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Book 4, Chapter 3
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Return of the Native, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Humans vs. Nature
Modernity vs. Tradition
Class and Morality
Deception
Summary
Analysis
Venn resorts to drastic measures to keep Eustacia and Wildeve apart. He spends much of the evening hours following Wildeve around and scaring him. Among other things, he fires a gun at Wildeve when he sees him heading in the direction of Eustacia’s house. Wildeve knows that Venn is responsible, though he does not spot him. Feeling as though he’s scared Wildeve off for the night, Venn pays Mrs. Yeobright a visit. Venn tells Mrs. Yeobright about Clym’s condition, though she still won’t go see him. Venn warns her that Eustacia and Wildeve seem to have started a secret relationship, but Mrs. Yeobright refuses to do anything about it. Meanwhile, Eustacia and Clym are at their home discussing Clym’s relationship with Mrs. Yeobright. Clym gets mad at Eustacia because she does not seem to care about his relationship with his mother.
Venn is willing to do anything to keep Thomasin happy, even if it means spending his evenings threatening Wildeve. However, while Wildeve and Eustacia are not entirely innocent, they also are not as guilty as Venn thinks they are. As such, the information he gives Mrs. Yeobright is unfair to Eustacia and Wildeve, and it only makes matters worse between Mrs. Yeobright and Clym. Meanwhile, Clym is clearly devastated by his ruined relationship with his mother. Both Mrs. Yeobright and Clym feel betrayed. While there is some validity to them feeling betrayed, their division comes from miscommunications and assumptions more than anything else.
Themes
