The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy

A Victorian Indictment of the Destructive Influence of Urban Society

Jul 16, 2009

Perhaps the British writer's most mature work, Thomas Hardy's proto-Impressionistic novel examines the effects of urbanization on an isolated woodland village.

Hardy’s novels have often been labeled pessimistic for their tendency toward melodramatic plot contrivances. In this respect, The Woodlanders (1887) is no exception. However, readers inured to this characteristic of Hardy’s work will find some refreshing surprises in The Woodlanders. The hysterics that usually accompany the machinations of Hardy’s plots are oddly muted; characters act according to rational thought and rarely on impulse.

Central to Hardy’s novel is the village the characters inhabit. Situated, as usual, in Hardy’s fictional county of Wessex, Little Hintock is a small working community. Its inhabitants make their living off the sale of timber or cider. Working in the wilderness from generation to generation, the villagers feel a strong kinship with the forces of nature. As a general rule, they entertain a complex relationship with the city-dwellers: they are glad for the business they provide but feel estranged from their values and morals.

The Characters

The novel’s most prominent characters can be categorized by their level of interaction with the setting. The true woodlanders feel attuned to the community they live in. Giles Winterborne the cider merchant, for example, is described as “Autumn’s very brother”; even his name hints at an affinity with the seasons. Marty South, a young girl who single-handedly keeps up her invalid father’s thatching business, concerns herself with very little but her work and the woodland--when she can put aside admiring Winterborne.

Melbury, who is the father of Grace, the heroine, similarly immerses himself in his work and does not aspire toward urban sophistication. However, entertaining high hopes for his only child, he sends her to school in the city so that she may learn ladylike behaviour.

Thus does Grace fit into the second category of characters, that of the outsiders. More educated than the other villagers, she feels herself at odds with their rusticity. Her air of refinement makes her a favourite with wealthy Mrs. Charmond, another urbanite who, now widowed, was originally brought to the country by her husband.

Both ladies have complex relationships with the doctor Edred Fitzpiers, who has come from the city to set up a medical practice. He considers himself an intellectual, reading works of philosophy and science late into the night, and will become attracted to the contrast he sees between the two ladies and the other villagers.

Grace’s return from the city sets the plot into motion. Originally betrothed to the middle-class Winterborne, Mrs. Charmond’s patronage so elevates and flatters Grace that she instead marries the doctor Fitzpiers. However, Fitzpier’s affair with Mrs. Charmond forces the couple apart. Grace and Fitzpiers, intent on leaving each other, find themselves confronted with a series of shifting circumstances which will precipitate their eventual reconciliation.

What is striking in this novel is that, though the plot somewhat melodramatic, characters often act with surprising maturity and forethought. For example, when Grace’s father finds out about Fitzpiers’ infidelity, he attempts to remedy the situation by reasoning with Mrs. Charmond. Only when severely aggravated by a drunken Fitzpiers does he lose control and wound the doctor. But Fitzpiers and Mrs. Charmond are mindful of their own misconduct, and keep the incident a secret rather than dishonour a man who was righteously angered.

Legacy

The Woodlanders marks an important shift in English literature; with its painterly descriptions and focus on the individual perceptions of characters, its style leans towards literary impressionism, a convention that would be furthered and perfected by the likes of Virginia Woolf and James Joyce. Furthermore, its focus on the dehumanizing effects of industrialization make it a particularly pertinent read in the 21st century. And finally, having been adapted for film twice (by the BBC in 1970 and again in 1997), it is clear that the story itself carries lasting resonance.

The copyright of the article The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy in 18th & 19th Century British Fiction is owned by Michelle White. Permission to republish The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.