Love and Romance

In Tess of the d'Urbervilles Hardy creates a classic love triangle between Alec, Angel and Tess. H.M. Daleski in his criticism Thomas Hardy and Pardoxes of Love states:

"The typical Hardy plot places a female protagonist in a love triangle with two male protagonists who are portrayed as polar opposites. The woman contradicting a general view of her as victim is always granted the freedom of choice of a marriage partner. She invariably makes the wrong choice, which leads to a bad marriage and disastrous sexual relationships."

We see this conclusion fulfilled in Tess, but what of Hardy's other major works? Is this conclusion accurate for all Hardy's work? Does your novel support this conclusion? Post now!

Convergence of the Twain

After reading "The Convergence of the Twain" by Hardy (http://www.melodylane.net/ianwhitcomb/twainpoem.html) what connections can you make with Tess of the d'Urbervilles? How does Hardy converge this themes in both prose and poetry?

Predictions

In V.S. Pritchett's Collected Essays (1991) he says of Thomas Hardy "we are always struck by the largeness of the panorama and by the narrowness of Hardy's single, crooked, well-trodden path across it." From this statement, do you think Pritchett was fond of Hardy?

This balance of large setting and narrow aspect of character is distinctive of all Hardy novels. As you start the next text, knowing what you know from Tess, what can you expect from this new work? What predictions can you make? Any themes, symbols, motifs you may want to pay attention for?