A Stylistic Analysis Of Hardy’s Characterisation in The Return Of The Native [INCOMPLETE...

Stylistics: First Assessed Essay

Candidate 316773

Module Title Stylistics

Module Tutor Charles Owen

Question Explore characterisation in an extract from any part of a novel of your choice by reference to the stylistic devices you have studied this semester. Limit the length of your extract to ten pages, but feel free to comment on how your extract relates to or is important to the rest of the work.

Title A stylistic analysis of Hardy’s characterisation in The Return Of The Native

MHRA Citation

2904 Words

Candidate 316773 First Stylistics Assessed Essay: A Stylistc Analysis Of Hardy's Characterisation In The Return Of The Native

December 2001

A Stylistic Analysis Of Hardy’s Characterisation in The Return Of The Native

Introduction

This essay will explore characterisation in an extract from The Return Of The Native

(reproduced here as an appendix). It aims to validate literary critics’ more

impressionistic and intuitive readings1, by using stylistic analysis to find precise

evidence for three of their assertions. Namely that:

Hardy ties character strongly to setting.

Eustacia Vye is simultaneously powerful and an outsider

Eustacia is blighted by the disparity between appearance and reality.

Analysis will be based on four categories: processes & participants, cohesion,

modality and attitude, and recording speech and thought (defined by Toolan 1998). To

minimise the problems involved in treating an extract as suitably reflective of a 400

page whole, constant reference will be made to the rest of the text.

1 Hardy ties character strongly to nature/landscape.

1.1 The importance of setting

In The Return Of The Native character contributes to a definition of "setting" that

incoporates nature, landscape and ‘local colour'2. At the beginning of the novel

Eustacia is described on Rainbarrow as “an organic part of the entire motionless

structure” (1985, 63). The extract's stylistic features supported this theme. The

frequency of prepositional phrases as process adjuncts is high, 26 in all. The next

evening . . .in the same spot . . . On Egdon. Some are unnecessary to character or plot.

The phrase in the direction of Mrs Yeobright’s house at Bloom’s End (sentence 26)

embeds a prepositional phrase in another prepositional phrase, reitering that Mrs

Yeobright's House remains where it has been for the previous 180 pages. The narrator

constantly enforces our sense of spatial and temporal relations.

1 George Woodcock's introduction to the Penguin Classics edition provides a summary of critical opinion.

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The interelation of cohesive lexical chains also ties locality to character:

One sub-chain of the lexical cohesion of Egdon is that of its wildlife and botany, in

this extract the blades of grass (29), masses of furze and heath (30), the grass riband

(31) etc. This sub-chain extends beyond description however, to Hardy’s main

imagery for characterisation. There is only one example in this extract: “the fantastic

figures of the mumming band whose plumes and ribbons rustled in their walk like

autumn leaves” (27). But it is rife through the novel as a whole, in images such as

when Eustacia “descended on the right hand side of the barrow, with the glide of a

water drop down a bud” (???????, 63) or repeated descriptions of Thomasin as a bird.

For Hardy, character is unavoidably tied to landscape.

1.2 The landscape as a character: pathetic fallacy

As noted by countless critics, Hardy makes Egdon Heath “a place perfect

accordant with man’s nature” (?????????, 56) by giving it human

attributes. There are several explicit instances in the novel; heath-

bells perform verbal processes “it was the single person of

something else speaking through each at once”.(106), young

beeches undergo “amputations, bruises, cripplings and harsh

lacerations” while “Each stem . . . moved like a bone in its socket”

(268/9). Though straight quotation cannot convincingly demonstrate

pathetic fallacy in this extract, it can be detected with stylistic

analysis. Take the divided opinions of the heathfolk:

senser mental process phenomenonWest Egdon believed in Blooms-End timeEast Egdon (believed) in the time of the Quiet

Woman inn

The senser in both these clauses is held to be the places themselves, not “the people of

West Egdon”. This is unremarkable in itself - the use of this construction to describe

an area’s public opinion is relatively common - but in the context of the novel subtly

contributes to the sense of pathetic fallacy.

More clearly, stylistic analysis supports the impression that the landscape is a near-

human agent that, alongside fate, controls characters’ lives. The protagonists’ power

over their own actions is minimised by the structure of sentence 31:

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(contentious element) mat.pro medium-t circ.

Half-an-hour of walking and talking brought them to the spot

in the valley where . . .

Why has Hardy used this material process, that provides uneccessary information

about “walking and talking” when he could have used a simpler process such as They

walked for half-an-hour to the spot in the valley where. . . or even They went to the

spot in the valley where . . . ? This figurative use of “brought” has greater implications

than merely adding variety to Hardy’s language. Grammatically, “Half-an-hour of

walking and talking” is used as a noun phrase in the subject position of the clause, that

would often contain a medium-initator or an agent. The importance of this

reconfiguration lies in it placing “them”, the mummers, in the position of the affected

element. “Half-an-hour-of walking and talking” is almost synonymous with

circumstances in general, which have brought them to the location where dramatic

events unfold. So this construction heightens the sense that the mummers are

manipulated by forces outside their control.

Eustacia’s closing scene contains a vivid image of the heath’s power over her; she

falls “as if she were drawn into the Barrow by a hand from beneath”. (???? 420). That

the heath is against her can be ascertained from the processes and participants of the

extract. In relation to the heath she is dehumanized, described in terms of her disguise,

the Turkish Night (sentence 72), and as body parts: Her boots being thinner than

those the mummers carried, the hoar had dampened her feet and made them cold. The

heath is one of the few, very specialized circumstances, that place Eustacia in the

position of medium-target. The dark image of the heath is also exemplified in a lexical

chain of types of darkness that frequently runs alongside the cohesive chain of heath

vegetation:

Heath Vegetation Darkness

the blades of grass seemed to move on with the shadows of those they surrounded (29)

The masses of furze and heath

to the right and left were dark as ever (30)

a huge pyrocanth now darkened the greater portion [of the front of the house] (46)

In sentence 29 Hardy succeeds in combining realism with the heightened symbolic

power of the landscape by using subtle probability modality: “the shining facets of

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frost upon the blades of grass seemed to move on with the shadows of those they

surrounded”. This could be paraphrased as It seemed possible that the shining facets

of frost upon the blades of grass moved on with the shadows they surrounded.

1.3 The Personification Of The Moon As A Dramatic Device

The heath’s opposite in the extract, the moon, also appears to be personified. For

example:

agent mat pro. circumstancethe moon . . . threw a spirited and enticing brightness upon the fantastic figures of the mumming band (27)This clause fits Toolan’s categorisation most comfortably if the moon is regarded as

an agent, as a human intentional actor who acts upon a given medium. The verb

“throwing” is an intentional action, and one most commonly used in association with

human beings. If the moon is not categorised as an agent the clause must contain two

mediums, and as “a spirited and enticing brightness” is certainly the “done-to”

element, the moon seems most sensibly categorised as a medium-iniator, another

category that Toolan reserves for human initiators of a process. The element of this

clause that is directly relevant to the plot, the position of the real human agents the

mummers, is relegated to a circumstance, further enforcing the sense that Hardy’s

interest lies in his depiction of scenery. For further evidence consider sentence 46: the

front [of the house], upon which the moonbeams directly played. In this intransitive

material process, the medium filling the subject position is certainly active, intending

and dynamic. It is far more akin to a medium-iniator than a standard medium, so is

definitely personification.

The personified moon seems connected to Eustacia. Like her, it opposes the heath,

attempting to bring brightness to it: “a mere half-moon was powerless to silver such

sable features as [the furze and heath’s] (30)”. Hardy uses similarly energetic and

positive evaluative adjectives and adverbs in descriptions of them both. The

moonlight is spirited and enticing (27) while Eustacia is enterprising (45) and does

things boldly (11) and decisively (21). The moon, implicitely, provides Eustacia with

her dramatic energy. In the rest of the novel there are many references to her “pagan

eyes” (118) and the heathfolk’s assumptions that she is a witch.

1.4 The purpose of the mummers as one element of “local colour” rather than

psychologised characters representing “real” human beings

The stylistic features of the extract define the mummers as a group rather than as

individuals with distinct personalities. Their first dialogue (sentences 2-5) discusses

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their conflicting time systems, but the resultant effect is not one that stresses divergent

opion but sameness, albeit a rather chaotic sameness. This is because each speaker

follows an identical pattern:

Carrier Relational Process

Attribute. Circumstance

It is(ellipted)

Twenty minutes after eight by the Quiet Woman

It is(ellipted)

Ten minutes past by Blooms-End

It wants(dialectic

version of the verb to

be)

ten minutes to by Grandfer Cantle’s Watch

‘t is five minutes past by the captain’s clock

These initial lines of direct speech are also dehumanising because there is no framing

clause before or after each mummer speaks, obscuring individual identities. We can

only identify “Here’s Charley at last! How late you be, Charley” (13) as a declaration

by its grammatical markers; commas and exclamation marks. Which, or how many

mummers made the statement seems to be irrevelant.

What is the purpose of their initial lines of direct speech? They contribute

nothing to the plot, nor the actual information about time systems provided directly in

sentences 6 to 10. Hardy is content to leave their actual words aside in later

conversations, reporting them as indirect speech <GET EXAMPLE!!!!>, or even pure

narrative reports of discoursal acts, the content of which we can gather from the

dialogue that immediately follows (sentences 83-85). Direct speech is, therefore, not

used because what is said is particularly of interest, but for two dramatic purposes.

Firstly, it brings a sense of immediacy to the narrative, an in media res style

immersion rather than being told a story. It counterbalances what may be seen as

unnecessary orientation in sentences 6-10. Secondly, the exact reproduction of the

mummer’s dialect is vital to Hardy’s construction of local colour. The mummers

dialogue is consequently full of idiomatic turns of phrase. Take for example the use of

“be” instead of “are” in sentence 85.

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A final element that defines the mummers as elements of local colour rather

than characterisation is the way in which Hardy records their reciting the mumming

play (sentences 95, 98, 102, 107, 110 and 114). This is direct speech, but marked out

as lines of verse. Unlike other forms of Victorian intertextuality – chapter epigrams or

quotations from poetry or other prose – these lines do not seem to contribute to the

tone of the plot. Instead, they emphasise the realism of the passage. The highly

unrealistic action of setting this dialogue into lines of verse draws attention to the fact

that these lines belong to a play that exists outside this text, the actual words of an old

custom, with the unfortunate side-effect of drawing attention to the extracts own

textuality as well.

2 Eustacia Vye is simultaneously an isolated outsider and a figure

who asserts great power and influence upon the other characters.

2.1 Evidence that Eustacia is the most significant character

To prove my secondary assertion it is vital to appreciate that Eustacia is the most

significant protagonist. Her perception is secondary only to the narrator’s. In fact, the

distinction between their discourses is sometimes ambiguous. Hardy switches subtly

between pure narrative and free indirect discourse to allow us to engage with

Eustacia’s desires and anxieties, in what seem to be her own words, while maintaining

his position as an omniscient narrator who can see the flaws in her schemes.

The first instance of Hardy using free indirect thought to create, as Toolan puts it

“character-alignedness” (117) is sentence 12: “Her grandfather was safe at the Quiet

Woman”. Superficially this seems to express pure narration, it simply tells us where

her grandfather is. However, the statement does not fully make sense unless it is

attributed to Eustacia. There is no reason for her grandfather to be safer in the local

public house than elsewhere; the novel has expressed no reason previously for her

grandfather to be in any danger. What it means, in fact, is that her grandfather was

safe from noticing her escapades because he was at the Quiet Woman. In other words

it is Eustacia that is “safe”. This is a conceivable anxiety for Eustacia’s, and since it

follows closely from a description of her perception, watching the assemblage through

a hole (11), it seems attributable to her. Hardy uses free indirect thought rather than

standard indirect thought – Eustacia thought that she was safe from discovery because

her grandfather was at the Quiet Woman – because it is subtler and more economical.

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Also, we cannot detach it entirely from the third person narrator, implying that the

storyteller shares her point of view to some extent.

The use of free indirect thought is more obvious in sentences 34 and 35, though the

presence of the narrator is more keenly felt:

What was Wildeve? Interesting, but inadequate. Perhaps she would see a sufficient hero tonight.The first sentence, especially, is attributable to Eustacia. Hardy dismissed Wildeve

chapters ago as “one in whom no man would have seen anything to

admire, and in whom no woman would have seen anything to

dislike” (????. 93). Eustacia, however, who has had an affair with

Wildeve but detested his inability to take her to a world of fashion or

high romance, is far more likely to regard him as “interesting, but

inadequate”. The tone reflects her elevated view of herself and

melodramatic nature. The question-answer structure and ellipsis of

pronouns - he was “interesting, but inadequate” - indicate a mental

process, a character probing themselves to understand their own

motivation. The second sentence is more ambiguous however. The

prospect of seeing “a sufficient hero” that night is congruent with

Eustacia’s romanticising nature and explains her motivation in

embarking on the adventure, but it also has elements of the

narrator’s voice, tantalisingly indicating (and therefore heightening

the drama of) imminent plot developments. The sentence is perhaps

best seen as an amalgam of the two voices – Eustacia’s discourse

and the ironizing tone of a narrator who already knows that her

“sufficient hero” will lead her only to tragedy. Hardy has used the

ambiguity between pure narrative and free indirect discourse

(identified by Toolan, 113) to create an interesting literary effect.

We can empathise with Eustacia while simultaneously

understanding that her actions are mistaken.

3.1 Eustacia as an outsider

That Eustacia is an isolated outsider, a “lonesome dark eyed-creature” is

stressed by the narrator throughout the novel. In this extract a sense of exclusion is

attached to the door of Bloom’s End. This is not clear from a straightforward reading

but then, as David Lodge states “the significance of repetition in a given text is not

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conditional on its being consciously and spontaneously recognised by a majority of

intelligent readers” (?????, 78). There are a surprisngly large amount of cohesive

statements relating to the door. My analysis identified eleven clear instances, the

largest chain of lexical cohesion for any nominal entity other than Eustacia:

i) It became at once evident that the dance was proceeding immediately within the surface of the door (47)ii) The brushing of skirts and elbows, sometimes the bumping of shoulders, could be heard against the very panels (48)iii) “Is there no passage inside the door, then?” asked Eustacia (51)iv) The door opens right upon the front sitting-room, where the spree’sgoing on” (53)v) “we cannot open the door without stopping the dance” (54)vi) they always bolt the back door after dark (55)

[lexical cohesion, though looser than the other instances, as the back door, by its own modifier, must be seen in relation to the front door]

vii) imagined by these outsiders . . . from the occasional kicks of toes and heels against the door (61)viii) said Saint George, with his ear to the panel (71)ix) said the Valiant Soldier, looking through the keyhole (74)x) said Eustacia authoritatively, as she paced smartly up and down from door to gate to warm herself. (79)xi) Father Christmas advanced, lifted the latch, and put his headinside the door. (91)

The frequency of repetition is not significant in itself. As Lodge states “the most

frequently recurring word in a given text is not necessarily the most significant word”

(?????, 78). It is vital the unity of this extract, however. Eustacia’s exclusion from the

rest of Egdon heath society often involves her watching others from a hidden position

– see sentence 11, but now she appears to be attempting to transgress the boundary,

represented by the door, between their customs and her.

As vii) shows, the world behind the door is one that inspires Eustacia’s

dreams, one that she considers from another mummers’ perception looking “through

the keyhole”. v) indicates that she is anxious about opening the door in such a way as

will destroy what is inside. Eustacia’s power lies in her position outside social

convention – she can only speak “authoritatively” in x) when she is firmly outside

Bloom’s End. The sense of transgressing boundaries is enhanced by a lexical chain

relating to entering, that is connected to the door and sometimes overlaps such as v)

and xi).

3.2 Eustacia as a powerful figure

Eustacia’s power is explicit in the narration. Her actions are accompanied by heroic

evaluative adverbs: boldly (11) decisively (21), triumphantly (22) and authoritatively

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(79). She capably handles the demands of her adventure, expressed by the narrator’s

obligation modality: Dash being all that was required to carry her triumphantly

through, she adopted as much as was necessary. Eustacia asserts her authority inside

her speech. Her speech, though sometimes superficially expressions of fact, is often

evaluative. Her claim “I know the part as well as he”, for instance, demonstrates her

self-confidence. However, the real sense of Eustacia’s power is more deeply ingrained

in the text, in her participant roles.

36 material process verbs refer to Eustacia (excluding when she is incorporated as

part of a group). The majority, 23, express processes in which she is dominant. In 19

she is a medium-initiator, in four the agent. Eight of the processes dominated by

Eustacia are transitive, establishing her as the causer of events that affect other entities

or objects. The affected instances are in two cases abstractions, in two objects and in

four human beings. As Toolan has suggested, “experiential structures with the

sequence agent-material-process-medium-target, where both participants are human,

may be somewhat exceptional” (???? 93), so Eustacia’s power over the mummers is

significant:

Agent Mat. Pro. Medium-t

a cousin of Miss Vye’s come to

take

Charley’s place

Her graceful gait, elegant figure, and

dignified manner

in general

won the mummers

I ‘ll

challenge

any of you (the

mummers)

The enterprising lady followed the mumming company

In all but the last sentence the process is metaphorical, and the medium-target in

sentence 15 is not strictly Charley but “the position that Charley fills”. In sentence 18

Eustacia is represented by a series of agent metonyms (through the evaluative

adjectives – graceful, elegant, dignified – only serve to increase the sense of sexual

potency at the root of much of her power over the mummers). Even so, Eustacia

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constantly filling this dynamic participant role, affecting a whole group rather than

individuals. Additionally, she twice plays anotherpowerful role as an instrument or

force that affects one or more mummers:

the other mummers were delighted with the new knight(although this uses the typical marker of an instrument, with, it seems more appropriate as a force affecting the mummers – it can be paraphrased as the other mummers were delighted by the new knight without changing the meaning) <???>

the Valiant Soldier was slain by a preternaturally inadequate thrust from Eustacia <???>So Eustacia’s particpant roles define her as extremely powerful.

3 Naivety of the difference between appearance and reality is at the

root of the major characters’ tragedy.

3.1 Eustacia’s Dual Identity

By taking on the role of Turkish Knight in the play, Eustacia transgresses the

boundary of her isolation while maintaining the position of hidden observer that she

has held throughout the novel. She loses some power when the mummers ascertain

her identity, being cast as the affected participant more frequently than before. She

shifts from carrier to attribute: Be you Miss Vye? (85) and from senser to

phenomenon: We think you must be [Eustacia Vye] (85). The most potent stylistic

feature to demonstrate Eustacia’s loss of status is the superfluous-noun phrase in

sentence 59: “The lad who had first recognised Eustacia”. This transative phrase

relegates Eustacia to the “done to” element. She no longer has authoritarian power

over the mummers, but does gain sexual power, and a degree of admiration and

sympathy: “the young fellow took especial care to use his sword as gently as

possible” (111), “That’s upon our honour”. However, while Eustacia is reasonably

adept at manipulating her identity, she is unable to see the disparity between her

perception of Clym and the real man.

3.2 The Dream Of Clym

Clym is primarily a dream rather than a character in this extract. His ‘real’ actions are

limited to one material process. He “was leaning aainst the settle’s outer end”. The

use of the past progressive tense allows us to background him – while he is leaning

the narrator continues by discusing the implications of his appearance. Separate

cohesive chains define him, as the “sufficient hero” of Eustacia’s imagination and as a

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man whose face is examined by the narrator. His first material process, dancing,

occurs inside Eustacia’s imagination (sentences 39-41) as the mummers approach the

house. These sentences are undoubtedly Eustacia’s free indirect thought – the pronoun

“herself” is used. They express a level of detail and conviction that indicate that

Eustacia is taking her dream too seriously. The first relational process, “He was there,

of course”, leaves no room for the possibility that the reality of the situation may be

different to her imagined one. It is enforced by a strong expression of probability

modality: of course. One clause later her extended imaginings are prefaced by another

piece of probability modality: Perhaps.

Just as the mummer’s investigation of Eustacia’s identity placed her in a less

powerful position, so her investigation for Clym’s true identity weakens her at the

hands of circumstance. The prospect of comparing her dream of Clym with the reality

relegates her to a subjected medium-target: She was troubled by Yeobright’s presence.

Importantly, Clym is not represented as powerful in his position as a force in this

clause, just “his presence”. Sentence 104 contains an enormous noun phrase

representing circumstance as a whole – the concentration upon her part necessary to

prevent discovery, the newness of the scene, the shine of the candles, and the

confusing effect upon her vision of the ribboned visor which hid her features – which

bear Eustacia down into the subjected position of medium-target: left her. One of the

extract’s few negative mental process phenomenona follows; Eustacia was unable to

perceive who were present as spectators. Whereas Eustacia’s cognition about fantasy

romance is fluent and melodramatic, such as in the free indirect thought of sentences

39-41, her perception of the real world is thwarted: “she could faintly discern faces,

and that was all” (105). Eustacia’s inability to reconcile her Romantic aspirations

against reality leads to her death at the end of the novel.

3.3 The narrator’s investigation of Clym

When describing Clym the narrator reveals more about its own attitude than the

character. Evaluative sentences such as “The spectacle constituted an area of two feet

in Rembrandt’s intensest manner” (132) contain allusions that do not belong to the

internal world of the novel but foreground an educated storyteller. The narrator’s

conviction that Eustacia’s imaginings are too tentative has the same effect,

demonstrated in it combining two modal verbs of probability: “She had come out to

see a man who might possibly have the power to deliver her soul from a most deadly

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oppression”. These contrast with the pure narrative of sentences 6 to 10, which are

entirely factual (as indicated by the initial existential process On Egdon there was no

absolute hour of the day) and unembellished by evaluative adjectives and adverbs.

The generic sentences about Clym –all the more notable as they cause a shift from the

past tense in which the rest of the extract is written to the simple present – explain

why Hardy is often regarded as a pessimistic writer:

GENERIC SENTENCES ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Sentences 42 and 43, both generic, emphasise Eustacia’s heightened view of romance. It follows her

melodramatic language – “twelvemonth regulation of fire”. She elevates her position, of having passed

to courtship without acquaintance, by using an evaluative adjective to describe herself as being on a

“royal road”. <This ties in with etiquette cohesion>.

Sentences 42 and 43, both generic, emphasise Eustacia’s heightened view of romance. It follows her

melodramatic language – “twelvemonth regulation of fire”. She elevates her position, of having passed

to courtship without acquaintance, by using an evaluative adjective to describe herself as being on a

“royal road”. <This ties in with etiquette cohesion>.

Conclusion

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Appendix: Extract from The Return Of The NativeN.B. For convenience this extract has been numbered in terms of sentence, rather than more useful but less clear-cut units such as the clause.Chapter 5: Through the Moonlight1. The next evening the mummers were assembled in the same spot, awaiting the entrance of the

Turkish Knight. 2. “Twenty minutes after eight by the Quiet Woman, and Charley not come.”3. “Ten minutes past by Blooms-End.”4. “It wants ten minutes to, by Grandfer Cantle’s watch.”5. “And ‘tis five minutes past by the captain’s clock.”6. On Egdon there was no absolute hour of the day. 7. The time at any moment was a number of

varying doctrines professed by the different hamlets, some of them having originally grown up from a common root, and then become divided by secession, some having been alien from the beginning. 8. West Egdon believed in Blooms-End time, East Egdon in the time of the Quiet Woman Inn. 9. Grandfer Cantle’s

watch had numbered many followers in years gone by, but since he had grown older faiths were shaken. 10. Thus, the mummers having gathered hither from scatteredpoints each came with his own tenets on early and late; and they waited a little longer as a compromise. 11. Eustacia had watched the assemblage through the hole;and seeing that now was the proper moment to enter, she went from the “linhay” and boldly pulled the bobbin of the fuelhouse door. 12. Her grandfather was safe at theQuiet Woman.13. “Here’s Charley at last! How late you be, Charley.”14. “’Tis not Charley,” said the Turkish Knight from within

his visor. 15. “’Tis a cousin of Miss Vye’s, come to takeCharley’s place from curiosity. 16. He was obliged to go andlook for the heath-croppers that have got into the meads,and I agreed to take his place, as he knew he couldn’t comeback here again tonight. 17. I know the part as well as he.”

18. Her graceful gait, elegant figure, and dignified mannerin general won the mummers to the opinion that theyhad gained by the exchange, if the newcomer were perfectin his part.

19. “It don’t matter—if you be not too young,” said Saint George. 20. Eustacia’s voice had sounded somewhat more juvenile

and fluty than Charley’s.

21. “I know every word of it, I tell you,” said Eustacia decisively. 22. Dash being all that was required to carry her triumphantly through, she adopted as much as

was necessary. 23. “Go ahead, lads, with the try-over. 24. I’ll challenge any of you to find a mistake in me.”

25. The play was hastily rehearsed, whereupon the other mummerswere delighted with the new knight. 26. They extinguishedthe candles at half-past eight, and set out upon the heathin the direction of Mrs. Yeobright’s house at Bloom’s-End.

27. There was a slight hoarfrost that night, and the moon,though not more than half full, threw a spirited and enticingbrightness upon the fantastic figures of the mumming band,whose plumes and ribbons rustled in their walk likeautumn leaves. 28. Their path was not over Rainbarrow now,but down a valley which left that ancient elevation

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a little to the east. 29. The bottom of the vale was greento a width of ten yards or thereabouts, and the shiningfacets of frost upon the blades of grass seemed to moveon with the shadows of those they surrounded. 30. The massesof furze and heath to the right and left were dark as ever;a mere half-moon was powerless to silver such sablefeatures as theirs.

31. Half-an-hour of walking and talking brought them to the spotin the valley where the grass riband widened and led down tothe front of the house. 32. At sight of the place Eustacia who hadfelt a few passing doubts during her walk with the youths,again was glad that the adventure had been undertaken. 33. She had come out to see a man who might possibly have thepower to deliver her soul from a most deadly oppression. 34. What was Wildeve? Interesting, but inadequate.35. Perhaps she would see a sufficient hero tonight. 36. As they drew nearer to the front of the house the mummers became aware that music and dancing

were briskly flourishing within. 37. Every now and then a long low note from the serpent,

which was the chief wind instrument played at these times,advanced further into the heath than the thin treble part,and reached their ears alone; and next a more than usualloud tread from a dancer would come the same way.

38. With nearer approach these fragmentary sounds becamepieced together, and were found to be the salient pointsof the tune called “Nancy’s Fancy.”

39. He was there, of course. 40. Who was she that he danced with?41. Perhaps some unknown woman, far beneath herself in culture,

was by the most subtle of lures sealing his fate thisvery instant. 42. To dance with a man is to concentratea twelvemonth’s regulation fire upon him in the fragmentof an hour. 43. To pass to courtship without acquaintance,to pass to marriage without courtship, is a skipping ofterms reserved for those alone who tread this royal road.

44. She would see how his heart lay by keen observation ofthem all.

45. The enterprising lady followed the mumming company throughthe gate in the white paling, and stood before the open porch.

46. The house was encrusted with heavy thatchings, which droppedbetween the upper windows; the front, upon which themoonbeams directly played, had originally been white;but a huge pyracanth now darkened the greater portion.

47. It became at once evident that the dance was proceeding immediatelywithin the surface of the door, no apartment intervening.

48. The brushing of skirts and elbows, sometimes the bumpingof shoulders, could be heard against the very panels.

49. Eustacia, though living within two miles of the place,had never seen the interior of this quaint old habitation.

50. Between Captain Vye and the Yeobrights there had neverexisted much acquaintance, the former having come as astranger and purchased the long-empty house at MistoverKnap not long before the death of Mrs. Yeobright’s husband;and with that event and the departure of her sonsuch friendship as had grown up became quite broken off.

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51. “Is there no passage inside the door, then?” asked Eustaciaas they stood within the porch.

52. “No,” said the lad who played the Saracen. 53. “The dooropens right upon the front sitting-room, where the spree’sgoing on.”

54. “So that we cannot open the door without stopping the dance.”55. “That’s it. 56. Here we must bide till they have done,

for they always bolt the back door after dark.”

57. “They won’t be much longer,” said Father Christmas. 58. This assertion, however, was hardly borne out by the event. 59. Again the instruments ended the tune; again they

recommenced with as much fire and pathos as if it werethe first strain. 60. The air was now that one withoutany particular beginning, middle, or end, which perhaps,among all the dances which throng an inspired fiddler’s fancy,best conveys the idea of the interminable—the celebrated“Devil’s Dream.” 61. The fury of personal movement that waskindled by the fury of the notes could be approximatelyimagined by these outsiders under the moon, from theoccasional kicks of toes and heels against the door,whenever the whirl round had been of more than customary velocity.

62. The first five minutes of listening was interesting enoughto the mummers. 63. The five minutes extended to ten minutes,and these to a quarter of an hour; but no signs of ceasing wereaudible in the lively “Dream.” 64. The bumping against the door,the laughter, the stamping, were all as vigorous as ever,and the pleasure in being outside lessened considerably. 65. “Why does Mrs. Yeobright give parties of this sort?”

Eustacia asked, a little surprised to hear merrimentso pronounced.

66. “It is not one of her bettermost parlour-parties. 67. She’sasked the plain neighbours and workpeople without drawingany lines, just to give ‘em a good supper and such like.

68. Her son and she wait upon the folks.”69. “I see,” said Eustacia. 70. “’Tis the last strain, I think,” said Saint George,

with his ear to the panel. 71. “A young man and woman havejust swung into this corner, and he’s saying to her,‘Ah, the pity; ‘tis over for us this time, my own.’”

72. “Thank God,” said the Turkish Knight, stamping, and takingfrom the wall the conventional lance that each of themummers carried. 73. Her boots being thinner than those ofthe young men, the hoar had damped her feet and made them cold.

74. “Upon my song ‘tis another ten minutes for us,”said the Valiant Soldier, looking through the keyholeas the tune modulated into another without stopping.

75. “Grandfer Cantle is standing in this corner, waiting his turn.”76. “’Twon’t be long; ‘tis a six-handed reel,” said the Doctor.77. “Why not go in, dancing or no? 78. They sent for us,”

said the Saracen.

79. “Certainly not,” said Eustacia authoritatively, as she paced smartly up and down from door to gate to warm herself.

80. “We should burst into the middle of them and stop the dance,

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and that would be unmannerly.”81. “He thinks himself somebody because he has had a bit

more schooling than we,” said the Doctor.

82. “You may go to the deuce!” said Eustacia. 83. There was a whispered conversation between three or four of them, and one turned to her. 84. “Will you tell us one thing?” he said, not without gentleness. 85. “Be you Miss Vye? We think you must be.”86. “You may think what you like,” said Eustacia slowly.87. “But honourable lads will not tell tales upon a lady.”88. “We’ll say nothing, miss. That’s upon our honour.”89. “Thank you,” she replied. 90. At this moment the fiddles finished off with a screech,

and the serpent emitted a last note that nearly liftedthe roof. 91. When, from the comparative quiet within,the mummers judged that the dancers had taken their seats,Father Christmas advanced, lifted the latch, and put his headinside the door.

92. “Ah, the mummers, the mummers!” cried several guests at once. 93. “Clear a space for the mummers.”94. Humpbacked Father Christmas then made a complete entry,

swinging his huge club, and in a general way clearing thestage for the actors proper, while he informed the companyin smart verse that he was come, welcome or welcome not;concluding his speech with

95 “Make room, make room, my gallant boys,And give us space to rhyme;We’ve come to show Saint George’s play,

Upon this Christmas time.”96. The guests were now arranging themselves at one end of the room,

the fiddler was mending a string, the serpent-playerwas emptying his mouthpiece, and the play began.

97. First of those outside the Valiant Soldier entered,in the interest of Saint George—

98 “Here come I, the Valiant Soldier;Slasher is my name”;

and so on. 99. This speech concluded with a challengeto the infidel, at the end of which it was Eustacia’sduty to enter as the Turkish Knight. 100. She, with therest who were not yet on, had hitherto remainedin the moonlight which streamed under the porch.

101. With no apparent effort or backwardness she came in, beginning—

102. “Here come I, a Turkish Knight,Who learnt in Turkish land to fight;

I’ll fight this man with courage bold:

If his blood’s hot I’ll make it cold!”

103. During her declamation Eustacia held her head erect,and spoke as roughly as she could, feeling pretty securefrom observation. 104. But the concentration upon her partnecessary to prevent discovery, the newness of the scene,the shine of the candles, and the confusing effect uponher vision of the ribboned visor which hid her features,left her absolutely unable to perceive who were present

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as spectators. 105. On the further side of a table bearingcandles she could faintly discern faces, and that was all.

106. Meanwhile Jim Starks as the Valiant Soldier hadcome forward, and, with a glare upon the Turk, replied—

107. “If, then, thou art that Turkish Knight,Draw out thy sword, and let us fight!”

108. And fight they did; the issue of the combat being that theValiant Soldier was slain by a preternaturally inadequatethrust from Eustacia, Jim, in his ardour for genuinehistrionic art, coming down like a log upon the stonefloor with force enough to dislocate his shoulder.

109. Then, after more words from the Turkish Knight,rather too faintly delivered, and statements that he’dfight Saint George and all his crew, Saint Georgehimself magnificently entered with the well-known flourish—

110. “Here come I, Saint George, the valiant man,With naked sword and spear in hand,

Who fought the dragon and brought him to the slaughter,And by this won fair Sabra, the King of Egypt’sdaughter;

What mortal man would dare to standBefore me with my sword in hand?”

111. This was the lad who had first recognized Eustacia;and when she now, as the Turk, replied with suitable defiance,

and at once began the combat, the young fellow took especial

care to use his sword as gently as possible. 112. Being wounded,

the Knight fell upon one knee, according to the direction.

113. The Doctor now entered, restored the Knight by giving hima draught from the bottle which he carried, and the fightwas again resumed, the Turk sinking by degrees untilquite overcome—dying as hard in this venerable dramaas he is said to do at the present day.

114. This gradual sinking to the earth was, in fact,one reason why Eustacia had thought that the part ofthe Turkish Knight, though not the shortest, would suither best. 115. A direct fall from upright to horizontal,which was the end of the other fighting characters,was not an elegant or decorous part for a girl.

116. But it was easy to die like a Turk, by a dogged decline. 117. Eustacia was now among the number of the slain, though not

on the floor, for she had managed to sink into a slopingposition against the clock-case, so that her head waswell elevated. 118. The play proceeded between Saint George,the Saracen, the Doctor, and Father Christmas; and Eustacia,having no more to do, for the first time found leisureto observe the scene round, and to search for the formthat had drawn her hither.

6 - The Two Stand Face to Face118. The room had been arranged with a view to the dancing,

the large oak table having been moved back till it stood

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as a breastwork to the fireplace. 119. At each end, behind,and in the chimney-corner were grouped the guests,many of them being warm-faced and panting, among whomEustacia cursorily recognized some well-to-do personsfrom beyond the heath. 120. Thomasin, as she had expected,was not visible, and Eustacia recollected that alight had shone from an upper window when they wereoutside—the window, probably, of Thomasin’s room.

121. A nose, chin, hands, knees, and toes projected from the seat within the chimney opening, which members she found to unite in the person of Grandfer Cantle, Mrs. Yeobright’s occasional assistant in the garden, and therefore one of the invited.

122. The smoke went up from an Etna of peat in front of him,played round the notches of the chimney-crook, struckagainst the salt-box, and got lost among the flitches.

123. Another part of the room soon riveted her gaze. 124. At the other side of the chimney stood the settle,

which is the necessary supplement to a fire so openthat nothing less than a strong breeze will carry upthe smoke. 125. It is, to the hearths of old-fashionedcavernous fireplaces, what the east belt of trees is to theexposed country estate, or the north wall to the garden.

126. Outside the settle candles gutter, locks of hair wave,young women shiver, and old men sneeze. 127. Inside is Paradise.

128. Not a symptom of a draught disturbs the air; the sitters’backs are as warm as their faces, and songs and old talesare drawn from the occupants by the comfortable heat,like fruit from melon plants in a frame.

129. It was, however, not with those who sat in the settle thatEustacia was concerned. 130. A face showed itself with marked

distinctness against the dark-tanned wood of the upper part.

131. The owner, who was leaning against the settle’s outer end, was Clement Yeobright, or Clym, as he was called here; she knew it could be nobody else. 132. The spectacle constituted an area of two feet in Rembrandt’s intensest manner.

133. A strange power in the lounger’s appearance lay inthe fact that, though his whole figure was visible,the observer’s eye was only aware of his face.

134. To one of middle age the countenance was that of a young man,though a youth might hardly have seen any necessityfor the term of immaturity. 135. But it was really one ofthose faces which convey less the idea of so many yearsas its age than of so much experience as its store.

136. The number of their years may have adequately summedup Jared, Mahalaleel, and the rest of the antediluvians,but the age of a modern man is to be measured by theintensity of his history.

137. The face was well shaped, even excellently. 138. But the mind within was beginning to use it as a mere waste tablet whereon to trace its idiosyncrasies as they developed themselves.

139. The beauty here visible would in no long time be ruthlesslyover-run by its parasite, thought, which might just aswell have fed upon a plainer exterior where there was

nothing it could harm. 140. Had Heaven preserved Yeobrightfrom a wearing habit of meditation, people would have said,“A handsome man.” 141. Had his brain unfolded under sharper

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contours they would have said, “A thoughtful man.” 142. But aninner strenuousness was preying upon an outer symmetry,and they rated his look as singular. 143. Hence people who began by beholding him ended by perusing him. 144. His countenance was overlaid with legible meanings. 145. Without being thought-worn he yet had certain marks

derived from a perception of his surroundings, such asare not unfrequently found on men at the end of the fouror five years of endeavour which follow the closeof placid pupilage. 146. He already showed that thoughtis a disease of flesh, and indirectly bore evidencethat ideal physical beauty is incompatible with emotionaldevelopment and a full recognition of the coil of things.

147. Mental luminousness must be fed with the oil of life,even though there is already a physical need for it;and the pitiful sight of two demands on one supply wasjust showing itself here.

148. When standing before certain men the philosopher regretsthat thinkers are but perishable tissue, the artistthat perishable tissue has to think. 149. Thus to deplore,each from his point of view, the mutually destructiveinterdependence of spirit and flesh would have beeninstinctive with these in critically observing Yeobright.

150. As for his look, it was a natural cheerfulness strivingagainst depression from without, and not quite succeeding.

151. The look suggested isolation, but it revealed something more.152. As is usual with bright natures, the deity that lies

ignominiously chained within an ephemeral human carcaseshone out of him like a ray.

153. The effect upon Eustacia was palpable. 154. The extraordinarypitch of excitement that she had reached beforehand would,indeed, have caused her to be influenced by the mostcommonplace man. 155. She was troubled at Yeobright’s presence.

156.The remainder of the play ended—the Saracen’s headwas cut off, and Saint George stood as victor. 157. Nobody commented, any more than they would have commentedon the fact of mushrooms coming in autumn or snowdropsin spring. 158. They took the piece as phlegmatically as didthe actors themselves. 159. It was a phase of cheerfulnesswhich was, as a matter of course, to be passed throughevery Christmas; and there was no more to be said.

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Sources Cited

Abrams, M.H. 1999 A Glossary of Literary Terms Orlando: Hardcourt Brace College Publishers

Toolan, Michael 1998 Language In Literature: An Introduction to Stylistics, London: Arnold

Woodcock, George ed Hardy, Thomas 1985 The Return Of The Native (1878) London: Penguin

LodgeToolan

Casagrande, Peter J. ‘Something More To Be Said: Hardy’s Creative Process & TheCase Of Tess & Jude’ in Pettit, Charles ed. 1994 New Perspectives On Thomas Hardy, Ipswitch: MacmillanDickens, Charles 1998 Hard Times (1854), Schlicke, Paul ed. Oxford: OxfordUniv.PressDohney, John ‘Characterisation in Hardy’s Jude The Obscure: The Function ofArabella’ in Pettit, Charles P.C. ??? Reading Thomas Hardy [book unavailable – taken from photocopiesHardy, Thomas Jude The Obscure (1895) Taylor, Dennis ed. Suffolk: PenguinMacabe, Colin 1979 James Joyce & The Revolution Of The Word: LanguageDiscourse, Society London & Basingstoke: MacmillanTaylor, Dennis ‘The Letter Of What Law?’ in Hardy, Thomas Jude The Obscure(1895) Taylor, Dennis ed. Suffolk: Penguin

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Eustacia’s mental process pheonomena:the assemblage through the holethe proper time to enterthe part (she knows)a few passing doubtsthat the adventure had been undertakena sufficient herowho were present as spectatorssome well-to do persons from beyond the heath

(the sense of free indirect discourse is most explicit in sentence 41, that expresses Eustacia’s anxiety about Clym dancing with another woman by using the pronoun “herself”)Various sentences seem to follow Eustacia’s point of view, when she is stood outside Bloom’s End and

when she is observing the guests having been “slain” in the play. Most of these (sentence 47 –48) are

pure narrative. Sentence 123 and 124 cannot be Eustacia’s free indirect thought, as human beings do

not produce an internal running commentary of what they are doing and seeing, but the viewpoint here

is undoubtedly Eustacia’s. The following conjucture about the fireplace and Clym, including an

allusion to Rembrandt, are more attributive to pure narrative and the narrator’s cultural allusions than

Eustacia.

There are 26 prepositional phrases, circumstantial to the actual processes and participants. Some of

these are extraneous.

The next evening

in the same spot

On Egdon

from scattered points

through the hole

within his visor

at half-past eight

upon the heath

in the direction of Mrs Yeobright’s house at Bloom’s End

to the front of the house

before the open porch

immediately within the surface of the door

against the very pannels

within the porch

after dark (???)

into this corner (??)

through the keyhole

from door to gate

at one end of the room

During her declamation (???)

within the chimney opening

among the flitches

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against the settle’s outer end

Certainly don’t need to know that Mrs Yeobright’s house is “at Bloom’s End” – it had been there when

used frequently as a setting over the previous 184 pages. Constant orientation forces us to think about

landscape; the narrator is constantly enforcing our sense of the spatial relations of his setting. Adds

little to plot – the actions and development of character etc.

Pathetic fallacy is used to describe the wind on the heath. The sound from the

heath-bells : “it was the single person of something else speaking through each at

once”.(106). [also sense of unified self]

Hardy uses extreme pathetic fallacy here - probably the best example in the book. Weather and nature on the heath are often given human characteristics - the young beeches undergo “amputations, bruises, cripplings and harsh lacerations”, they “bleed”, while “Each stem was wrenched at the root, where it moved like a bone in its socket...as if pain were felt”. Their physical turmoil mirrors that of Clym’s mental anguish (268/9).Here, as with the rest of the novel characters lives are mirroring the atmosphere and weather on the heath, e.g: storms have followed turbulence. This more than plain pathetic fallacy - it makes nature reflect human nature. Here, the weather has intensified in line with character’s anxieties. This overpowering discomfort brings a feeling of foreboding. “The sun had branded the whole heath with his mark, even the purple heath

flowers having put on a browness”. Sense of burning (“kiln”), extremity. There is also pathetic fallacy here, most notably in the description of “his mark”. (337)

Pathetic fallacy, again: “a perpetual moan which one could hardly believe to be caused by the air”. (340)

Pathetic fallacy: “I admire its grim old face”. Thomasin is at one with the heath.

(414)

Enormous pathetic fallacy and personification of heath: “oozing lumps of fleshy

fungi”. “this season lay scattered about the heath like the rotton liver and lungs

of some colossal animal” cf: “colossal” is used in “colossal prince of the world” to

describe fate. (420)

Semantically, the mummers actually fill the position of some kind of recipient here. The clause can be paraphrased, with only a very slight shift in meaning, as the moon threw a spirited and enticing brightness to the fantastic figures of the mumming band.

A similarly dehumanising technique is used to describe musicians in Bloom’s End

(sentence 96). The use of the past continuous tense (the entire novel is in the past

tense, as was Victorian convention) creates the sense that they are part of a process,

just another element in this local custom, that they keep performing these actions in

the background while the actions of interest – Eustacia’s part in the play – is

foregrounded.

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Agent Mat.Pro. Medium-Target

the fiddler was mending a string

the serpant-player was emptying his mouthpiece

The mummers are increasingly marked out as individuals during their interaction

with Eustacia, however. That Eustacia, “in general won the mummers to the opinion

that they had gained by the exchange, if the newcomer were perfect in his part”, does

at least seem to be narrative reportage of a discoursal act, even if it is collective,

vague (“in general”) and the most distancing fashion in which an author can convey

a thought process.

Saint George’s comment that the new Turkish Night may be too young is followed with, by means of explanation: “Eustacia’s voice had sounded somewhat more juvenile and fluty than Charley’s”. It is difficult to ascertain who this should be attributed to – on the one hand it simply conveys events in a tone of pure narration, but must also represent Saint George’s motivation – and therefore part of his thought process – for making the comment.Hardy’s characters often criticised as being generic, but the mummers are especially

so.

The mummer’s opening conversation (sentences 2 to 5) is reported as direct

speech, their dialect recreated exactly inside quotation marks. However, A similarly

anonymous piece of unframed direct speech is used in sentences 66 to 68. Here

however it seems to merely serve the purpose of providing variety for Hardy’s

descriptive style. The speaker is simply explaining plot orientation that is as relevant

to the reader as it is Eustacia.

Early in the extract, Hardy creates the impression that the mummers are not

defined by personal cognitive processes but by entrenched opinions. The first

comments on their internal workings are that

i) since [Grandfer Cantle] had grown older faiths were shaken

ii) each [mummer] came with his own tenets on early and late

can be seen as being at the loosest end of the scale of the catagory ‘narrative reports of discoursal acts’, though the exact time of this thought process, not to mention the exact thinkers whose faiths were “shaken”, are extremely abstract. ii), however, is not

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even a narrative report of a discoursal act. The mummers’ internal attitude has been established without any thought process. They do not think, they just are.Nonconformist

Important sense of the vitality of non-conformity, even here where so much emphasis

is on romanticising local customs.

While Eustacia is isolated from the polite-manners of the “well-to-do” members of the party inside, she

contols convention and etiquette as far as the mummers are concerned.

Eustacia’s vitality allows her to break local custom. Saint George’s first evaluative statement: “It

doesn’t matter” is in a sense willingness modality. He is willing to break the convention – that only

local boys perform the mumming play – because it is her.

4 Hardy’s third person narrator is a character in itself.From this extract alone we sense that the narrator itself has traces of character, intentionally conveyed

by the author or not. Later, however, a distinct sense of character builds up in the narrator’s voice.

Amid the personification and heightened imagery of the mummers’ march across the heath, we

encounter the phrase “the fantastic figures of the mumming band”. Hardy’s use of the evaluative

advjective “fantastic” is interesting, as the mummers are not really fantastic. Their costumes could be

regarded as fantastic, especially as Hardy is extremely enthusiastic about their customs, but throughout

the rest of the extract they have represented complete normality going about its annual customs.

Eustacia is supposed to stand out against their conventionality – she, indeed could be regarded as

fantastic. The same could be said the moon, with its “spirited and enchanting brightness” (3). The

evaluative verb “fantastic” seems to have been placed here primarily for the sake of poetic turn of

phrase, the alliterative “fantastic figures”. This device is effective at heightening the drama, but also

provides the first glimpse in the extract of a rather ostentatious narrator.

The first time that a mummer is described individually, other than the role he plays, is in the framing

clause of his direct speech as “the lad who played the Saracen” <52>

Other Eustacia FIT: 120. Thomasin, as she had expected,was not visible, and Eustacia recollected that alight had shone from an upper window when they wereoutside—the window, probably, of Thomasin’s room.

Eustacia is the first protagonist whose direct speech receives a framing clause (sentence 14). This emphasises Eustacia’s dual identity, by referring to her as “The Turkish Night”. Though the framing clause is pure narrative, the impression of the Knight talking through his visor is a shift from Eustacia’s point of view to that of the mummers.

2 A term from literary criticism for "the detailed representation in prose fiction of the setting, dialect, customs, dress, and ways of thinking and feeling which are distinctive of a particular region" (Abrams 1999, 145). The vivid recreation of a bygone age and its local quirks is certainly a key element of The Return Of The Native.

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