Jane Austen's life resembles her novels — at first glance they seem to be

composed of a series of quiet, unexceptional events. Such an impression is supported

by the comment of her brother, Henry, who wrote after her death that her life was "not
by any means a life of event." Similarly, her nephew James added in a biography
published fifty years later that "Of events her life was singularly barren: few changes
and no great crisis ever broke the smooth current of its course." However, just as
readers find that the complexity of Austen's novel lies in its characters and style, those
studying Austen herself discover that the events of her life are secondary to her
compelling personality, quick wit, and highly-developed powers of observation. The fact
that Austen's life lacked the drama that other authors may have experienced in no way
detracted from her skill as a writer. In actuality, Austen's lack of "extraordinary"
experiences, as well as of a spouse and children, probably made her writing possible by
freeing her time to work on her books. Additionally, because her books were published
anonymously, Austen never achieved personal recognition for her works outside of her
sphere of family and friends. Such anonymity suited her, for, as literary critic Richard
Blythe notes, "literature, not the literary life, was always her intention.

Formative Years
Born on December 16, 1775, Jane Austen was the seventh of eight children born to
George and Cassandra Austen. The family lived in Steventon, a small Hampshire town
in south-central England, where her father was a minister. The Austens were a loving,
spirited family that read novels together from the local circulating library and put on
home theatricals. It was for the family circle that Austen first wrote high-spirited satires
— some of which later became novels after numerous and careful rewritings.
Out of her seven siblings, Austen was closest to her only sister, Cassandra. From 1783
to 1785, the two girls attended schools in Oxford and Southampton and the Abbey
School at Reading. When the Austens could no longer afford the tuition, Jane and
Cassandra returned home to read extensively and learn from their family how to speak
French and Italian and play the piano. Most accounts agree that the Austen daughters
were pretty and enjoyed the slightly limited but interesting round of country parties
described in Austen's novels.
When Austen was twenty, she met Tom Lefroy, a young Irishman visiting his uncle in
Hampshire. Seeing that the two young people were on the verge of an engagement,
Lefroy's family sent him home rather than letting him attach himself to someone as poor
as a clergyman's daughter. Austen's second brush with marriage occurred at age
twenty-seven, when the wealthy Harris Bigg-Wither proposed and Austen accepted.
The next morning, however, Austen changed her mind, giving up the wealth and
security inherent in such a match because she did not love him. Although Austen never
married, the emphasis of courtship and marriage in her novels demonstrates the impact
that these experiences had on her and her interest in love and marriage.
Early Novels
From 1796-1798, Austen wrote her first three novels — Northanger Abbey (originally
titled Susan), Sense and Sensibility (originally titled Elinor and Marianne), and Pride and
Prejudice (originally titled First Impressions) — but none was published until later.
Northanger Abbey, which was published posthumously in 1818, satirizes the Gothic
novels that were popular at the time by presenting a heroine whose overactive
imagination and love of Gothic novels lead her to see mysteries where none exist when
she stays at Northanger Abbey. In Sense and Sensibility, published in 1811, Austen
examines the contrast between two sisters who represent reason (sense) and emotion
(sensibility) as they deal with being forced to live on a meager amount of money after
their father dies. The threat of a father's death causing a reduced income also
overshadows two sisters in Pride and Prejudice, which was published in 1813. In Pride
and Prejudice, however, that threat of genteel poverty is still just a threat rather than a
reality, and Austen focuses instead on how pride and first impressions can lead to
prejudice.

In her early writing, Austen began to define the limits of her fictional world. From the
first, there was a steady emphasis on character as she consciously restricted her
subject matter to a sphere made up of a few families of relatives with their friends and
acquaintances. She deliberately limited what she wrote about, and her work gains
intensity and beauty from its narrow focus. In her books, there is little connection
between this upper-middle class world and the strata above or below it, or
consciousness of events external to it. It is, in fact, the world in which typical
middle-class country people lived in early nineteenth-century Britain. The family is at the
core of this setting and thus the maneuverings that lead to marriage are all-important,
because matrimony supplies stability, along with social and economic continuity.

Later Works
In 1800, Austen's father decided to retire and move the family to Bath, a sea resort.
Moving from the home she loved was difficult for Jane, especially because the family
lived in several different places until 1809, when Mr. Austen died. During that period of
nine years, Austen did not write. After her father's death, Austen and her mother and
sister moved to Chawton, a country town where Austen's brother lent the family a house
he owned. There Austen was able to pursue her work again, and she wrote Mansfield
Park, Emma, and Persuasion.
Published in 1814, Mansfield Park tells the story of Fanny Price, a girl from a poor
family who is raised by her wealthy aunt and uncle at Mansfield Park. The book focuses
on morality and the struggle between conscience and societal pressures and is
considered by some critics to be the "first modern novel." In Emma, published in 1816,
Austen introduces Emma Woodhouse, the "handsome, clever, and rich" heroine who
fancies herself a matchmaker. Her efforts at bringing people together, however, result in
teaching her humility and her own discovery of love. Critics praise Emma Woodhouse
as being Austen' most complex character, while readers find that they either love or hate
Emma's story. Austen's final completed novel, Persuasion, was published posthumously
in 1818. It deals with the broken engagement of Anne Elliott and Captain Wentworth
and their second chance at love eight years later. Critics comment on the book's
"autumnal feel" and note that Anne Elliott is not only Austen's oldest heroine, but also
the one with the least self-confidence.

Death and Legacy

Austen lived the last eight years of her life in Chawton. Her personal life continued to be
limited to family and close friends, and she prized herself on being a warm and loving
aunt as much as being a successful novelist. A sudden illness, possibly Addison's
disease, made her stop work on the novel Sandition, and she died in 1817.
After her death, during the nineteenth-century romantic period, Austen was often looked
upon with begrudging admiration, as her elevation of intelligence over feeling
contradicted the romantic temperament. Toward the end of the nineteenth century,
however, Austen's reputation rose considerably, and she gradually gained an
enthusiastic cult of admirers that were known as the "Janeites." In America, Austen was
little known before 1900, but by mid-century she was receiving more critical attention
there than in England. In the last decades of the twentieth century, Austen and her
works received considerable attention from the general public: Most of her novels were
adapted into films, modern novelists wrote sequels to Pride and Prejudice and endings
to Sandition, and a mystery series was even developed with Jane Austen herself as the
heroine.
About Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice, probably the most popular of Austen's finished novels, was also, in
a sense, the first to be composed. The original version, First Impressions, was
completed by 1797, but was rejected for publication — no copy of the original has
survived. The work was rewritten around 1812 and published in 1813 as Pride and
Prejudice. The final form must have been a thorough rewriting of the original effort, for it
is representative of the mature Austen. Moreover, the story clearly takes place in the
early nineteenth century rather than in the late eighteenth century.
Austen's works, including Pride and Prejudice, were barely noticed by critics during her
lifetime. Pride and Prejudice sold fairly well — the first edition sold out at about 1,500
copies. Critics who eventually reviewed it in the early part of the nineteenth century
praised Austen's characterizations and portrayal of everyday life. After Austen's death in
1817, the book continued to be published and read with little attention from critics for the
next fifty years. The few critical comments made during that time continued to focus on
her skill at creating characters, as well as on her technical mastery. In 1870, probably
the most significant nineteenth-century critical article on Austen was published by
Richard Simpson; in the article, Simpson discussed the complexity of Austen's work,
including her use of irony.
Modern Austen scholarship began in 1939 with the publication of Jane Austen and Her
Art, by Mary Lascelle. The scope and vision of that book prompted other scholars to
take a closer look at Austen's works. Pride and Prejudice began getting serious
attention in the 1940s and has continued to be studied heavily since that time. Modern
critics take a variety of approaches to the novel, including historical, economical,
feminist, and linguistic.
Various critics have consistently noted that the plot development of Pride and Prejudice
is determined by character — coincidence exerts a major influence, but turns of action
are precipitated by character. Although human weakness is a prominent element,
ranging from Miss Bingley's jealousy to Elizabeth's blind prejudices, outright evil is little
in evidence. Austen maintains an attitude of good-humored irony toward her characters.
General Critique of Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice continues to be popular today not only because of its memorable
characters and the general appeal of the story, but also because of the skill with which it
is told. In Pride and Prejudice, Austen displays a masterful use of irony, dialogue, and
realism that support the character development and heighten the experience of reading
the novel.
Jane Austen's irony is devastating in its exposure of foolishness and hypocrisy.
Self-delusion or the attempt to fool other people is almost always the object of her wit;
note how she has Elizabeth say that she hopes she will never laugh at what is wise or
good.
The reader finds various forms of exquisite irony in Pride and Prejudice: Sometimes the
characters are unconsciously ironic, as when Mrs. Bennet seriously asserts that she
would never accept any entailed property, though Mr. Collins is willing to; other times,
Mr. Bennet and Elizabeth serve to directly express the author's ironic opinion. When
Mary Bennet is the only daughter at home and doesn't have to be compared to her
prettier sisters, the author observes that "it was suspected by her father that she
submitted to the change without much reluctance." Mr. Bennet turns his wit on himself
during the crisis with Wickham and Lydia — "let me once in my life feel how much I
have been to blame. I am not afraid of being overpowered by the impression. It will pass
away soon enough."
Elizabeth's irony is lighthearted when Jane asks when she began to love Mr. Darcy. "It
has been coming on so gradually that I hardly know when it began. But I believe I must
date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley." She can be bitterly
cutting, however, in her remark on Darcy's role in separating Bingley and Jane. "Mr.
Darcy is uncommonly kind to Mr. Bingley, and takes a prodigious deal of care of him."
The author, independent of any character, uses irony in the narrative parts for some of
her sharpest — but often unnoticed — judgments. The Meryton community is glad that
Lydia is marrying such a worthless man as Wickham: "and the good-natured wishes for
her well-doing, which had proceeded before from all the spiteful old ladies in Meryton,
lost but little of their spirit in this change of circumstances, because with such a
husband, her misery was certain."
Austen uses irony to both provoke whimsical laughter and to make veiled, bitter
observations. In her hands — and few others are more capable and discriminating —
irony is an extremely effective device for moral evaluation.
Dialogue also plays an important role in Pride and Prejudice. The novel opens with a
talk between Mrs. Bennet and her husband: "'My dear Mr. Bennet,' said his lady to him
one day, 'have you heard that Netherfield is let at last?'" In the conversation that follows,
we learn a great deal — about Mrs. Bennet's preoccupation with marrying off her
daughters, Mr. Bennet's ironic and sarcastic attitude toward his wife, and her self-pitying
nature. The stage is effortlessly set for the family's introduction to the Bingley group,
and the dialogue has given us information on both incidents of plot and the attitudes
which drive the characters.
The pieces of dialogue are consistently the most vivid and important parts of the novel.
This is natural because novels were mostly read aloud in Austen's time, so good
dialogue was extremely important. We learn of the major turning points through the
dialogue, and even intense inner change like Elizabeth's famous self-recognition scene
("How despicably have I acted!") is related as a person talking to herself.
Each character's speeches are individually appropriate and the most telling way of
revealing what each is like. Elizabeth's talk is forthright and sparkling, her father's is
sarcastic, Mr. Collin's speeches are tedious and silly, and Lydia's fountain of words is all
frivolity and no substance.
The things that happen in Pride and Prejudice happen to nearly all readers —
embarrassment at the foolishness of relatives, the unsteady feelings of falling in love,
and the chagrin of suddenly realizing a big mistake. The psychological realism of the
novel is revealed in the quick recognition we have of how the key characters feel.
It is very natural for Elizabeth and Darcy to be angry at each other after she first turns
him down, and it is very natural for them to feel twinges of regret, and then have a
complete change of mind with the passage of time. Every step in their progress toward
each other is described with a sensitivity to how people feel and act. In the subtle and
beautiful description of Elizabeth's self-realization is a convincing view of how an
intelligent, feeling person changes.
When considering Austen's realism, however, readers should recognize that her major
weakness as a writer is related to her greatest strength. She writes about what she
knows — and this means that great areas of human experience are never touched on.
We never see that much of the male characters, and they are rough sketches compared
with her heroines. Extreme passions are usually avoided in her writing, and this
becomes noticeable when, for example, she moves to a very impersonal, abstract voice
when Elizabeth accepts Darcy: Elizabeth "immediately, though not very fluently, gave
him to understand that her sentiments had undergone so material a change . . . as to
make her receive with gratitude and pleasure his present assurances." People who
dislike Austen's works often cite this lack of extreme emotions as their main reason.
Even so, no one can deny her ability to create unforgettable characters, build
well-structured plots, or deliver assessments of society with a razor-sharp wit. Austen's
works possess a timeless quality, which makes her stories and themes as relevant
today as they were two hundred years ago.

Character List
Elizabeth Bennet An intelligent and spirited young woman who possesses a keen wit
and enjoys studying people's characters. Although she initially dislikes Darcy,
circumstances cause her to reassess her negative impression of him, and she
eventually falls in love with him.
Fitzwilliam Darcy A wealthy, proud man who falls in love with Elizabeth and reveals a
generous, thoughtful nature beneath his somewhat stiff demeanor.
Mr. Bennet Elizabeth's ironic and often apathetic father. Unhappily married, he has
failed to provide a secure financial future for his wife and daughters.
Mrs. Bennet Elizabeth's foolish and unrestrained mother who is obsessed with finding
husbands for her daughters.
Jane Bennet A gentle and kind-hearted young woman who is Elizabeth's confidant and
the oldest of the Bennet daughters. She falls in love with Bingley but is cautious about
revealing the depth of her feelings for him.
Mary Bennet The pretentious third Bennet daughter, who prefers reading over
socializing.
Catherine (Kitty) Bennet The Bennet's peevish fourth daughter, who joins her sister
Lydia in flirting with soldiers.
Lydia Bennet The Bennet's immature and irresponsible youngest daughter. Mrs.
Bennet's favorite, she shocks the family by running away with Wickham.
Charles Bingley A good-natured and wealthy man who falls in love with Jane. He is
easily influenced by others, especially by his close friend Darcy.
Caroline Bingley Bingley's shallow and haughty sister, who befriends Jane and later
snubs her. She attempts to attract Darcy's attentions and is jealous when Darcy is
instead drawn to Elizabeth.
Mr. and Mrs. Hurst Bingley's snobbish sister and brother-in-law. Mrs. Hurst spends
most of her time gossiping with Caroline, while Mr. Hurst does little more than play
cards and sleep.
George Wickham A handsome and personable fortune hunter to whom Elizabeth is
initially attracted. He eventually runs off with and is forced to marry Lydia.
Lady Catherine De Bourgh Darcy's arrogant aunt, who dominates Mr. Collins and
entertains hopes that her daughter will marry Darcy.
Miss De Bourgh Lady Catherine's sickly, bland daughter.
Colonel Fitzwilliam Darcy's well-mannered and pleasant cousin, who is interested in
Elizabeth, but who needs to marry someone with money.
Georgiana Darcy Darcy's shy but warmhearted sister.
Mr. Collins Mr. Bennet's ridiculous cousin, who will inherit Longbourn after Mr. Bennet's
death. Upon Lady Catherine De Bourgh's recommendation, he seeks a bride, first
proposing to Elizabeth and then to Charlotte Lucas.
Charlotte Lucas Elizabeth's sensible and intelligent friend, who disappoints Elizabeth
by marrying Mr. Collins for money and security.
Sir William and Lady Lucas Charlotte's parents and the Bennets' neighbors.
Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner Mrs. Bennet's intelligent and cultivated brother and sister-in-law.
Mr. and Mrs. Phillips A country attorney and his vulgar wife, who is Mrs. Bennet's
sister.

Emma
Character List
Emma Woodhouse The imaginative and self-deceived heroine of the novel. At almost
twenty-one years of age, she is handsome, accomplished, and willful, her main duty in
life that of being companion and mistress of the house for her widower father.
Henry Woodhouse Emma's elderly father, who basks in routine and Emma's attentions
and resists any kind of change, compensating somewhat for his selfish whims by being
kindly and concerned about people's health.
George Knightley A well-to-do man of about thirty-seven or thirty-eight, an admirably
calm and rational man who for years has befriended and advised Emma.
Miss Anne Taylor For years Emma's devoted governess and friend, who at the
beginning of the novel has just married Mr. Weston.
Mr. Weston A near neighbor to the Woodhouses, whose son by a former marriage is
Frank Churchill.
Philip Elton The rector of Highbury, a twenty-six-year-old clergyman who is very eligible
for marriage.
Frank Churchill Mr. Weston's son, who has never visited Highbury but who has a
reputation for polished charm and manners.
Miss Hetty Bates The kindly old maid talker who, at least in her dialogue, runs the
details of everything together as of equal importance.
Jane Fairfax Miss Bates' orphan niece, elegant and accomplished, who has visited her
aunt in Highbury before but not for two years now.
Harriet Smith The illegitimate, seventeen-year-old girl whom Emma befriends and tries
to marry off to Mr. Elton.
Robert Martin A respected young farmer who wants to marry Harriet Smith.
Augusta Hawkins A vain and talkative young lady whom Mr. Elton meets on a trip to
Bath and to whom he quickly gets himself engaged.
John and Isabella Knightley Respectively the brother of George Knightley and the
sister of Emma Woodhouse, they, except for occasional visits to Highbury, live in
London with their five children.
Mrs. Goddard The lady who runs the boarding school where Harriet Smith lives.
Mr. and Mrs. Cole A nouveau riche couple who are determinedly making their way into
Highbury society.
Mr. Perry The village apothecary, who is Mr. Woodhouse's constant reference on
matters of health.
About Emma
As has often been done, one can — and with truth — say that Emma, like Jane
Austen's other novels, deals with the subject of young ladies finding proper husbands.
On the surface this is what the story line of Emma is about, but the total subject matter
of the book concerns much more than that. Within the chosen limits of
upper-middle-class society and within the even more limited strict feminine point of view
for telling the story (all the events are presented from within a domestic or social
context, though not, as has
been claimed, merely from within a drawing room), Miss Austen is fervently preoccupied
with the way people behave. And this is the broad area of the moralist. If the moralist
chooses, as Miss Austen does, to focus on the common rather than the exceptional
behavior of people, he is more likely to write comedy than tragedy. If he is furthermore,
a serious moralist, perceptive and understanding enough to keep a part, but only a part,
of himself disengaged from the contradictory entanglements of his subject matter, his
comedy has a good chance of being realized in terms of ironic satire.
The purpose of satire is to point a humorous finger at what is wrong, thereby indicating
by implication what is right. Irony, as a method of achieving satire, makes use of
contradictory, and sometimes ambiguous, opposites. Throughout Emma a deeper
theme than that of woman finding the appropriate man for herself pervades the action:
Emma Woodhouse's story is a progression in self-deception. Having since childhood
been obliged to manage her father, she still likes to manage things and, particularly,
people. In fact, among her associates she feels confident to manage everyone except
Mr. Knightley. In her long-term attempt to preside over the marriage-ability of Harriet
Smith, the natural daughter of hitherto unknown persons, Emma pits herself against
something in which she fundamentally believes, the eighteenth century belief in class
status whereby one simply should stay in the class into which he is born. (She is also
incidentally pitting herself against the process of natural selection of a mate.) She
deludes herself that Harriet's parents may have been of importance and hence tries to
marry her off to people above her station in life. With absolutely no foundation in fact,
this delusion stems solely from Emma's willful imagination.
Mr. George Knightley, on the other hand, in his sedate and kindly way accepts the social
status quo and governs himself accordingly, even cautioning Emma about what she is
doing. On this major thematic point, then, Emma represents imagination and Mr.
Knightley stands for realistic reasoning (some would say merely realistic acceptance),
two human characteristics that are so often in opposition that a contrasting pairing of
them leads to irony. The story, of course, belongs primarily to Emma, for her willfulness
most readily lends itself to satire and it is the feminine point of view that Jane Austen
knows best. Still, for contrast, Mr. Knightley is often enough on the scene to keep us
reminded of the other side of the coin, and Mr. Woodhouse, Emma's father, is constantly
before us as an extreme example of one who wants to keep things the way they are. Of
the two men, it is Mr. Woodhouse, so fearful of the least change that he bemoans the
very thought of marriage and urges reason of health for not leaving his fireside even in
good weather, who is the main object of satire on this side of the opposition.
What Miss Austen has done is to take two human traits and put them in different
characters in order to make her contrast highly effective. They of course belong to
human nature in general and represent those ironical mixed qualities of humanity and
human relationships. Throughout the story a reader feels that somehow these extremes
ideally should be able to meet on common ground and be resolved into something right.
From her realistic point of departure as a storyteller, however, Miss Austen knows that
relationships are tangential: hence the irony in the fact that the willfully imaginative
Emma is the closest of blood relatives to the sedentary and senilely reasoning Mr.
Woodhouse. There is doubtless significance far beyond the surface plotting of a love
story in the fact that Miss Austen finally marries Emma and Mr. Knightley — that is,
marries imagination and reason. Having realized her self-deception to some degree,
Emma, with Mr. Knightley beside her, may now develop a proper balance within herself.
Mr. Knightley, with Emma beside him, now seems to stand a good chance of never
ending up on that dead-end street of static, senile reasoning at which Mr. Woodhouse
has arrived. It is a common-ground marriage of reason and imagination, of head and
heart, of common sense and goodness.
The ending of the story is, then, what we call a happy one. Or is it? In consideration of
the bulk of the story about human foibles, Miss Austen gives us reason only for hope.
She concludes the book with a final sentence about "the perfect happiness of the
union." But this is said with at least a certain amount of tongue-in-cheek. Emma will not
marry without her father's consent, and that comes only after the robbery of a nearby
turkey house one night convinces Mr. Woodhouse that Mr. Knightley's living with them
will be a needed protection. The close juxtaposition of this small causative event and
the closing statement of the book connects the ridiculous with the more sublime and
should at least make a reader wonder. Based on a moralistic realism as Miss Austen's
satiric comedy is, it is not untypical of her in one twinkling to see both a robbed turkey
house that will doubtless be replenished and a human household which, while it
encloses a "perfect happiness of . . . union," also includes Mr. Woodhouse and the
displacement of Mr. Knightley, who will now forego the ease and security of his own
finer home, Donwell Abbey, in order to placate Emma and Mr. Woodhouse. Miss
Austen's satire ends with an indication of what might be right; but she only points, for
her moralistic realism will not let her be certain. She has seen too much of life for that.
After all, who can say that Emma will never again try to manage things and people? In
spite of robbers (and bridegrooms) this world is still full of turkeys, and Miss Austen
knows that.
A brief word remains to be said about the ambiguity of opposites as Miss Austen sees
them, and perhaps the best example is Emma's willful imagination, which stands in
contrast to the reason of someone like Mr. Knightley. The ambiguity lies in a further
contrast which embodies a contradiction. A lively imagination, in its purity, is an
admirable and interesting quality. Perhaps willfulness, too, has its good points. But
imagination can be too unfounded upon reality, and willfulness is perhaps too often
misdirected because of its tendency to become presumptuous if not arrogant. Thus, on
any one side of Miss Austen's oppositions there is ambiguity in that that side contains
both good and bad inextricably fused. For this reason we can like and even admire
Emma for the lively energy of her imagination, for her readiness to make amends, her
benevolence, her affirmative sense of direction, while we are also critical of what she is
doing.
Similarly we may feel that Mr. Knightley's reasoning does not make allowance for an
adequate degree of imagination. Miss Bates' interminable talkativeness, which so
comically places the petty and the significant on the same level, never includes a
merciful consideration for the listener in spite of the fact that she is one of the kindest
and best intentioned people who ever lived on or off a page. In Miss Austen's world (and
who can prove that her world is not ours?) no good quality seems to be without some
negative alloy. For this reason her satire not only probes the contradictory nature of
opposite human qualities (contradictory because they are of one world and one
humanity), but also considers the ambiguous mixture of good and bad in any one of
these opposites.
Just as she never presents an actual emotional love scene (the one exception is found
in Emma when Mr. Knightley declares the passion of his love to Emma) because her
interest is in discovering the effects of emotion, she seems never to question why
contradictions and ambiguities exist because she is basically a realist rather than a
theorist. Rather than write of man and his relation to God or politics or abstract ideas,
she wrote of human relationships. This may be why, in a letter to her nephew, she once
referred to her fiction as "the little bit (two Inches wide) of Ivory on which I work with so
fine a Brush, as produces little effect after much labour." Such a statement may, of
course, be merely tongue-in-cheek modesty; but it is indicative of the fact that she
deliberately limited her writing efforts not only to the provincial society which she knew
and to the feminine point of view that was naturally hers but also to the mundane level
of human behavior. Nonetheless, most readers of Emma find there the rich opacity, the
delicacy, and the true polish of fine ivory, but few would agree that it is only two inches
wide

Thomas Hardy Biography

Early Years
Thomas Hardy was born in Higher Bockhampton, Dorset, England on June 2, 1840, the
eldest son of Thomas Hardy and Jemima (Hand) Hardy. His father was a stonemason
and builder; his mother passed on her love of reading and books to her son. Hardy had
somewhat of an isolated life on the open fields of the region. He grew up living and
examining rural life, which figures prominently in many of his novels. His primary school
education lasted until he was sixteen, at which time he was sent to an apprenticeship
with John Hicks, a local architect.

Early Career
By 1862, when he was 22, Hardy left for London to work as a draftsman in the office of
Arthur Blomfield. While in London, Hardy was influenced by the works of Charles
Swinburne, Robert Browning, and Charles Darwin (the author of Origin of Species,
1856). Poor health forced Hardy to return to his native region in 1867, where he worked
for Hicks again and for another architect, G.R. Crickmay.
Hardy's education was interrupted by his work as an architect. He had wanted to attend
the university and become an Anglican minister, but lack of funds and his declining
interest in religion swayed Hardy away from that avocation and more toward a
self-study of poetry and writing. Hardy tried his hand at writing when he was 17 and
wrote for years while he was a practicing architect. His first novel manuscript, The Poor
Man and the Lady (1867-68), was rejected by several publishers, but one editor, George
Meredith encouraged him, and so Hardy set out to refine his style. A second story,
Desperate Remedies (1871), was accepted and published. His next novel, Under the
Greenwood Tree (1872), demonstrates a more polished Hardy now coming into his own
style.
By 1870, Hardy was sent by his employer to begin a restoration project of the St. Juliot
Church in Cornwall. Here he met his first wife, Emma Lavinia Gifford, whom Hardy
married in 1874. Emma encouraged Hardy to write, and by 1872, Hardy left architecture
to devote his time to his literary career
Literary Work
When Hardy left his career as architect, he did so with a contract for 11 monthly
installments of a tale, A Pair of Blue Eyes, in the Cornhill Magazine. His reputation as
one of England's newer novelists sustained the Hardy family from that time on. The next
novel, Far from the Maddening Crowd (1874), introduced the Wessex area setting,
which also is the setting for Tess. The next two novels, The Return of the Native (1878)
and The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), established Hardy as a formidable writer.
Hardy published two more novels, Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891) and Jude the
Obscure (1895), which were his last long fiction works. The last novels challenged the
sensibilities of Victorian readers with situations that ruffled many a Victorian feather:
immoral sex, murder, illegitimate children, and the unmarried living together. Heated
debate and criticism over these two books helped Hardy decide that he would rather
write poetry. In fact, so stung was he by the criticism of his works that Hardy did not
write another novel.
Hardy wrote short stories, poems, and plays for the rest of his life. Two further volumes
of poetry and short stories appeared, The Dynasts: A Drama of the Napoleonic Wars
(1903-08) and Winter Words (1928), a volume of verse. Hardy was quite prolific during
this period, writing some 900 poems on a variety of subjects. In 1912, Hardy's wife,
Emma, died, ending 20 years of "domestic estrangement." In 1914, Hardy married
Florence Emily Dugdale, with whom he lived until his death on January 11, 1928.
Hardy's body was buried at Westminster Abbey in Poet's Corner, while his heart was
buried in Stinson, England, near the graves of his ancestors and his first wife, Emma.
His second wife was later buried near her husband.

About Tess of the d'Urbervilles

Introduction
Hardy began Tess of the d'Urbervilles in 1888-89 and considered such names as Love,
Cis/Cissy, and Sue, for the title character. Eventually, he decided on Tess. Hardy had
been working on this manuscript with the intention of submitting it for serial publication,
in which only a few chapters would be released at a time; depending on the material's
reception and the publisher's willingness, these chapters would then later be combined
in book form. Hardy contracted with W. F. Tillotson & Son in 1887 for a serialized story
to be delivered in four installments between 1887 and June 30, 1889. Hardy also
negotiated with Harper's Bazaar in America for the story at about the same time.
Tillotson & Son realized that it had a racy novel on its hands when editors became
aware of the serial's content. The publishers suggested revisions of certain scenes and
complete deletions of others, but Hardy refused, and the two parted ways amicably,
leaving the book unpublished. Fortunately, Hardy had an offer to publish the serial in the
Graphic (London) Illustrated Weekly Newspaper. After much revision, the novel
appeared as a serial on July 4, 1891, in England (in the Graphic and the
Nottinghamshire Guardian and Midlands Counties Advertiser) and Australia (the Sydney
Mail). It appeared on July 18 in America in Harper's Bazaar.
After a successful reception as a serial, Tess of the d'Urbervilles was published in book
form and consisted of three volumes. In late 1892, the entire set was combined into one
volume and sold well. By 1900, Hardy authorized a paperback version of the novel,
which sold 300,000 editions in England in one year. Hardy continually tinkered with the
subsequent editions, and he worked on revisions up until the time of his death in 1928.
Early Reviews
Although the first reviews of the novel were generally good, later critics charged that the
book had some serious defects. The Saturday Review called the novel "an unpleasant
novel told in a very unpleasant way." Another critic, Mowbray Morris, published the letter
sent to Hardy rejecting the serial when it was proposed to Macmillan's Magazine, a
literary magazine whose contributors included — in addition to Hardy — Tennyson,
Herbert Coleridge (grandson of S.T. Coleridge), Bret Harte, and Mowbray Morris.
Harper's Weekly called Tess "artificial" and "not in the reality of any sane world we
recognize." Novelist Henry James called Tess "chock-full of faults and falsities and yet
[possessed of] a singular beauty and charm." Others thought the novel "not to their
personal tastes in some respects, but justly appreciated its greatness in others." The
Atlantic Monthly called Tess "Hardy's best novel yet."
It seems, however, that Hardy overlooked the positive reviews, and after reading Morris'
review, Hardy wrote, "Well, if this sort of thing continues no more novel-writing for me." It
was the hint of a vow that Hardy would fulfill, only a few years later. He would write only
one more novel, Jude the Obscure.
Still, Tess continued to sell well in Hardy's time and has spawned a great wealth of
literary criticism that continues even today. The negative critics have been silenced, and
Tess continues to be read and reread as a classic of English literature.
Historical Context
The Victorian Era when Hardy lived was a time of great change. Queen Victoria ruled
England from1837 until her death in 1901. During her 63-year reign, England became
the most powerful and wealthiest country in the world through its colonial acquisition
and by harnessing the power of the Industrial Revolution. The population in England
doubled during Victoria's reign, and the economy of the country changed from
agriculture-based to industry-based. More people were enfranchised (that is, given the
right to vote) and, through this, gained influence in government. The Parliament passed
labor laws that improved labor conditions, established universal schooling for all
children, and reformed the civil service system. Britain ended restrictions on foreign
trade, opening the way for the island to become a source for both raw materials and
finished goods to an ever-increasing international market.
Victoria, interested in the welfare of her people, worked hard to pass meaningful
reforms, and she earned the respect of her subjects. Her prime ministers were her
greatest assets, and with them, Queen Victoria decreased the powers of the monarchy
to empower the members of the prime minister's cabinet. As a result, the British
monarchy has been able to endure, unlike the monarchies in most other countries.
The changes that occurred during the Victorian era affected the lives of every person
living in England in both great and small ways. As England quickly moved from an
agriculture-based society to one that would produce many of the world's goods,
factories replaced individual workshops, and people moved from small towns to large
cities in search of work. Mobility and the transport of goods were increased with the
invention of steamships and the development of a railway system. The balance of
traditional class distinctions shifted as more people prospered, amassing wealth and
power that had been unthinkable in the years prior to this era. These tumultuous
changes resulted in an examination of the traditional ways of thinking and acting, and
the foundations of English society — family, religion, class divisions, and so on — came
under increasing scrutiny.
One area that was particularly affected by the changes in England was religion. The
Church of England was traditionally conservative and offered a literal interpretation of
the Bible. During the Victorian period, however, as people began to see the church as
an agent for social change as well as an agent for personal salvation, the question
became how — and even whether — the church should best fulfill these missions. The
result was a schism in the church that fostered three movements: the High Church
movement, the Middle Church movement, and the Low Church movement.
The High Church movement was designed to align the Church of England with the
"Catholic" side of Anglicanism. The thinking here was that traditional practices were the
standard by which faith could be expressed and that supreme authority resided in the
Church. The Middle Church movement cared less for tradition and believed that faith
could be expressed in various ways, including through social action. The Low Church
Movement believed that evangelicals were a force that could reform the church from
within and without. Individual and biblical bases of faith were hallmarks of this
movement. Evangelicals tackled serious issues of the day: housing and welfare of the
poor, as well as social reform. They also believed in spreading the gospel around the
world by any means necessary.
The growing reliance on science to explain the nature of man and his relationship with
his world opened the doors for further examination of traditionally held beliefs. The
publication of Darwin's Origin of Species (1859), which suggested that species evolved
from common ancestors that could be found through scientific research, challenged the
belief that God created each species individually and separately from every other
species. The agnostic movement, which relied on scientific evidence and reason to find
universal truths and which held that the existence of God could not be empirically
proven, took hold and gained momentum.
From these ideological splits, religious liberals and conservatives battled over
fundamental questions of faith and religious practice. In Hardy's work, we can see that
this debate was one that he entered into. In Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Hardy's
protagonist finds herself in a world where she questions religion, questions faith, looks
for meaning in life, and searches for the truths that mankind has sought for centuries.
Literary Context
The body of Victorian literature is tremendous and would be difficult to categorize with
only a few authors. Hardy's contemporaries included the likes of Charles Dickens, Lord
Tennyson, Robert Browning, Matthew Arnold, E.M. Forester, and Joseph Conrad. Each
contributed his or her work to the body of general human knowledge and, to one degree
or another, considered the issues that had become a part of the English "discussion."
Dickens criticized the treatment of the poor and children, the courts, and the clergy in
Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, and Bleak House. William Thackeray challenged
Victorian society at all levels in Vanity Fair. The Brontë sisters — Emily, Charlotte, and
Anne — wove romantic elements with tragic heroines and heroes in Wuthering Heights,
Jane Eyre, and Agnes Grey. Matthew Arnold took the discussion of worldly happiness
versus religious faith in his poems "The Scholar Gypsy" and "Dover Beach." Tennyson's
In Memoriam, an epic poem on the loss of dear friends, discusses intellectual and
religious issues of the day. Conrad wrote on the psychology of guilt, heroism, and honor
in his novels Lord Jim and Heart of Darkness.
Tess of the d'Urbervilles is one of Hardy's Wessex novels, so called because the action
in each story takes place in the Wessex region. Other of the Wessex novels include The
Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) and Jude the Obscure (1895). In each, the main
characters are dealt a cruel fate that they must overcome or be crushed by. In The
Mayor of Casterbridge, Michael Henchard, a respected man, faces a spiritual and
physical deterioration that, in the end, destroys him. The main character in Jude, Jude
Fawley, suffers from a desperate misery of body and mind and dies, like Tess in Tess of
the d'Urbervilles, a victim of fate.

Jude the Obscure

Book Summary
Jude Fawley, an eleven-year-old boy, wants to follow the example of his teacher Mr.
Phillotson, who leaves Marygreen for Christminster to take a university degree and to
be ordained. Jude is being raised by his great-aunt, whom he helps in her bakery. He
studies very hard on his own to prepare for the move, and to provide a means by which
he can support himself at the university, he learns the trade of ecclesiastical stonework.
He meets, desires, and marries Arabella Donn, who deceives him into marriage by
making him think he has got her pregnant. They do not get along at all, and eventually
Arabella leaves him to go with her family to Australia.
Though delayed, Jude does get to Christminster, partly because of his aspirations but
also partly because of the presence there of his cousin Sue Bridehead. He meets and
falls in love with her, though the fact of his being married causes him to feel guilty. Sue
will not return his love, and when he realizes that Phillotson, under whom she is now
teaching, is interested in Sue, Jude is in despair. This plus the fact that he has made no
headway on getting into the university and realizes he never will causes him to give up
that part of his dream and leave Christminster.
At Melchester he intends to pursue theological study and eventually enter the church at
a lower level. Sue is there at a training college and is to marry Phillotson when she
finishes, but she flees the school when punished for staying out all night with Jude. Jude
is puzzled by Sue because her ideas are different from his and she will not return the
feeling he has for her.
Shortly after he tells her he is married, she announces her marriage to Phillotson and
asks Jude to give her away. He sees Arabella again, who is back from abroad, spends
the night with her, and learns that she married in Australia. When he next encounters
Sue, she tells him perhaps she shouldn't have married, and Jude vows to go on seeing
her in spite of his aim to discipline himself to get into the church.
When Jude's aunt dies, Sue comes to Marygreen for the funeral, and there she admits
to him she is unhappy and can't give herself to Phillotson. The kiss Jude and Sue
exchange when she leaves for Shaston causes him to think he has reached the point
where he is no longer fit for the church; therefore, he burns his theological books and
will profess nothing.
Sue asks Phillotson to let her live apart from him, preferably with Jude, but he only
allows her to live apart in the house until an instance of her repugnance to him causes
him to decide to let her go. Sue goes to Jude and they travel to Aldbrickham, but she
will not yet allow intimacy. Phillotson is dismissed from his job at Shaston when Sue
never returns, and after seeing her later and not being able to get her back he decides
to divorce her to give her complete freedom.
After living together a year at Aldbrickham Jude and Sue have still not consummated
their relationship, and though they repeatedly plan to be married they never go through
with it. Only when Arabella appears and seems to threaten her hold on Jude does Sue
allow intimacy. Arabella marries Cartlett, her Australian husband, again and sends to
Jude her and Jude's son, Little Father Time.
When opinion turns against Jude and Sue and he loses a job because of their
reputation, they decide to leave Aldbrickham, and they live in many places as Jude
works where he can find employment in anything other than ecclesiastical work, which
he decides to give up. They now have two children of their own and another on the way.
Having seen Sue in Kennetbridge, Arabella, whose husband has died, revives her
interest in Jude, and when she encounters Phillotson, who is now in Marygreen, she
tells him he was wrong to let Sue go. Jude, now ill and not working regularly, wants to
return to Christminster.
They do return to Christminster, arriving on a holiday, and Jude is upset by his return to
the city that has meant so much to him and gives a speech to a street crowd in an
attempt to explain what his life has meant. Despairing talk by Sue triggers off a reaction
in Little Father Time, and he hangs the other two children and himself. And the child
Sue is carrying is born dead. Jude and Sue have reached the point where their views of
life have about reversed, Jude becoming secular and Sue religious; and when
Phillotson writes to ask Sue to come back to him, she agrees, thinking of it as a
penance.
Sue returns to Phillotson at Marygreen and marries him again, though she still finds him
repugnant. Arabella comes to Jude, and by persistent scheming she gets him to marry
her once more. They get along about as before, and though ill Jude goes to see Sue
and they declare their love for each other. As a further penance, Sue then gives herself
to Phillotson. Jude learns of this, and on the holiday the following year, while Arabella is
out enjoying the festivities, Jude dies. Only Arabella and Mrs. Edlin are present to stand
watch by his coffin

Character List
Jude Fawley A young man of obscure origins who aspires to a university education and
a place in the church and who learns the trade of ecclesiastical stonework to help him
realize his goals.
Sue Bridehead Jude's cousin, an intelligent, unconventional young woman whom Jude
loves and lives with but who is twice married to Phillotson.
Arabella Donn A sensually attractive young woman whom Jude marries twice and who
in between is married to Cartlett.
Richard Phillotson Jude's former teacher who has the same aspirations as his pupil.
Little Father Time (Jude The son of Jude and Arabella.
Drusilla Fawley Jude's great-aunt, who raises Jude.
Physician Vilbert A quack doctor of local reputation.
Mrs. Edlin A widow who looks after Drusilla Fawley before she dies and who is a friend
to Jude and Sue.
Mr. Donn Arabella's father, a pig farmer and later owner of a pork shop.
Anny A girl friend of Arabella's.
Cartlett Arabella's "Australian husband."
George Gillingham A teacher friend of Phillotson's.
Tinker Taylor A "decayed church-ironmonger" and drinking companion of Jude's.