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Book 1, Chapter 7
Explanation and Analysis—Eustacia and Thomasin:
In The Return of the Native, Thomas Hardy paints vivid character portraits of two starkly different women, Eustacia Vye and Thomasin Yeobright. These characters are foils for each other, each emphasizing the traits of the other through their contrasting natures. Their differences are apparent not only in their characters, but also in the imagery and metaphors Hardy uses to describe them physically. Describing Eustacia in Book 1, Chapter 7, Hardy writes:
Eustacia Vye was the raw material of a divinity. On Olympus she would have done well with a little preparation. She had the passions and instincts which make a model goddess, that is, those which make not quite a model woman. [...] There would have been the same inequality of lot, the same heaping up of favours here, of contumely there, the same generosity before justice, the same perpetual dilemmas, the same captious alternation of caresses and blows as we endure now. She was in person full-limbed and somewhat heavy; without ruddiness, as without pallor; and soft to the touch as a cloud.
Eustacia is the embodiment of ambition, absolutely driven by her desire for change. She's depicted as almost divine, with “passions and instincts” more like a goddess than a normal woman. Physically, she's described as “full-limbed” and “heavy”, while still being “soft as a cloud.” This creates a disconcerting conflict when a reader tries to picture her: she is at once ethereal and heavy, “full-limbed” and “soft.” This confusion in her appearance reflects the perplexities in her character. Although she's romantic and quite loving, she’s also self-centered, ambitious, and is always looking for a way to better her situation.
Eustacia's ambitious and restive nature contrasts sharply with Thomasin's contentment and adherence to tradition. Thomasin's physical descriptions only further emphasize the opposition in their characters. When Hardy is describing her in Book 2 Chapter 8, he writes:
The sun, where it could catch it, made a mirror of Thomasin's hair, which she always wore braided. It was braided according to a calendric system: the more important the day the more numerous the strands in the braid. On ordinary working-days she braided it in threes; on ordinary Sundays in fours; at May-polings, gipsyings, and the like she braided it in fives. Years ago she had said that when she married she would braid it in sevens. It was braided in sevens today.
Thomasin, as this passage outlines, is the epitome of stability and tradition. Hardy uses a metaphor to describe the innocent visual image of her hair shining in the sun, which "makes a mirror" out of it. This smooth hair, carefully braided according to the “importance” of the day, reflects her orderly, predictable nature. Hardy even repeats the word "braided" twice, emphasizing her alignment with routine and repetition. She's loyal, kindhearted, and grounded, representing the conventional values of her community in Egdon Heath. Whereas Eustacia is aligned with "clouds" and "goddesses," Thomasin is described in the terms of the cycles of the earth. Eustacia is exciting and unpredictable, whereas even Thomasin's hairstyle follows a calendar.
Related Themes:
Book 2, Chapter 8
Explanation and Analysis—Eustacia and Thomasin:
In The Return of the Native, Thomas Hardy paints vivid character portraits of two starkly different women, Eustacia Vye and Thomasin Yeobright. These characters are foils for each other, each emphasizing the traits of the other through their contrasting natures. Their differences are apparent not only in their characters, but also in the imagery and metaphors Hardy uses to describe them physically. Describing Eustacia in Book 1, Chapter 7, Hardy writes:
Eustacia Vye was the raw material of a divinity. On Olympus she would have done well with a little preparation. She had the passions and instincts which make a model goddess, that is, those which make not quite a model woman. [...] There would have been the same inequality of lot, the same heaping up of favours here, of contumely there, the same generosity before justice, the same perpetual dilemmas, the same captious alternation of caresses and blows as we endure now. She was in person full-limbed and somewhat heavy; without ruddiness, as without pallor; and soft to the touch as a cloud.
Eustacia is the embodiment of ambition, absolutely driven by her desire for change. She's depicted as almost divine, with “passions and instincts” more like a goddess than a normal woman. Physically, she's described as “full-limbed” and “heavy”, while still being “soft as a cloud.” This creates a disconcerting conflict when a reader tries to picture her: she is at once ethereal and heavy, “full-limbed” and “soft.” This confusion in her appearance reflects the perplexities in her character. Although she's romantic and quite loving, she’s also self-centered, ambitious, and is always looking for a way to better her situation.
Eustacia's ambitious and restive nature contrasts sharply with Thomasin's contentment and adherence to tradition. Thomasin's physical descriptions only further emphasize the opposition in their characters. When Hardy is describing her in Book 2 Chapter 8, he writes:
The sun, where it could catch it, made a mirror of Thomasin's hair, which she always wore braided. It was braided according to a calendric system: the more important the day the more numerous the strands in the braid. On ordinary working-days she braided it in threes; on ordinary Sundays in fours; at May-polings, gipsyings, and the like she braided it in fives. Years ago she had said that when she married she would braid it in sevens. It was braided in sevens today.
Thomasin, as this passage outlines, is the epitome of stability and tradition. Hardy uses a metaphor to describe the innocent visual image of her hair shining in the sun, which "makes a mirror" out of it. This smooth hair, carefully braided according to the “importance” of the day, reflects her orderly, predictable nature. Hardy even repeats the word "braided" twice, emphasizing her alignment with routine and repetition. She's loyal, kindhearted, and grounded, representing the conventional values of her community in Egdon Heath. Whereas Eustacia is aligned with "clouds" and "goddesses," Thomasin is described in the terms of the cycles of the earth. Eustacia is exciting and unpredictable, whereas even Thomasin's hairstyle follows a calendar.
Related Themes:
