Summary of Hardy’s The Return of the Native PDF

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Hardy's Philosophy of life is clearly depicted in this novel, The Return of the Native. It was taught us by Prof. Sajidul Islam, Dept. of English AMU...

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Summary of Hardy’s The Return of the Native. Book First: The Three Women. With a panoramic view of the Egdon Heath countryside, this novel introduces readers to the landscape and its history. Eustacia Vye's grandfather meets a reddleman, a red dye salesman, in the following chapter. While discussing Thomasin and her marriage, the old man deduces that the wedding has been postponed by the reddleman. When Thomasin arrives in town, she tells her aunt about the licence blunder that caused her wedding to be postponed. When they arrive at the tavern, Damon Wildeve, Thomasin's fiance, assures them that he will marry her in a day or two. People are forced to pretend that a marriage has taken place when they sing to newlyweds. Wildeve notices a bonfire on the hillside near the Vye house after everyone else has gone to bed that night. According to her grandfather, Eustacia Vye, the exotic beauty who lives there, there was no wedding. There were many people celebrating Guy Fawkes Day with bonfires, so she started a fire. When Wildeve first came to her house, he and she had an intense sexual relationship that lasted a few months. He returns to Eustacia, his source of confusion. Wildeve decides that he does not want to marry Thomasin after all after his visit. When Diggory Venn first saw Thomasin as a child, he was instantly smitten. He discovers Eustacia's existence and makes

every effort to have her leave town. Mrs. Yeobright, Thomasin's aunt, tells Wildeve that her niece is considering marriage to Venn. While Wildeve is still attractive to Eustacia, she begins to doubt her relationship with him after hearing this news. The return of Clym Yeobright, the son of Mrs. Yeobright, from Paris has been announced. Book Second: The Arrival. The arrival of Clym is welcome news to the community, which remembers him as an intelligent and promising young man. Eustacia is bored with Wildeve and falls head over heels in love with Clym. Eustacia finally meets Clym on the night of the Christmas play, but she keeps her identity a secret. Clym is so allconsuming that she misses the opportunity to tell Wildeve if she will run away with him or not. In response to Diggory Venn's pressure, she writes an open letter to Wildeve stating that she will no longer be involved with him. Wildeve sets a wedding date as soon as Venn admits he is not engaged to Thomasin. Eustacia Vye is the witness to Thomasin and Wildeve's wedding because she happens to be in the churchyard at the right time. Book Third: The Fascination. It turns out that Clym's Christmas vacation at home is going to be a long one. He plans to open a school in the heath where he can teach the poor children who would otherwise be unable to receive an education because of their poverty. The first time he meets

Eustacia, he's blown away by both her beauty and her intellect. He tells his mother that Eustacia can join his health school. Clym's mother, on the other hand, doubts her son's commitment to becoming a teacher at all. She accuses him of harbouring romantic feelings for the young woman. When he proposed to open a local school, Eustacia was unimpressed; she preferred to go to Paris with him instead. She accepts Clym's proposal, believing that she will be able to change his mind once they are married. Clym marries Eustacia after a disagreement with his mother. His mother refuses to come to the event in protest. Even so, she opts to send a local boy with a hundred guineas to the wedding. Gambling with Wildeve, who claims to be a half-owner of the money, leads to a win for Diggory Venn, who has been following the boy along the way. Book Fourth: The Closed Door. Venn gives all of the money to Thomasin, not realising that it was intended for her and Clym. There are rumours that Wildeve transferred the money to his ex-girlfriend Eustacia. There is a disagreement between Eustacia and Mrs. Yeobright. Clym's eyesight is damaged while he studies to become a schoolteacher and he is told to stop reading for a while. Instead of squandering his time on the sidelines, he accepts a position as a furze cutter. Eustacia had hoped to avoid the fate of being married to a furze cutter by marrying a Parisian diamond

merchant. She is humiliated as a result. Wildeve, her exboyfriend, is at a local dance and she bumps into him. A distant relative has left him a large fortune, making him the kind of man she would have preferred to marry. Despite this, she refuses to get romantically involved with him. Wildeve is unable to shake Eustacia from his thoughts. Diggory Venn sets traps for him as he makes his way to her house at night. Wildeve goes to the house on a rainy afternoon to avoid Venn's attention. Clym and Eustacia's house will be visited by Mrs. Yeobright on that particular afternoon. Eustacia welcomes Wildeve into the living room, where she finds Clym exhausted and fast asleep on the couch. Mrs. Yeobright knocks at the door just as they decide not to have an affair together. Wildeve is escorted out of the house by Eustacia, who points the way to the back door. Eustacia discovers that Mrs. Yeobright has left the house when she checks the front door. Mrs. Yeobright tells Johnny, a local kid, as they walk back to her house that her son has broken her heart. When she stops to rest on the side of the trail, he disappears. Clym decides to visit his mother that evening after work to settle their differences. In the middle of the road, he comes across her, unable to speak. She has been bitten by a snake, according to locals. A remedy for the bite is sought. meanwhile, Eustacia's goodbyes have been said by Wildeve, who has returned to the house. Clym and Mrs. Yeobright are waiting for

her. To avoid alerting anyone, Eustacia hides out in the crowd of people trying to save sick women. Upon the death of Mrs. Yeobright, the boy she was walking with informs Clym that she told him the previous afternoon that her son had broken her heart. Book Fifth: The Discovery. Until he learns more about his mother's final hours, Clym is wracked with grief and sorrow. When Mrs. Yeobright knocked on the door, Eustacia looked out the window and saw Mrs. Yeobright's face in the glass. She returns to her grandfather's house after he accuses her of having an affair. When Wildeve approaches her and offers to take her away, she refuses to break her vows to Clym. Upon his request, she tells him she needs transportation to the port city of Budmouth, where she can catch a ship.. Eustacia has already left when Thomasin persuades Clym to forgive her. As Wildeve tells Thomasin that he must leave for some time, she observes him take a large roll of bills, indicating that he intends to stay for an extended period of time. It appears that Wildeve and Eustacia are running away together, according to Thomasin. She joins him in the storm after he tries to stop them. She stumbles upon Diggory Venn's waggon while looking for help, and he assists her. Clym and Wildeve hear a body fall into the river near the dam just as Clym locates Wildeve's coach. Both men rush to Eustacia's aid. This time Clym and Wildeve are

rescued by Venn who arrives just in time. While Eustacia and Wildeve are already dead, Clym can be revived by the doctor. In addition to his mother's death, he blames himself for the death of his sister. Book Sixth: Aftercourses. Clym now lives with Thomasin and her daughter in his mother's old house, one year after he and Thomasin divorced. Selling reddle, Diggory Venn has made enough money to buy a large dairy farm. However, he is rejected by Thomasin, who believes that she is too aloof. Thomasin tells Clym that she would like to marry Venn just as he is thinking about asking her to marry him. When Venn and Thomasin get married, Clym goes on to become a well-known minister....