I've had to study this book for GCSE, and we've had bits of his other works to use for revision, as our teacher is a big fan of Hardy, but most of the class really can't stand him. All the books are like... soap operas really, everyone is dying, it's always going wrong, I half-expected Tess to turn goth at the end! It was well acted, but just too nihilistic.
Anyone else think this, or is ir just me?
That's your personal opinion, and I do not agree with it. However, I do not think you're right in calling the story "nihilistic". "Tess of the d'Urbervilles" is VERY empowering to women, and I fail to see how Hardy comes through as "nihilistic" through the telling of this tale.
shareEverything you've described about Hardy is why I love his work. The bleakness, and sorrow of people trying to eke out an existence. It is very real, and very powerful.
It's odd, because I found 'The Mayor of Casterbridge', which I studied at A-level, to be very depressing and made me think 'Oh Hardy you grumpy old wanker'. However, seeing as I love all the other Hardy works I've read (Jude the Obscure, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Far From the Madding Crowd) all of which are equally - if not more - cynical and depressing as The Mayor of Casterbridge in many ways, I have a feeling my opinions of that novel may be due to studying it alongside Philip Larkin. Two grumpy old gits are a bit too much to handle.
Laura xxx
Simply knowing you exist
Ain't good enough for me
"Casterbridge" is a work of staggering genius and I shall always include it in my barrel of greats right up there with "The Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow" and nude polkas.
Nothing is more beautiful than nothing.
You may concider him Nhilistic, but although the story is dark it is as others have said very impowering to women. I love the stories hardy writes of but i have great difficulty understanding how he can kill off a character that he has spent so long creating,to me it would be like a child.
shareI think you might be thinking of the wrong world because nihilistic is the last thing I would consider any of Hardy's works, all his characters care too much as opposed to not enough . . . I will agree that they can get soapy and they are morbidly depressing. Tess is the most depressing of the bunch imo, being she starts off as a good sweet girl and is used and abused by men until she finally stands up for herself and ends up getting arrested/killed for it. Not empowering for women at all imo. And the ironic thing about the book as that the person who stops her redemption is Angel Clare, being he rejects her when he could have saved her because of his own hypocrisy and cold heartedness not forgiving Tess when she freely forgave him for the same crime, and Angel is supposed to be well, an Angel. And because they were already married she couldn’t then marry Alec, to make an “honest woman of her” or anyone else to support her.
shareDo you mean "depressING," maybe?
shareI agree it is depressing, I put the book down for two years midway through because I was angry with Angel and unable to plod through the 'everything is brown' turnip fields. At the same time I take my hat off to the writer for making me feel so strongly about it.
Dum Spiro Spero
If you categorise anything tragic and dramatic as a soap opera, then you are in need of some education my friend.
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