Naturalism în Thomas Hardy's Work

It is very obvious that Hardy has an attraction towards the motive of descendants. Perhaps he feels the need to implement roots to the Land of Wessex and attribute to its description and placement a history, a background which gives depth and credibility to his stories. The reader manages to form a broader image and gets more involved especially thanks to the device Hardy uses in this technique. He links the past and the history of the D’Urberville family to the history of England:

“ Durbeyfield is representative of the ancient and knightly family of the d’Urbervilles, who derive their descent from Sir Pagan d’Urberville, that renowned knight who came from Normandy with William the Conqueror, as appears by Battle Abbey Roll. Your ancestor was one of the twelve knights who assisted the Lord of Estremavilla in Normandy in his conquest of Glamorganshire. Branches of your family held manors over all this part of England; their names appear in the Pipe Rolls in the time of King Stephen. In the reign of King John one of them was rich enough to give a manor to the Knights Hospitallers; and in Edward the Second’s time your forefather Brian was summoned to Westminster to attend the great Council there. You declined a little in Oliver Cromwell’s time, but to no serious extent, and in Charles the Second’s reign you were made Knights of the Royal Oak for your loyalty. Aye, there have been generations of Sir Johns among you, and if knighthood were hereditary, like a baronetcy, as it practically was in old times, when men were knighted from father to son, you would be Sir John now”

However, a very interesting approach to the matter of heredity is the fact that Hardy seems to desire to emphasize the fact that in those days nobility was no longer as it used to be in the time when there was the respect of those who inherited not only their name, but also position and respect. We are reminded that there was a time when nobility markers such as baronetcy were passed down from father to son. But as the family, throughout generations loosed its fortune, along with it went any traces of noble distinction. As John Holloway noteces, ,” Hardy is at pains to stress that among country folk, degeneration of an old stock is common enough. The stock is in decline.”

“There are several families among the cottagers of this county of almost equal uster. Chasten yourself with the thought of ‘how are the mighty fallen.’”

Later on in the novel more examples of old families are give with the occasion of Tess asking the former if Mr Clare had any great respect for old county families when they had lost all their money and land:

“Old families have done their spurt of work in past days, and can’t have anything left in ‘em now. There’s the Billets and the Drenkhards and the Greys and the St Quintins and the Hardys and the Goulds, who used to own the lands for miles down this valley; you could buy ‘em all up now for an old song a’most. Why, our little Retty Priddle here, you know, is one of the Paridelles—the old family that used to own lots o’ the lands out by King’s Hintock now owned by the Earl o’ Wessex, afore even he or his was heard of.”

Hardy’s preoccupation concerning aristocracy and the loss of its traces is a recurrent theme. In Far from the Madding Crowd, there is a segment in which he expresses his concern regarding their disappearance.

“Boldwood was tenant of what was called Little Weatherbury Farm, and his person was the nearest approach to aristocracy that this remoter quarter of the parish could boast of. Genteel strangers, whose god was their town, who might happen to be compelled to linger about this nook for a day, heard the sound of light wheels, and prayed to see good society, to the degree of a solitary lord, or squire at the very least, but it was only Mr. Boldwood going out for the day. They heard the sound of wheels yet once more, and were re-animated to expectancy: it was only Mr. Boldwood coming home again.”