The Return of the Native

Hardy personifies Egdon Heath when he titles the first chapter of The Return of the Native “A Face on Which Time Makes but Little Impression.” The face of the heath can “retard the dawn, sadden noon, anticipate the frowning of storms” (9). It assumes an appearance and has watchful intentness and intensity. In winter, Hardy writes, “Egdon was aroused to reciprocity. The storm was its love and the wind was its friend” (11). With its human attributes, the heath becomes one of the characters in the novel. It creates conflict, hides, teases, tempts, and even embraces.

Hardy has a gift for designing highly intense dramatic scenes. Just the sight of Venn and his reddleman van or Eustacia etched against the dark sky provides drama enough. Yet there is also Wildeve creeping up the path for his clandestine meetings with Eustacia at Blackbarrow, and Johnny Nunsuch and Venn hiding in the bushes to overhear conversations. The church provides drama too. Susan Nunsuch sticks Eustacia with a pin and she faints. Thomasin dresses in her pale blue dress and braids her hair in seven braids to proceed to her wedding there, and Eustacia, lingering nearby, her face hidden, lifts her veil to sign the wedding book.