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Book 5, Chapter 8
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
Wildeve spots Eustacia’s fire and prepares to take her to Budmouth. He thinks that the good deed he is doing for Eustacia will allow him to make her his mistress while still keeping Thomasin as his wife. He sees no issue with this arrangement and thinks himself worthy of both women. On his way to meet Eustacia, Wildeve comes across Clym. Nearby is a pond, from which Wildeve and Clym hear Eustacia scream. Both Clym and Wildeve jump into the water to try and save her. Venn arrives shortly after and helps them.
Unsurprisingly, Wildeve is planning to do almost exactly what Thomasin feared he’d do. His willingness to help Eustacia is not a purely selfless act; it is an attempt to fulfill a fantasy of his own. However, Eustacia’s scream signals that Wildeve’s plan will never come to fruition.
Themes
Several members of the community are drawn to the scene because of the commotion it has created. Everyone works together, along with Venn to save Clym, Wildeve and Eustacia. Eventually, everyone is recovered from the pond, although Eustacia and Wildeve are dead. Although Clym is breathing, he is unconscious and does not look good. Back at the inn, everyone tries to make sense of what happened, but no one has the full story now that Eustacia and Wildeve are dead. Eventually, Charley arrives, looking for Eustacia. Clym tells Charley that Eustacia is dead and takes him to look at her body. In death, her beauty is described as, “eclips[ing] all her living phases.” Clym blames himself for the entire situation and wonders whether he will ever recover.
In this climactic moment, all of the central characters converge into one place, though two of them don’t make it out alive. Similar to Mrs. Yeobright’s death, Eustacia and Wildeve’s deaths leave a lot of questions, although it is unlikely that those left behind will find any answers.
Themes
