Abstract
Many studies comment, usually favorably, on Thomas Hardy's settings. Few studies, however, trace a single aspect of setting through an entire work to demonstrate the extent to which setting reveals meaning. This study examines one aspect of setting in each of three novels. "Far from the Madding Crowd" is a Bildunqsroman detailing the maturing of Bathsheba Everdene. Hardy reveals her qualities through various strategies of settings, including imagery associating her with goddesses; descriptions of her physical qualities; the people, animals, and objects in her environment; repetitive and contrasting settings. The evidence from setting stresses her femininity and her pastoral values as she progresses from a self-centered to an outward-looking woman. In "The Mayor of Casterbridge" the settings at Weydon-Priors are a matrix for the themes and action of the entire novel. Characters enter and exit the Casterbridge stage through Weydon-Priors, and the details of setting, especially the fair, parallel the rise, decline, and fall of Michael Henchard. In the first description the fair is large and thriving, and Henchard is young with his time of power and wealth immediately ahead of him. The second description shows his past in the form of his wife, whom he sold to a sailor at Weydon-Priors, and her daughter pursuing him. The final description provides an austere background for his achieving the self-knowledge indispensable to the hero. Throughout, the Weydon-Priors settings preview and comment on the action at Casterbridge. Hardy gives considerable attention to the condition of "Christianity in Tess of the d'Urbervilles". Details of setting, including the clergymen and objects associated with them, the churches, and the congregations, suggest the effeteness of the Christian establishment. Mercy Chant, whose arms are always filled with Bibles but whose heart is empty of Christian virtues, epitomizes Hardy's Christian...
Bollman, Glen Stuart (1980). Thomas Hardy's uses of setting : a study of three novels. Texas A&M University. Texas A&M University. Libraries. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /DISSERTATIONS -667211.