CHAPTER TWO

A LINGUISTIC STUDY OF CHARACTERIZATION

2.0 PRELIMINARIES
This chapter is mainly divided into two parts. In the first part of the chapter, an
attempt is made to shed light on the characteristic features of Thomas Hardy‘s
selected novels. The main objective of this part of the chapter is to explore the
characteristic features of Hardy‘s language in selected novels, which paves the way in
the analysis of dialogues and conversation of the novels under the study. It deals with
characterization, which is the representation of persons in narrative and dramatic
works. This includes direct methods like the attribution of qualities in description or
commentary, and indirect (or ‗dramatic‘) methods inviting readers to infer qualities
from characters' actions, speech, or appearance. The components such as rustic
characters, nature, and power of visualization of the characters, excessive use of
chance and coincidence and elemental force of the characters are discussed in detail.

In the second part of the chapter, an attempt is made to study the features of the
language used by Hardy in the selected novels. In addition, it discusses Biblical
allusions, language of experience, pattern of words, syntax, structure and dialect.
While discussing all the aspects of the language used by Hardy, an attempt is made to
give emphasis on the linguistic interpretation of the characterization.

E. M. Forster in his Aspects of the Novel makes distinction between ‗flat‘ and ‗round‘
characters. According to him, flat characters are two-dimensional in that they are
relatively uncomplicated and do not change throughout the course of a work. By
contrast, round characters are complex and undergo development, sometimes
sufficiently to surprise the reader.

41
 PART ONE
CHARACTERISITICS OF HARDY’S SELECTED NOVELS

2.1.0 INTRODUCTION
Hardy‘s reputation was established with the publication of FMC (1874). He has a very
great power in dramatizing his novels as you could see them. His first great work was
RN (1878) which opens by describing Egdon Heath. It shows Hardy‘s ability to use
natural settings.

A mastery of characters is rightly thought to be the first essential of a novelist's art.

Hardy's greatness in this direction is seldom questioned. Even a casual reading of his
novels gives evidence of the extraordinary range, variety and significance of his
characters. Cecil. D, (1997:56) here is truthful when he describes Hardy‘s greatness of
visualization in the following way:
“No other English novelist has so great a power of
visualization: it is Hardy‟s most important weapon,
and it is the basis of his whole method. He constructs
his book in serious scenes”.

In this part the researcher discusses some of important features or characteristics of

Hardy‘s selected novels, such as the use of rustic characters like farmers, shepherds,
hedgers, truss-cutters,…..etc. Hardy‘s excessive use of nature, chance and
coincidence, dialect, and characters are elemental force. His power of visualization is
also studied in detail. Cecil also adds that Hardy‘s greatness is ―that we are always
told what we are looking at. His technique, oddly enough, is that of the modern
director of films. We watch the story. The scene opens. We take it in with our eyes;
then someone begins to speak, and the action gradually on folds itself‖.

42
2.1.1 RUSTIC CHARACTERS
Thomas Hardy has been universally lauded for his novels, which feature rustic
protagonists, pastoral settings, and rural vernacular. Hardy depicted human existence
as a tragedy determined by powers beyond the individual's command, in particular
and the external pressures of society in general. The peasants of Hardy‘s novels are
likely regarded as the chorus in Shakespeare‘s plays. They are as entertaining as any
of the classic comic characters of Fielding or Goldsmith. These rustic characters are
real, as they are taken as a group who build the picture of humanity in its rural
manifestation and are perfectly convincing. They are also considered as the source of
the humour in the novels.

Hardy mainly deals with rustic life. He depicts it as yielding to industrialism as the
norm of English society. He is one of the Victorian writers who give treatment to the
agricultural workers. His rustic characters belong to the lowest stage, as they are
uneducated, ignorant, and simple minded.

The common folk of Casterbridge where Hardy locates his novels contribute in his
earlier novels by allusion, or repeating of events, or conversation. The old village
traditions and rituals strike the reader as for example the bonfire and shearing supper
in The RN. We look at the men going to their daily affairs. Their chatting and the
sight and sounds are remarkable. In MC the workmen and the communities of Mixen
Lane and ―The Three Mariner‖ are Hardy‘s best achievement as it is being considered
the more rustics of the other novels.

In MC Solomon Longways and Christopher Coney, arrange the skimmity-ride, which

injures Lucetta and leads her to death. The characters here are most living; moreover,
they are natives of the country-side farmers, and shepherds. They are Chrisopher
Coney, Buzzford, Mother Cuxson, Nance Mockridge, Solomon Longways and others
Theses characters are the element of comedy that plays a vital role which is to relieve
the tragic circumstances of the novel. They usually go to The Three Mariners Inn or

43
Peter‘s Finger for relaxation and gossiping. The conversation of these characters is
always very amusing and relieves the tension of the tragic event of the story.

In RN the rustic characters are Timothy Fairway, Grandfer Cantle, Christian Cantle,
Humphrey, Susan Nunsuch and her son Johnny, and the mummers. Humphrey
comments on Clym‘s occupation in Paris that ―Tis a blazing great business that he
belongs to. So I‘ve heard his mother say, like a king‘s Palace as far as diaments go‖;
Grandfather Cantle is distinguished from others by his egoism, and vanity when he
said that ―even if he had been stung by ten adders, he would not have lost even a
single day‘s work‖ he also adds that ―such is my spirit when I am on my mettle‖..
Christian Cantle is made an individual person through his fear of ghost, his timidity
and pathetic inferiority complex in relation to women as he said that ―there is no
woman will marry him‖ as he is rejected by several women to whom he has prepared.
Susan Nunsuch represents the superstitious beliefs of the rural folk.

The rustic characters in this novel are not regarded as mere source of humour only,
and even they are not only taken in the part of series festivals that provide humour;
but they share in main plot of the novel and play critical action. For example, Timothy
carries the letter of Eustacia‘s husband to hold her, but it is not delivered to her
directly. Johnny Nunsuch is a link between Eustacia and Wildeve. Christian Cantle
carries the guineas from Mrs.Yeobright and supposes to handle them to her son Clym,
but he gambles them and lost them. Susan Nunsuch and her son intervene actively in
the lives of both the hero and the heroine; Clym and Eustacia respectively.

Here in The RN, the world of Edgon Heath is the best example for the rustic life and
those rustic choruses of the Heath has given the novel the best picture to the life of
workfolk. The book indicates its closeness to folk origins. Superstition, myth, and folk
characters act out as an element tale of love and hate. According to Chapman, R.
(1990:9) Egdon is:

44
 “at once wholly local and yet a stage for human
drama not limited by space or time” he also adds that
“the rustic chorus of workfolk provides a continuity
of natural life accompanying the tortured central
action”.

In FMC the rustic characters are Joseph Poorgrass, Jan Coggan, Henery Fray, the old
mastler, Cain Ball, Mark Clark, Laban Tall and others murmurs. These rustic people
spend their time doing duties, chatting in the local Malthouse and drinking. To them
life is peaceful and tranquil. They just want to pass the time and they are contented in
what the Providence has given them. Their occupations are sheep-washing, sheep-
shearing, harvesting, thatching, haymaking, etc. Their conversations in the novel add
a very good source of humour, optimistic and enthusiastic atmosphere. For example,
the shepherd Gabriel Oak is a little like Spenser‘s Colin Clout English-made.
However, Oak gives the correct antique associations when we hear him calling his
vanished sheep; it seems as if we were present.
Albert, E. (2004:435) describes the novel (FMC) as follows:
“it is the first of Hardy‟s great novel which has made
him famous” he also adds that “the rural background
to the story is an integral part of the novel, which
reveals the emotional depths which underline rustic
life”.

This is because of Hardy‘s best example of showing rustic life with rustic characters
and it gives a nice background to the rural way of life.

2.1.2 NATURE
Nature in its own name shows beautifulness, and it can be loved. Hardy‘s best writing
is found in his description of country scenes. He knows the natural world, all its
seasons, and all its moods. Nature in Hardy‘s novels is the basis of Wessex‘s life. It is

45
the ordered ritual of their lives, not rebelling against it. Nature to Hardy is a symbol of
those impersonal forces of Fate with whom he shows mankind as being in conflict.
For example, in the novel The RN, the setting is made to stand for the universe; and in
all his successful workers, it has a symbolic value. Nature also plays an important role
in Hardy‘s novels. It is not just the background in his drama, but also a leading
character in it. Landhave, L. (1991:27) comments on Hardy‘s use of nature in his
novels in the following words:
“Nature played a larger part in his books than in
those of any other English novelists. It is not just the
background of his novel, but a leading character in
it”.

Sometimes, it has an active influence on the characters. For instance, Egdon Heath
with its darkness dominates the lives of the characters in The RN. It also influences
and controls the lives and destiny of those who dwell in it. To Eustacia it gives her
melancholy and it is considered as a great enemy to her as she regards it as ‗cross‘,
she calls it ―a cruel taskmaster‖. However, her husband, Clym is totally opposite. To
him Heath is ―an exhilarating place‖. However, the Heath at the end of the novel
proves to be bad. It kills Mrs.Yeobright, Wildeve and Eustacia. Hardy, here, wants to
show us that those who accept the heath live in peace, but those who do not accept it,
will live in terrible condition.

This is true as it is shown through the character Thomasin who brings her baby out
onto the Heath quite happily, and the reddleman Diggory Venn who finally wins with
Thomasin and ends the novel with happiness scene. Here, Brown, D. (1954: 23)
describes Egdon Heath:
“a powerful presence in the novel as there are rural
rituals enacted in the novel, the bonfire-making, the
mumming and the maypole-dance”.

46
Nature in FMC is very much similar to the nature in RN as those who accept it has
been rewarded at the end. However, those who strike and do not accept it have been
lost. For example, in FMC Gabriel Oak has struggled much to win the love of
Bathsheba, and at the end of the novel, he has won her; like the reddleman Diggory in
RN who also struggled a lot till he wins Thomasin at the end. While those who fight
nature, nature has drawn them to death, as it is seen in FMC Troy has been killed by
Boldwood, and Boldwood has been sentenced imprisonment, same as it is in RN,
Wildeve, and Eustacia have been drowned. William, M. (1976: 98) states:
“The novel (FMC) has opened with the character
Gabriel, the hero of the novel, who has a profound
understanding of nature which helps to make him the
most admirable character in the novel”.

The novel shows Oak‘s experience in nursing the newborn lambs in his farm. Then
his working in Bathsheba‘s farm shows his ability to cure the sheep against the
mysterious disease. Here Oak‘s actions are more remarkable consistent with details of
philosophical analysis of man‘s moral relationship to the natural world.

2.1.3 POWER OF VISUALIZATION OF THE CHARACTERS

According to the classification of the Wessex novels Hardy‘s selected novels are
classified as the novels of character and environment. These three novels of the study
are his best dramatic novels. They become a dramatic reality as everything is felt with
such intensity that the reader absorbed by the experience becomes a part of them. For
example, the novel The (MC) is considered as a traditional tragedy as Lear, Hamlet
and Oedipus by Shakespeare.

The MC is full of dramatic situations with an element of suspense, which makes the
readers feel interested to read further. The novel opens with a description of the
couple that they were husband and wife (Henchard & Susan), and the little girl in the
arms of the woman and their appearance indifferent to each other. This could be

47
shown by the dramatist in a course of exposition. What is more, the dramatic situation
between the two competitors‘ rivalry, Henchard and Farfrae makes it full of suspense.
The scene displays the exposure of Henchard‘s past secret i.e. the selling of his wife
with five guineas; by the furmity woman in the open court. The scene which shows
Henchard‘s reading out Lucetta‘s love-letters to her husband Farfrae, when the former
was sitting in the other room holding her breath in a state of panic; the skimmity-ride
and Lucetta‘s reaction to it. Henchard‘s departure from Casterbridge and many scenes
give the reader multiple feelings to wonder at their strange lives.

Thus, Belemoria, N. S. (1989:52) describes the dramatization of The MC as the

following manner:
“The Mayor of Casterbridge with its greater
compactness of the plot and structure unity simple
invites dramatization” he also adds that in describing
the hero of the novel Henchard he said “the tragic
figure of Michael Henchard cast in a larger-than life
mould is not unworthy of standing beside the great
and the tragic Greek and Shakespearean heroes.
Hence it is not surprising that many distinguished
men like John Ornakwatar and Sidney Morgan etc…
were attracted to make a play out of the novel”.

Thus, one can say that Hardy in his narrative deals with a description of men and
manners of his time especially in a small town like Casterbridge. His art in the novel
maybe confined to his characterization which tends to be somewhat melodramatic.
However, it is a great art despite his excessive using of coincidence.
In (FMC), Hardy showed himself as a writer of importance when he brings into the
peaceful Dorset setting a story of unhappy marriage, betrayal and violent death.
Bathsheba marries Troy who had formerly love affairs with her maiden-servant
Fanny. Troy betrayed her and finally shot by Boldwood. The dramatic scene here

48
shows us that Bathsheba falls in love with Troy. Boldwood is madly in love with her
and the shepherd Gabriel Oak, the former suitor and the first lover to her. Here the
three lovers compete to win Bathsheba but, it is Troy who wins her in the beginning
and marries her. Oak finally was accepted after the death of Troy and imprisonment
of Boldwood.

These dramatic scenes are memorable and cannot be forgotten. It reveals the skill of
Hardy in visualizing them to the reader. One of the dramatic incidents of the novel is
the chase of Gabriel and Jan Coggan to Bathsheba one night, supposing that some
gipsy thief has stolen the horse and the carriage, and has driven to the city of Bath.
Here, the reader experiences powerful feelings of suspense on the scene until it turns
out that the gipsy is only Bathsheba, their mistress. Belemoria, S. and Nilupher,
(1989:52):
“Hardy‟s novels have a powerful characterization
and most of his novels like Jane Austin‟s Pride and
Prejudice have been made into plays and successfully
staged”. They also add that “Hardy has dramatized
(FMC) and Tess of the D‟Urbervilles”.

The RN has a very distinguished dramatize scenes. It reflects Hardy‘s characterization

to make a comparison between classical myth and history with his characters.
Chapman, R. (1990:51) indicates:
“Characterization is often helped by comparison with
classical myth or history, and Hardy‟s characters are
displayed with biblical as well as classical literary
analogies, for example Clym Yeobright was like John
Babatist who took ennoblement rather than
repentance for his text”.

49
Schweck, R. (1975) explains Hardy‘s dramatization of Eustacia Vye as frustrated
longings for hopeless ideals; his authorial observations are as follows:

“Old-fashioned revealing in the general situation

grows less and possible as we uncover the defects of
natural laws, and see the quandary that man is in by
their operation” (RN: 169)

He also adds:
„All convey the alienation of thinking and filling
humans in a universe indifferent to humans ideals and
sensitive‟.

Hardy also describes his hero Clym in the novel as ―I got to like the character of Clym
before I had done with him‖ and he also adds that when he re-read the novel many
years afterwards he found that Clym is ―the nicest of all of his heroes and not a fit like
him‖.

Here, Albert, E. (2004: 433) comments on The (RN) as follows:

“It is a study of man‟s helplessness before the
malignancy of an all-powerful fate” he also adds that
“the victims, Clym Yeobright and Eustacia Vye, are
typical of Hardy‟s best characters, and The (RN) is a
memorable book for its fine description of Egdon
Heath which plays an important part in the action”.

2.1.4 EXCESSIVE USE OF CHANCE AND COINCIDENCE

Much has been said about Hardy‘s excessive use of chance and coincidence, and his
orientation to pessimism and fatalism as has been mentioned in his novels and poems.
Fate plays a vital role in the life of his heroes and heroines. They struggle so much
against tragic destiny. No work of other novelist has dealt with chance as effectively

50
as Hardy does. What is remarkable in Hardy‘s novels is the conflict between man and
destiny that is inexplicable and unexpected. However, Hardy has been blamed for his
overuse of this phenomenon. According to Pandhare, L. (1991:29):
“Man in Hardy‟s books is ranged against impersonal
forces, the forces conditioning his fate; not that his
characters themselves are aware of this”.

It is in fact true that fate has an important role in making Hardy‘s characters collapse.
For example Henchard in The MC is obsessed by his hatred for his previous employee
Farfrae; Bathsheba in FMC looks on Troy as the main cause of her misfortune. And in
The RN Clym Yeobright sees his wife Eustacia as the cause of his mother‘s death,
and the fate has caused him to suffer also by being half-blind. These heroes and
heroines think that their circumstances are as much as puppets in the hand of destiny
or fate.
Hence, Hardy embodies destiny in different form. Sometimes, it appears as a natural
force as in The MC when Henchard plans for making himself rich, but he suddenly
collapsed to be a worker with whom he was previously working. This happens
because of the bad harvest. Here, the weather has taken the part of fate. Hardy
comments on the role of fate upon his character Henchard by saying ―Susan, Farfrae,
Lucetta, Elizabeth, all had gone from him one after one, either by his fault or by his
misfortune.‖ He comments:
“But hard fate had ordained that he should be unable
to call up this Divine Spirit in his needs”. (MC: 351)

There is excessive use of chance and coincidence in the RN. In one of the incident,
Mrs.Yeobright decides to reconcile her son Clym. She goes to visit him, but by
unfortunately her son‘s wife Eustacia does not open the door, leads her to pass away.
Eustacia‘s suffering and death is because of Egdon Heath which she hates. It causes
her death, by drowning with her lover Wildeve in the pool. Heath, here, represents as
the part of Fate or destiny.

51
Finally, in FMC novel, the character Oak has lost two hundred sheep in an accidental
way, and it causes him to lose his position as a farmer. Similarly, Fanny‘s failure to
reach the ‗ALL Saint‘ church to keep her appointment with Troy is an accident and
leads to lose her life in the workhouse in the end. Another accident takes place when
Troy returns after a report that he has been drowned. Finally, the effect of the
valentine letter of Bathsheba on Boldwood, which enlightens the passion of the man,
and leads him finally to lose his self –control by shooting Troy and causes on being
insane and imprisoned. Hardy, here, describes Boldwood‘s suffering because of his
frustration to marry Bathsheba as:
“a man whom misfortune had injured rather
subdued”. (FMC: 242)

2.1.5 ELEMENTAL FORCE OF HARDY’S CHARACTERS

The discussion on elemental force of Hardy‘s characters can be started by offering
comments of Carpenter, R. (1964:85/6) when he describes the character of Bathsheba,
by saying:
“The important discovery was the character of
Bathsheba Everdene, a logical development from
Cythrea Geye who can not make up her mind about
the man she loves, the innocently vain village
temptress seen in Fancy Day, and the emotionally
motivated and irresponsible Elfrids Swan Court”. He
also adds that “Bathsheba is a more complex and a
stronger character than any of her predecessors,
having in addition some of Ethelberta‟s ambition and
strength, and Eustacia‟s sexuality a quality notably
absent in the earlier heroines”.

52
Here, one can say that most of Hardy‘s characters are elemental forces. They play a
vital role in the plot construction of the novels. In the same novel FMC Oak looks as
the prototypal and stable character that can be seen in many of Hardy‘s novels. He is
the first suitor to Bathsheba. He loses his essential strength of character when she
refuses to marry him in the beginning of the novel and he meekly accepts it, but at the
end of the novel, he succeeds to win and marry her. Boumotha, P. (1982:130)
comments on the character of Bathsheba in this way:
“She accepts all three suitors – the penurious half-
aristocratic Troy, the wealthy landowner Boldwood,
and the farmer, shepherd, and the bailiff Gabriel
Oak; the „right‟ choice can only be confined by the
melodramatic elimination of the rivals”.

The RN shows the tragic conflict of the characters in the impersonal loneliness of the
Heath with a sense of human weakness and nobility mingled in people whose fate
move their life through their way of life. For example, Eustacia marries Clym,
expecting him to return to Paris. She deserts him when he becomes almost blind and
she runs away with her lover Wildeve and drowned with him. The novel ends with a
peaceful note when Diggory Venn, the itinerant reddleman who finally married
Wildeve‘s widow. Here, Stewart, J. (1971:93) comments on Hardy‘s artistic
conscience by saying:
“The (RN) as „what he added against his artistic
conscience was simply the conventional concluding
upon a satisfactory marriage. Venn gains Thomasin,
as Oak in (FMC) has gained Bathsheba”. He also
adds that “we could see that these virtuous
characters have been rewarded at the end of the
novel”.

Carpenter, R. (1964:100) describes Hardy‘s hero Clym in the (RN) as:

53
 “Clym‟s physical health and good looks are fated to
be short lived because he worries too hard about
himself, and about the whole human race. He has
come back to the Heath where he was from, throwing
up a good career as a diamond merchant, because he
wants to do something useful with his life”.

The heroine Eustacia is considered as Hardy‘s best character of a particular kind of

woman. The character Diggory is a conscious example; he turns himself as a regular
spy and detective, watching over Eustacia‘s affairs to Wildeve to whom he marries
Thomasin. He knows all the happenings before and behind the scenes, and through
him the reader obtain perfect understanding of the most complicated and mysterious
occurrences.
The MC has a pattern of tragedy of Greek. Henchard‘s unique position in the novel
bears a close relation to tragedy and it becomes apparent from a summery of the
action and it is confirmed by the full title of the novel. ―The Life and Death of the
Mayor of Casterbridge: A Story of a Man of character‖. The word ‗character‘ here is a
key word of the novel. Loathe, J. (1987:119) comments on the title of the novel as
follows:
“It signals the authors respect for his main character
and can be related to the concept of ethos. The
Aristotelian term under which essential qualities of
the tragic hero can be subsumed”.

In Aristotle‘s understanding of tragedy, ‗hamantia‘ forms an essential part of the main

character‘s ethos. However, this is relevant to our understanding of Henchard as a
tragic character, as hamantia is a kind of weakness or blind spot within a range of
good qualities.

54
With this novel Hardy enters in his greatest period as a novelist. His staying in
Dorchester helped him to portray his fictional novel The MC (1886). It is a story of
life and Michael Henchard who sells his wife to a sailor. He repents throughout life.
Later on he becomes rich and the Mayor of the Casterbridge. His fortune starts to
decline after he has taken Farfrae, a young Scot into his business. Accidentally, his
wife returns and he renews his marriage, after the death of his wife, he learns that his
daughter, whom he has left him with her mother at the time of selling, is not his real
daughter, but the sailor‘s child. His manager Farfrae has left him. Henchard dies a
lone death and penniless.

The story is a simple part of misjudgment and commercial ill-luck among ordinary
people. However, Hardy elevates it to the height of tragedy and creates in Michael
Henchard as one of the greatest characters in fiction. Necil, D. (1998:225) comments
on Henchard as follows:
“Henchard as the greatest instance of masculine
characterization in Hardy‟s fiction. He mentions his
character as he compels admiration chiefly through
the tremendous force and energy of his character”.

Similarly, Williams, M. (1976:32) describes Michael Henchard as ―one of the most

vital characters that Hardy ever conceived‖. According to Stewart, J. (1971:120/1):
“Henchard is a man of character‟, he is essentially
man, inhabiting a world of good and evil, he is
virtually unique among Hardy‟s creations”.

55
 PART TWO
LANGUAGE OF THOMAS HARDY

2.2.0 INTRODUCTION
The main goal of this part is to focus on the language of Hardy which is used in the
novels under the study, and trying to understand the dialogues‘ intends meaning of
the characters.

Language is the writer's raw material and his greatness depends on his competence in
using it. Language is a means of communication and is used for four important
functions, namely; handing over information, expressing feeling, attitudes,
views…etc, getting things done by directing or requesting people, and establishing
and maintaining interpersonal relationships.
This part studies Hardy's language particularly, Hardy's use of English language in the
selected novels (FMC, RN & MC) is thoroughly made. Language of experience,
Biblical allusions, patterns of words, dialect, and syntax and structure are to be
examined and studied in proper perspective.

Hardy's use of language is not as a qualified writer or a confident writer; he has

generally been considered as a careless writer, whose use of language falls short of his
genius as a tragic novelist. He has been accused of the unnecessary use of rare and
obscure words of involved and untidy sentence construction, and of general lack of
decorum in randomly mixing the learned and the colloquial, the simple and the
complex. A study of his work shows that he is not free from these and other faults, but
it also reveals stylistic qualities, which match his total achievement in literature. Cecil
comments on the problem of Hardy‘s style as its inconsistency. While Chapman
(1990) comments on Hardy‘s style as can be recognized as his own, and as one of the
best in English fiction.

56
Hardy did not write in plain tradition of English prose mastered by Swift and Hazlitt
among others, which is easy to read and so hard to follow. Nor Hardy's style marled
by 'idiosyncrasies' which are frequent and predictable enough to make it Carlyle or
Morris or much of Dickens.

Hardy's involvement in his stories and his sympathy with his characters sometimes
caused him to overlook faults of expression. It is however, certain that he was neither
insensitive nor indifferent to the language in which his life's work was written.

2.2.1 FEATURES OF HARDY’S LANGUAGE

There are some remarkable features of Hardy‘s language especially his style and
diction. Moreover, there are ample literary and Biblical allusions, which are worth
studying. The typical use of idiolects and sociolects are also noticeable in the novels
selected for the purpose of the study. Pattern of words and syntax need to be studied
from the point of view of linguistic analysis. Finally, regional dialect forms the
inevitable component of his novels.

2.2.1.1 HARDY AND THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Hardy has certain views on style. He believed that each individual writer has his
peculiar moods associated with quality. The deep feelings and sincerity can be best
expressed with the balance of sentences to make it less conventional. Hardy faces
great criticism in his style. General criticism is that Hardy disfigures his pages by bad
writing, by clumsy and inelegant metaphors, and by mannerism and affection. That is
why there is unpredictability in his style. It is noticed that Hardy makes use of the
dialect peculiar to the Dorset speech as an ancient and noble form of English. Hardy
was extremely sensitive to criticism of his own work. He felt that he was unjustly
accused of being coarse, obscene and irreligious, which troubled him more than
comments on the quality of his language.

57
Thomas Hardy has enriched English language through his novels, short stories and
poems. His use of English entails a deliberate restoration of good old English words.
His use of peculiar words, phrases and idiomatic expressions all testify to his tireless
quest for the right word. The dialect of Wessex plays a fundamental role in Hardy‘s
language. As most of Hardy‘s central characters are women, his portrayal of attractive
women demanded appropriate language. Hardy also portrays his rustic male
characters using the dialectical variety suitable to the needs of the speech situations
and speech events. Thus, Hardy‘s contribution to the enrichment of English language
cannot be denied.
Selecting and arranging items from the lexis or vocabulary of the native language is
the task of the native speaker of any language. That is what we consider the meaning
of 'word' as connected utterance. The credibility of a character in a novel is much
greater if dialogue contains words, which seem appropriate to that character's
supposed background and way of life. Hardy makes good use of this device especially
for characters who share some of his own knowledge or interests.

Some of Hardy's Latinate words are rare enough to need a footnote in a modern
edition. It may not be clear to the modern reader.' A slightly different problem arises
when a common word is used with its Latin meaning rather than one more commonly
accepted today, when a man carrying faggots is described as
'so involved in furze that he appeared like a bush on
leg'. The (RN: 39)

Chapman, (1990) observed:

“Mr. Hardy continually delights in those big Latin
and Greek words that seem to be made out of springs
rather vowels".

58
Greek-based words are less frequent than Latin, but they are often even less common
and therefore more intrusive. When Bathsheba gives orders to her workers in the
manner of a lawmaker, she is called:
'this small thesmotheto'. (FMC: 85)

Another example of classical lexis appearing awkward in another wise strong simile
occurs in describing Farfrae, a Scot, as possessing:
'that hyperborean Gispress, stringency and charm, as
of a well-braced musical instrument'. (MC: 148)

According to Chapman, R. (1990:51) Hardy sometimes uses his classical and other
literary sources more deeply than in the borrowing of single words. He also adds that
Hardy makes direct reference to a passage, which may help in conveying the effect of
a person, scene or mood. Such reference may appear in either narrative or dialogue;
once again, it must be remembered that they would have come much more naturally
to Hardy's contemporaries than to most of our own.

In the early novels of Hardys‘ the references are sometimes heavy and seem rather
forced into the situation, as Hardy's art develops the classical parallels tend to become
briefer and more allusive, as when Farfrae's wife is called his „Calphurnia' (MC:
317), with the implication that he is gaining the power of a Caesar in Casterbridge.
The literary sources of Hardy's language range over many centuries and genres. As he
does with the classical world, he draws on it to help in building up his characters:
'Like Guildenstern, Oak was happy in that he was not
over happy‟ (FMC: 142);

The perpetrators of the skimmity-ride;

"disappeared like the Grow of Comus"
(MC: 335),

The single epithet may be even more telling: Farfrae, in conflict with Henchard
attracted to his daughter, decides:

59
 'to enact no Romeo Part' (MC: 115)

Situations as well as people are referred to literature for heightened effect, Gabriel,
looking down from above at Bathsheba:
'saw her in a birds-eye view, as Milton's Satan first
saw Paradise'. (FMC: 23)

There are references to the places and names in the Bible, which need to be studied at
some deeper level.

2.2.1.2 BIBLICAL ALLUSIONS

It is necessary here to know the meaning of an allusion. An allusion is a casual
reference to something. According to WikiAnswer.com, a biblical allusion is to use an
image or reference from the bible in everyday language that has nothing to do with
the original use of the words image or reference. For instance, to say a supposedly
powerful person has "feet of clay" is to refer to the vision of a mighty statue in the
second chapter of Daniel that nevertheless collapsed because its feet were made partly
of clay. Common language is full of biblical allusions, from someone having the
"patience of Job" or the "wisdom of Solomon" to the desire for "forbidden fruit" to
weather like that of "Noah's flood."

The Bible was familiar to the Victorian, in the Authorized or King James Version. It
was read aloud in the places of worship and privately in the home. Its allusions and
diction entered into the language as they had done for generations before. Hardy never
lost his love for the Bible. He continued to read it, alluded it often in letters and
personal writing as well as in his fiction and poetry.

In the novel The Mayor of Casterbridge, Hardy abundantly makes use of the Biblical
allusions. One of the Biblical allusions is that he depicts the story of Cain and Abel by
modeling Henchard's fate forms that of Cain's. Similarly, another allusion is how the
Bible's Naomic character from the story of Ruth plays matchmaker for her daughter;

60
much like Susan does for Elizabeth-Jane in Hardy's novel. The saga of David and
Saul can be compared to Henchard's envious rivalry with Farfrae.

Thomas Hardy utilizes these Biblical allusions in the novel to justify the belief of fate,
to show how maternal characters interfered with relationships, and to demonstrate the
destructive effects of jealousy.

In Thomas Hardy's time, he and the majority of the public prized biblical morals,
values, and lessons. Therefore, the characters are displayed with Biblical as well as
classical and literary analogies. Clym Yeobright:
'was a John the Baptist who took ennoblement rather
than repentance for his text' (RN: 171).

Henchard visiting the 'conjuror' or white wizard:

'felt like Saul at his reception by Samuel' (MC: 224);

Gabriel Oak, saved from asphysciation, began:

'shaking himself like a Samson'. (FMC: 30).

Situational allusions are also frequent, knight finds' it was as hard to be earliest in a
woman's heart as it was to be first service:
„in placid dignity, as Moses left the presence of
Pharaoh'. (FMC: 132)

Hardy's quotations would occupy too much space. Quotation from Greek and Latin
authors are generally translated, but sometimes left in the original language.

Similarly, Biblical quotations are sometimes at length and sometimes in brief. When
Oak has lost hope of marrying Bathsheba, his thoughts turn to the Bible.

61
Gabriel at this time of his life had outgrown the instinctive dislike, which every
Christian boy has for reading the Bible, perusing it now quite frequently, and he
inwardly said:
"I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart
is snares and nets‟ (FMC: 147)

According to Schweck, R. (1975:56/58) Far from the Madding Crowd (FMC) has
"many Old and New Testament references‖ that enhance the most important aesthetic
features. He also states that FMC provides a variety of examples where Hardy has
used the revelation that Troy's claim of regular church attendance was false to impugn
his character (FMC: 204) and he had Bathsheba, in her agitated suspicious of the
possibility of Troy's infidelity, see Oak humbly at his evening prayers and be
chastened by his calm piety (FMC: 306). At the close of the novel, he has used
quotations from Norman's "lead kindly light" to under score Bathsheba's sense of her
way wardness (FMC: 402/3) and defined the strength of Oak's and Bathsheba's love
by an allusion to:
„the Song of Solomon‟ (FMC: 409)

2.2.1.3 LANGUAGE OF EXPERIENCE

Hardy's writing shows that he drew a great deal from individual choice of words from
the available lexis is partly conditioned by education.

Much can be said of Hardy's beliefs and their sources; they develop through his life,
and are not entirely consistent at any point. In assessing their effect on his language, it
can safely be said that a strong sense of fate pervades his work, a sense which is
sometimes similar to that of Greek tragedy, sometimes closer to the conflict between
destiny and free choice in Elizabethan and Jacobean drama, and often particularly
Hardy's own.

The lives of Hardy's characters often seem to be ruled by the power of fate or destiny,
and these words appear frequently. Gabriel without a position is made noble by:

62
 'that indifference to fate which … often makes a
villain of a man'. (FMC: 46)

Henchard does not:

'consider whether destiny were hard upon him or
not'. (MC: 122)

Hardy adds a conscious or unconscious echo from Othello. Farfrae is pious about his
election as Mayor. He says:
'it's ourselves that are ruled by the powers above us!'
(MC: 214)

The grim words can have a lighter context: Fray, desiring the bailiff's job, is:
'gazing blankly at vision of a high destiny apparently
visible to him on Billy Smallbury's smock-frock'.
(FMC: 105)

An ascription more traditional in English Literature relates destiny to the influence of

the stars when Elizabeth-Jane remains attracted to Farfrae, she does not know:
"which her malignant star had done to blast the
budding attentions' which she had received from him
(MC:200),
but Gabriel's hopes to prosper, his:
'malignant star was assuredly setting fast'. (FMC:
309)

Time can also take on the role of adverse fate-another idea which Hardy's literature
shares with that of the Renaissance and Henchard's wife looks like:
'one who deems anything possible at the hands of
Time and Chance except, perhaps , fair play' (MC:
28)

63
As natural for simple characters, the language of theology is usually vague rather than
precise; Henchard reflects:
'who is such a reprobate as I! And yet it seems that
even I be in somebody's hand' (MC: 258)

Hardy's own comments are a little more precise, as when the darkness of the
sky and total darkness of the heath:
'might have represented a venial beside a mortal sin'.
(RN: 58)

The features of the countryside seem to take on a life of their own, so that their very
names are reminiscent. Flowers are precisely identified; instead of a general
description of shapes and colours, we have to see the gardens of Casterbridge through
the language of flowers themselves:
'the mossy gardens at the back, glowing with
nasturtiums, fuchsias, searlet genanicems,
"bloody warrdars", snap- dragons and
dahlias (MC: 72)

The beauty of nature can also be loved for itself; some of Hardy's best writing is
found in his description of country scenes. He knew the natural world in all its
seasons and all its moods, and the reader never goes very far in his work without
finding language used with power to create on the page a scene that takes the mind
into the region of sensory impressions.

The great description of Egdon Heath with which opens The RN is often listed as one
of the qualities which makes Hardy outstanding as a record of the natural world is the
precision with which he observes it. Hardy has chosen words so precisely that there is
a danger of their seeming mannered and forced, a danger from which he nearly
always escapes by the sense of personal knowledge which comes through. Thus, a
human pulse feels to a shepherd like:

64
 'the same quick, hard beat in the femoral artery of his
lambs when overdriven'
(FMC: 57)

And an exhausted woman (Eustacia) breathes:

"like a lamb when you drive him till he's nearly done
for". (RN: 265)

The language of architecture as allowed extending as metaphor beyond the

description of buildings. Lucetta arranges her body on a couch as:
"in the cyma-recte curve which so became her".
(MC: 147)

And Eustacia's lips form:

"the curve so well known in the art of design as the
cima-recta or ogee" (RN: 72)

In fact, Hardy learned architecture as a profession; he came to love painting as a

personal pleasure. During his early residence in London he visited many galleries and
exhibitions, and began to keep a notebook about artists and schools. It was an interest,
which remained with him all his life and extended to modern as well as classical art.

The influence of visual art on a writer is obviously of a different nature from that of
literature. While literature comes as language, inviting direct quotation and helping by
transference to form the personal idiolect, painting has nothing to offer linguistically
except the technical language standing at one remove from it in art criticism.

Hardy describes his character by analogsis with painting. The description of the old
woman is more evocative. She had:

65
 "the mellow hue of an old sketch in oils, notably some
of Nicholas Poussin's "
(FMC: 146)

Faces especially suggest the resemblances. Elizabeth-Jane who has bright:

„eyes' as if Nature had been advised by Correggio in
their creation' (MC: 131);

Moreover, Bathsheba is likened not to a portrait but to part of a landscape when her
face:
' colored with the angry crimson of a Danby sunset'.
(FMC: 130)

Landscapes and other scenes are often mentioned to describe the settings against
which the characters live. The countryside after rain is as fright as
"the landscapes by Ruysdael and Hobbema".
(FMC: 295)

The picturesque language is often made most effective when the scene is
'framed ' in a window or other opening. While Lucetta
and Elizabeth-Jane see the market place and the
brightly-painted new agricultural machine as they
look from inside a room. (MC: 201)

2.2.1.4 PATTERNS OF WORDS

These are lists of words sharing the same part of speech. The combination of words
related grammatically is the regular basis of language and can be imaginatively used
to good effect. The use of many adjectives is often condemned as poor style, showing
a weakness in vocabulary and dependence on a few nouns qualified by their different
attributes while there is truth in this, it is also true that the careful choice of adjectives
can be highly effective and made the general become particular in remarkable way.
Adjectives need be neither predictable nor merely objectively informative. Hardy

66
often surprises the reader by his adjectival phrases, which can say in a pair of words
as much as long piece of description.

According to Chapman, R. (1990:79)

“Hardy‟s natural observation and love of the visual
work together to give a strong sense of color to his
adjectival choice"

Emotions can be described as:

"Lively and sparkling"; "a church as 'grizzled".
(MC: 285, 48)

The effect is not of the amazing deviance from normal usage experienced by some
later writers, but rather the trace of qualities, which seem appropriate once they have
been discerned through these connections of words.

Hardy frequently uses nouns in the position, and with the function, of adjectives.
Lucetta's house in Casterbridge has an:
'ashlars front' (MC: 180);

Ashlars, a block of dressed and squared stone is a favorite word with Hardy the
former architect. Hardy's resources of classical, Biblical and literary knowledge are
drawn upon: Troy wears:
'a heavy grey overcoat of Noachian cut'. (FMC: 341)

His greatest originality, however, is shown in his creation of compound words, and it
is here that he maybe said to have enriched the literary vocabulary of English most
remarkably.

67
The formation of new words by combining two or more existing words is one of the
basic methods in English, a facility going back to the Old English of Anglo-Saxon
times and one that is shared with other languages of the Germanic family. Hardy
learned something from William Barnes, who tried to avoid Romance words by
combining Saxon words to quite the same meaning, and who used many novel
compounds in his poetry.

The same praise could be given to Hardy's own best work in this mode of invention.
Sometimes the compounds themselves are not strikingly original but are successful
because of the sensitive placing. Thus Elizabeth-Jane is:
„a dumb, deep-feeling, great-eyed creative' (MC: 128)

Other combinations are remarkable in themselves, with imaginative power reinforced

by their context. Adjectives formed by combination with past participles are
characteristic of Hardy. Gabriel sees Bathsheba:
'in the cold morning light of open-shuttered
disillusion' (FMC: 131);
A church is:
'many-cheuroned'. (RN: 179)

A combination of two nouns is the most common type of this formation in English,
giving familiar words like railway, steamship, and teaspoon. Hardy combines nouns
in this way. A more traditional type of noun-compound is used when the
configurations of the ground are seen as:
' the very finger-touches of the last geological change'
(RN: 34)

Troy describes Bathsheba as his:

'Juno-wife'. (FMC: 338)

68
Hardy shows equal facility in the coining of words by the process of derivation,
adding prefixes or suffixes to extend the meanings of basic words. This aspect of
English owes more to the Romance element and is the dominant method in modern
languages descended from Latin. Salter, C. H. (1973) declares:
" Hardy is fond of prefixes like up-, out-, over-, in-,
en-; he has a fine power of transforming familiar
words by the apparently trivial addition. A particular
favorite of his is 'embrowned', which he applies as a
verb to Egdon Heath, as a participle adjective to dead
leaves and in the form 'embrowning' to the twilight."

Actions as well as features in Hardy's novels are made vivid by analogy, again often
taken from nature. Eustacia hesitate about whether she could pursue Clym and:
' haunt the environs of his mother's house like a robin'
(RN: 126)

Boldwood picks up the unconscious Bathsheba:

'as a child might have taken a storm-beaten bird and
arranged its ruffled plumes'.
(FMC: 305)

Other activities are set firmly in the human world: Elizabeth-Jane is prepared for a
shock:
„as the fox passenger foresees the approaching jerk
from some channel across the highway' (MC: 115)
And Gabriel Oak is snuffed by the bailiff passing him:
'as a Christian edges past an offertory-plate when he
does not mean to contribute‟.
(FMC: 55)

69
 According to Chapman, R. (1990:90) "Hardy's sense of the continuity of time creates
the image of cups in a tavern:
' forming a ring round the margin of the great
sixteen-legged Oak table, like the monolithic circle at
Stonehenge in its pristine days'.
(MC: 205)
Human moods are made concrete through imagery; detailed analysis of feelings can
be dispensed with when a single analogy communicates to the reader. When Clym
Yeobright sees his dying mother,
'distress came over him like cold air from a cave'
(RN: 293)

The scandal of Lucetta's letters to Henchard:

'was spreading like a miasmatic fog'.
(MC: 233)

After Clym's love for Eustacia, any later love:

' would be a plant of slow and labored growth and in
the end only small and sickly, like an autumn-hatched
bird'. (RN: 348)

Hardy makes extensive use of simile, simple or developed, more than the concise
figure of metaphor, which leaps over the bridge of overt comparison and express one
referent in direct terms of another. He does, however, use metaphor to show human
qualities. Clym's eyes have:
'an icy shine' (RN: 296); Farfrae is 'quite brimming
with sentiment'. (MC: 153)

2.2.1.5 SYNTAX AND STRUCTURE

Hardy has often been badly criticized for inelegance in the structure of his sentences.
The attacks of some critics give the impression of an almost illiterate writer struggling

70
with little success to control the complexities of English sentences. He himself
recognized that 'a sentence may often be strictly correct in grammar, but wretched in
style‘.

The force of the nouns is increased by the use of verbs suggesting increasingly
difficult progress: went, rustled, skirted, elbowed. The device of moving downwards
in the hierarchy of roads can also describe a weary journey:
The turnpike-road became a lane, the lane a cart-
track, The cart-track a bridle-path, the bridle-path
afoot-way, The foot-way overgrown.(MC: 223)

Other types of subordinate openings are frequent. They sometimes weaken the
sentence, but often strengthen it by loading up to the main clause and giving it final
emphasis. Infinitive opening construction can have this effect:
To add to the difficulty he could gain no sound of
the sailor's name. (MC: 39)
To be left to pass the evening by her was irksome to
her at any time, and this evening it was more
irksome than by reason of the excitement of the past
hours. (RN: 274)

Subordinate clauses placed at the beginning of a sentence also have rhetorically

collective effect. Clauses of time can be effective in passing from the temporal setting
to the human focus:
"One night, at the end of August, when Bathsheba's
experience as a married woman were still new, and
when the weather was get dry and sultry, a man
stood motionless in the stack yard of Weatherbury
Upper Farm, looking at the moon and sky”.
(FMC: 226)

71
An opening noun-clause gives a strong initial emphasis leading in turn to still further
weight when the main clause is reached. The construction may see less idiomatic to
the modern reader, who may prefer a different form:
“it is unlikely that he will come,' rather than 'that he
will come is unlikely”. (RN: 86)

However, it is sound nineteenth-century syntax and Hardy uses its potential: That
Eustacia was somehow the cause of Wildeve's carelessness in relation to the marriage
had at once been Venn's conclusion on hearing of the secret meeting between them.

Some such sentences, however, may become clumsy; and once attention is drawn to
the structure, the desired effect is lost. A combination of participle in different
relationships with passive verbs lacking a firm subject makes this sentence fall apart:
"Going up, the floors above were found to have a very
irregular surface, rising to ridges, sinking into
valleys; and being just then uncarpeted, the face of
the boards was seen to be eaten into innumerable
vermiculatios" (FMC: 75)

The backward reference may be more oblique, with a verbal statement focused
sharply in a succeeding noun. Eustacia with the villagers at the festival 'looked among
them in vain for the cattle-dealer's wife who had suggested that she should come,' and
the negative action becomes a positive situation:
"This unexpected absence of the only local resident
whom Eustacia knew considerably damaged her
scheme for an afternoon of reckless gaiety."
(RN: 260)

The deixis may have no predecessor but may emphasize the general truth of a
statement, offered with a demonstrative force that assumes the reader's agreement.

72
Another means of emphasis is inversion of normal word order. English syntax is
general requires fairly rigid adherence to a conventional order of words in a sentence,
as pointers to their grammatical function. With no inflexions to distinguish cases of
noun, it can normally be assumed that a noun is the subject of a verb, which it
precedes, and the object of a transitive verb, which it immediately follows.

Departures from expectation have a strong effect when they can be made without
ambiguity or distortion of meaning. We are all familiar with remarks like 'Down came
the rain' or 'this I can not understand'. Hardy has a good control of permissible
inversion. An adverb at the beginning of a sentence makes a dynamic start and
prepares for the verb thus directed:
"Down, downward they went, and yet further down-
their descent at each step seeming to out measure
their advance. (RN: 56)

The sense of the uncertainty of life and the ultimate control of an uncaring destiny is
sometimes heightened by use of the passive voice. More often, the passive indicates a
bleak actuality:
"that he had been recognized by this man was highly
probably; yet there was room for a doubt".
(FMC: 309)

Sometimes, the general observation is about the natural world. As Clym listens to the
storm that will destroy Wildeve and Eustacia, Hardy moved from detailed description
in the past tense to the comment:
"It was one of those nights when cracks in the walls of
old churches widen, when ancient stains on the
ceilings of decayed manor-hoses are renewed and
enlarged from the size of a man's hand to an area of
many feet ".

73
 (RN: 324)
Direct address to the reader is, of course, a feature of the Victorian novel, which has
largely disappeared in the present century as the author withdraws more unnoticeably
from his creation. The rhetorical question was a favorite way of creating bond and is
one, which Hardy uses:
'Why did a woman of this sort live on Egdon Heath?
(RN: 73)
'Was Bathsheba altogether blind to the obvious
fact that the support of a lover's arms is not of
the kind best calculated to assist a resolve to
renounce him?
(FMC: 205)

The simple past of respected experience and the feature of continuing recall are
perfectly combined. Such felicities out weigh the clumsy and indirect passages are in
Hardy's writing. A final example will show Hardy at his best, combining several of
the features previously discussed:
"As the resting man looked at the barrow, he became
aware that its summit, hitherto the highest object in
the whole prospect round, was surmounted by
something higher. It rose from the semi-globular
mound like a spike from a helmet. The first instinct of
an imaginative stranger might have been to support it
the person of one of the Cetts who built the barrow,
so far had all of modem date withdrawn from the
scene. It seemed a sort of last man among them,
musing for a moment before dropping into eternal
night with the rest of his race"(RN: 38)

74
The sentences are kept well under control and balanced in length. The observation of
a character moves to that of an imaginary presence, in the syntax of hypothesis. The
image of a 'last man' has a phantom , in substantial presence, existing linguistically as
the predicate of the copula seemed and governing only participles which lead to
falling cadence of the final phrase , alliteration emphasizing the strong, monosyllabic
close.

2.2.1.6 DIALECT
Hardy took a very positive attitude towards the dialect of his native country. For him
it was neither a violated form of Standard English nor an ornamentation to give "local
colour" to his writing, but an ancient tongue with characteristics, which existed, in
their own right and not as deviations. According to Chapman, R. (1990:114):
"Hardy attends in pronunciation to the sounds of
dialect speech-rather than the stresses and intonation
which are more difficult to convey without distracting
explanations. A negative, but important, feature is the
loss of consonantal sounds, in a cluster of two or
more consonants."

This often occurs medially to give ath'art for 'athwart', miss'ess for 'mistress', pu'pit
for 'pulpit'. It can also be final as 'aroun' for 'around', 'wi' for 'with', and less often final
as initial as 'ithout' for 'without'. Sometimes Hardy removes a medial consonant where
it would not normally be pronounced in southern speech, perhaps to emphasize the
shortness of the vowels as 'nothen' for 'northern', and a frequent form, 'p'ason' for
'parson'.

The voicing of certain consonants, giving V for F and Z for S is a traditional feature
of south-western English. Shakespeare uses it in King Lear when Edgon, pretending
to be a peasant, says to Oswald:

75
 'let poor volk pass'. (RN: 236)

Hardy writes forms like vlee, vrom, voot, and zilver, zummer, zunday. In The (MC)
the old man told Susan and her daughter, Elizabeth about the mayor, Henchard:
“…and such like leading volk-wi‟ the Mayor in the
chair”. (MC: 43; Ch: 5)

Vowels sounds show some regular characteristics of change: a common one is the
movement of [i] to [e] giving 'spirit' as 'sperrit'. The long vowel [i:] becomes a
diphthong , close to [ei] but a little more open, as 'craters' for 'creatures', Gabriel Oak
refuses the offer of a 'clane cup' and is assured that the grit on a piece of bacon which
has been dropped is:
'clane dirt'. (FMC: 61)

Other verbal usages include be as a personal verb ('I be', 'We be') and weak past forms
of strong verbs like knowed, feeled, leed or zeed. Confusions of number maybe part
of general uneducated usage rather than specific to Dorset:
"mis'ess has sent', his grandfer were just such nice
unparticular men" (FMC: 61)

The real interest of Hardy's use of dialect lies not in his specific indicators, of which
these are only a few, but rather in his allocation of dialect features to characters
according to their position and contextual situation. A casual listener in the Dorset of
his novels would probably not have distinguished clearly between speakers, except
when broad dialect caused difficulty in understanding. The majority of the characters
maybe assured to have the local accent in some degree. Within the rural community
there was, in fact, considerable awareness of status which could make people
concerned about their own way of speaking. The prestige of a national standard was
growing in the second half of the nineteenth century. The implications for the status-
conscious in dialect area were interesting and often a musing.

76
Hardy sometimes shows those implications quite clearly. It is usually deviation in
grammar or lexis rather than pronunciation that is noticed, and this bears out the
supposition that the sound of speech was less often noticed by those brought up to
hear it daily. The most notably example is Henchard's fury at Elizabeth-Jane's saying:
'Bide where you be', he echoed sharply. "Good God,
are you only fit to carry wash to a pig-trough, that ye
use such words as those?'
She reddened with shame and sadness.
'I meant, "Stay where you are." Father? She said in a
low, humble voice,
'I bought to have been more careful.'
(MC: 158)

The town constable of Casterbridge use dialect words such as:

'what can we two poor Iammigers do against such
multitude'

While the magistrates who are themselves local tradesmen show little or no trace of
dialect. Henchard, who achieves almost standard speech in his time of success, reverts
to dialect as his fortunes fall and, he becomes an employed man again
'A fellow of his age going to be Mayor, indeed! ….But
it's her money that 'floats en upward. Ha-ha-how cust
odd it is. Here he I, his former master, working for
him as man, and he The man standing as master.
(MC: 274)

Gabriel Oak, who normally shows the fairly standard speech of a leading and
sympathetic character changes in passionate talk with Bathsheba by saying:

77
 "If wild heat had to do wi' it, making ye long to
overcome the awkwardness about your husband's
vanishing, it mid be wrong; but a cold-hearted
agreement to oblige a man seems different, somehow.
The real sin, ma'am, in my mind, lies in thinking of
ever wedding wi' a man you don't love honest and
true". (FMC: 331)

A character may lose dialect when he or she takes on is specific role in the action
which stretches beyond personality. The furmity woman who is the agent of
Henchard's first downfall speaks dialect in her early appearance; when she is in court
at Casterbridge she becomes an agent of doom and accusation and her speech
becomes almost normal. The constable alleges that she had said to him,
'Dost hear, old turmit-head? ; but she gives her evidence in
a different tone - 'A man and a woman and with a little
child came into my tent …. They sat down and had a basin
a piece‟ (MC: 241/2)

Chapman (1990:123) also observes in Hardy's novels that "the only extended attempt
outside Wessex is the accent of Farfrae in The Mayor of Casterbridge, represented
conventionally, but quite effectively
"It is true I am in the corren trade - but I have replied to no
a dvairrtisment, and arranged to see no one. I am on way
to Bristol – from there to the other side of the warrld."
(MC: 60)

Sympathy for Henchard's misfortune:

"It's the way of the warrld" (MC: 85,102, 201)

In a later preface to the novel, Hardy defended the representation of Farfrae's speech
in a statement which illuminates his use of South-Western dialect as well. He says:

78
 "It must be remembered that the Scotchman of the tale is
represented not as he would appear to other Scotchmen,
but as he would appear to people of outer regions.
Moreover, no attempt is made here in to reproduce his
entire pronunciation phonetically, any more than that of
the Wessex speakers".

2.3 CONCLUSION
This chapter has dealt with the important features of Hardy‘s selected novels and
characteristic features of his language. The first part has revealed that Hardy has an
excellent and great power of dramatizing his characters. His characters struggle with
destiny and they end with pathos. His novels have rural background, and they reveal
rustic life of his characters. His characters have been chosen from different aspect of
life like farmers, furze-cutter, corn-sellers, tree-planters etc.
In the second part, an attempt has been made to examine Hardy‘s language in the
novels under the study. Hardy‘s use of rare and obscure words has been the focal
point of discussion. He uses classical and other literary sources in his novels. He also
frequently uses nouns in a position with function of adjectives. His combination of
two nouns is one of the most common types of formation in English, e.g. railway,
teaspoon and so on.

The next chapter will discuss the two models of linguistics pragmatics i.e. the CP and
PP. The researcher will apply them to the analysis of the data from the selected
novels.

79