  1. This was a very good interpretation of Eustacia Vye and your expression perfect! Thank youu :)

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  2. Really interesting this and some fantastic quotes you've mentioned, Hardy is unbelievable..

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  3. Okay that was an interesting analysis of Eustacia Vye. Thank you, it was a big help for my exams.

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  4. Excellent! I haven't read 'The Return of the Native' since high school. I'm going to read it again. Thank you!

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  5. you have done excellent work....

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  6. Thanks this is a very good and superb attempt

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  7. Thank u 4 this volunteery service

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