Contents:

by Thomas Hardy

Eliot is internal; Hardy is external. Vicissitudes crush his characters. My favorite example comes at the beginning of Far From the Madding Crowd: Gabriel Oak, a noble farmer, wakes to a strange bleating. He follows it to a twitching white and red heap at the base of a cliff. It's his entire flock of sheep, his whole earthly fortune; they've all run off the cliff in the night. It's this unfairness that characterizes Hardy the most, for me.

If there's one thing you can be sure of when you enter Hardy's world of Wessex, it's that it won't be fair. Pessimism is the other word you hear a lot. In Return of the Native, fate is more subtle and twisted than Gabriel Oak's cliff. Picture it like a Jenga tower: Hardy removes this tile, then that one; no one tile is that big a deal, but eventually the whole thing topples. Eustacia Vye isn't an awesome person, but Hardy takes pains to point out that she isn't that bad, either. She isn't actually having an affair with shitty old Wildeve, who isn't that bad himself. These are people on the normal people scale.

They're lower on it than you are, you're great, but they're not monsters. They're smaller versions of the Mayor of Casterbridge: When the drama arrives late in the book, there's been no dastardly crime. Eustacia doesn't answer the door for Clym's aging mom; she's careless and a dick but she really does think Clym's getting up to do it. She sneaks Wildeve out the back door not exactly because they have so much to hide, just because she knows the optics on his visit are bad. All these little things pile up, until suddenly Clym's mother is dead.

There is plenty of drama, though; this is Hardy, one of the most gloriously over-the-top writers ever. All of his books have at least a couple of huge, melodramatic set pieces. The climax of Tess of the D'Urbervilles is set at Stonehenge. Hardy gives no fucks. Hardy's storms are stormier than anybody else's storms, unless maybe King Lear.

Things Hardy Cribbed From Shakespeare - Hyperbolic storms - Girls who dress like boys and only one person can tell - Comedic scenes with peasants who talk funny - Words you don't know Words Hardy Knows But You Don't - Perfervid intense - Ephemeron a bug that only lives for one day - Carking worrisome He has this flair for visuals, for cinematic scenes. My favorite one in Native is Diggory Venn's all-night gambling session with Wildeve for two families' fortunes, surrounded by the pallid green light of glowworms.

Diggory is the first person you focus on, and he's vivid himself: He's a dye salesman, and he's a creature of Hardy's beloved heath that's just a scrubby prairie, and it's also where Lear is set ; he comes off almost like some kind of sprite or elf. He literally buries himself in the heath at one point, so he can skulk around eavesdropping better. Hardy's about something, here: Venn represents a primordial person, Adam, in touch with the land. Eustacia and Wildeve want to go to Paris, which represents Clym - the native himself - returns from Paris back to the heath, because he's a good guy.

The major theme of Return of the Native is the advantage of simple, rustic life. Things Hardy Enjoys Describing - Heaths - Big-ass ferns - Hyperbolic storms Real life furze cutters on the heath There's an actual witch on this heath, so that's You're like, I thought you said this guy was a realist. It's a metaphor or something? She represents that old, pagan, natural world. And is she even a real witch? She gets another terrific scene - view spoiler [the slow creation and torture of a voodoo doll, intended to murder Eustacia Vye.

But we don't get to see Eustacia's last moments, so we'll never know whether she fell in that pond on purpose or not. And anyway, it's not that kind of realism. Hardy said, "Art is a disproportioning He wants to jar us into thinking about where we are in the world. But I love Paris, you cry! Even with the witch, Native comes off as one of Hardy's least bleak books.

You might want to stop here if you haven't read this yet. I mean - pound for pound it turns out it's actually pretty average, as this helpful infographic from The Guardian makes clear: Click for a larger version with even more stuff So why doesn't it feel that way? Well - allow me to suggest that it's because you've pigeonholed his characters as though they were in those earlier, more moralistic novels.

But the witch is mistaken; when she drives pins into a wax model of Eustacia, that's punishment for a crime she actually didn't commit. And what's she really done to anyone? Small crimes; everyday crimes. This is the most subtle book I've read by Hardy - not that that's saying much, but still. He's shown us before how good people can be destroyed; here he's reminding us that life is unfair to shitty people, too. Eustacia did her best; it wasn't enough.

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And here you thought it was a happy ending. View all 10 comments. Book Review 5 out of 5 stars to The Return of the Native , a novel written by Thomas Hardy , first published in and subsequently re-issued a few times with additional revisions. It's rare for me to give out a full 5 stars, but this book will always hold an extreme and special place in my heart. It was the start of my adoration of the English countryside.

It was a true story of love, life and reality. Watching the drama unfold over the years, chapter by chapter, was phenomenal. I was there Book Review 5 out of 5 stars to The Return of the Native , a novel written by Thomas Hardy , first published in and subsequently re-issued a few times with additional revisions. I was there while it happened, at least it felt so to me. Hardy had a unique ability to transport me to his vision. I felt connected to him as a writer and a storyteller.

I loved every character. I couldn't decide who should end up with whom. But sadly, you cannot have it. The fighting felt true to form. The depression made me melancholic. I fell in love with the main characters and would have done anything to see them happy when I first read it. I've read it three times, roughly every ten years. I'm due again in the very near future. Perhaps we should buddy read it! About Me For those new to me or my reviews I read A LOT. I write A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https: Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. I have spent the last thirty five years convinced that I do not like Thomas Hardy. I know how it happened.

Reading Tess of the D'Urbervilles when I was in high school and again at university made a lasting - and a negative - impression on me. Admittedly, I went on to read Jude the Obscure and Far from the Madding Crowd , also while I was at university, and quite liked both novels. Notwithstanding this, my dislike of Tess overshadowed whatever appreciation for Hardy's work I might otherwise have d I have spent the last thirty five years convinced that I do not like Thomas Hardy.

Notwithstanding this, my dislike of Tess overshadowed whatever appreciation for Hardy's work I might otherwise have developed. The result is that I have not read another of Hardy's novels since leaving university. Through one of my Goodreads friends Thanks Robin! I discovered that Alan Rickman had narrated The Return of the Native and I decided that if listening to an audiobook narrated by Rickman could not make me like Hardy, then nothing could.

After all, I would pay good money to hear Alan Rickman read the telephone directory or the bus timetable, so why not listen to him read Hardy? What an excellent decision that was, for this was a sublime experience. First, there's the novel itself. This is Greek or Shakespearean tragedy in the form of a novel.

How It All Goes Down

The setting, Egdon Heath, is a character in itself, brought alive by its flora, its fauna, the time of day, the season, the weather conditions and - most of all - those who live there. Then there are the main characters whose lives and dramas are played out on and around the heath: And there are the secondary characters: There's the tragedy itself, which is brought about not by evil, but - as tragedy so often is - by misunderstandings and bad timing. The tragedy is lightened somewhat by the conclusion of the novel, which is a happy ending for at least some of the characters.

This was not the ending that Hardy initially intended and was apparently a result of the demands of serial publication and the expectations of readers. I think the novel suffers somewhat as a result, but only a little. Secondly, there's the language of the novel. Hardy eventually gave up writing novels to write poetry and it's clear that the poet was always there in the novelist. The language is rich, complex, with breathtakingly beautiful imagery. Many scenes are so vividly described that I could see them as oil paintings, knowing exactly how the light and shadow would fall on them.

Thirdly, there's Alan Rickman's narration. It is, quite simply, a joy to listen to. Rickman narrates; he does not deliver a bravura acting performance, so his reading is restrained. However, he nevertheless creates distinctive and appropriate voices for the characters, including wonderful West Country accents for the supporting characters.

His voice is mesmerising: I could listen to it forever.

The Return Of The Native 1994 Full Movie

All in all, as an experiment to see if I could really enjoy a novel by Thomas Hardy, listening to this audiobook has been spectacularly successful. Listening to Alan Rickman read the book to me has elevated the experience from great to amazing.

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My only problem is that I may have difficulty finding another audiobook that I will enjoy as much. View all 43 comments. Hardy did not draw his Egdon Heath as darkly as the Bronte sisters portrayed their Cimmerian heaths in the classic novels, Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre.

Hardy was more masterful and subtle in this novel. His exquisite approach to creating this authentic and an "Harsh Heath" Hardy -- Best in Nature as Supporting Character In this novel, Hardy heaves readers right into the gloomy Egdon Heath, in southern England, to witness the inception of coming tragedies involving the heath's inhabitants. His exquisite approach to creating this authentic and animastic heath involved his especially discerning eye for detail and nuance and his subtlety borne of sagacity.

If you are not paying close attention, which I wasn't when I first began reading this novel, you will not realize how he fixes a domineering mood in his settings; yet, you will sense a paramount hopelessness, an aura of doom that you cannot seem to put your finger on. When looking back, you will observe how he infused the story with descriptors, subtext and pacing, to create a countryside that plays a significant role as a character unto itself and to establish and reinforce tensions and conflicts throughout his trademark in tragedy.

Clym Yeobright is the titular "native" returning to the heath, after leaving a lucrative position in the Parisian diamond trade business. He plans to start up a school in the heath for the poor children in a largely uneducated part of the country. Eustacia Vye is, I guess, technically the heroine. Vye seemed to me almost an anti-heroine. Certainly, she's the least sympathetic protagonist in any of the four Hardy novels I've read, all within the past year.

Vye is a fiery, semi-educated young woman who has long wished to escape the heath. She hopes that Clym will change his mind about opening a school after they marry and instead take her to Paris to live. Clym develops an eye problem which ruins his school plans, and he ends up taking a job as a furze-cutter hedge-cutter? Thus, struggles develop and catastrophes ensue from Eustacia's unrealized passion to flee Egdon Heath and her caged feeling, especially after her husband has accepted a "lower" life as a low-paid, non-skilled laborer in the heath.

As always, Hardy's portrait of human nature is unsparing and quite impassive, and here overlays his most somber scenery. The ingredients for this Hardy tragedy: View all 3 comments. Dec 02, Apatt rated it it was amazing Shelves: Well, reading Thomas Hardy novels always poses this kind of challenge. They hurt, and yet I keep coming back to him because they are indeed good and this kind of hurt is like a good exercise for your EQ.

The more challenging aspects of his books are the initial meticulous scene setting and characters introduction chapters and, of course, the miserable situations that his characters get into. Anyway, I am always glad ish to be back in Hardyverse, better known as Wessex, a fictional region somewhere in the south of England. A lot of pastoral mayhem seems to take place here so it is probably not an ideal vacation destination non-existence notwithstanding.

In The Return of the Native Hardy again depicts what bad marriages can do. She yearns for the bright lights, big cities, iStores etc. However, she is not a femme fatale, she does her best to be a good, loving wife. Unfortunately her best is of a disastrously low standard and tragedy ensues.

Much of the tragedy stems from people being unable to speak their minds, to be honest, sincere and — most of all — forgiving. Where this novel really resonates with me is the relationship between Clym and his mother. They have a very close, loving relationship until Eustacia inadvertently comes between them. Yeobright, has some very strong prejudices about people of ill repute and is very quick to pass judgment on them, her unyielding mentality eventually leads to her downfall.

Some characters become antagonists of sort merely through very unwise decision making and impropriety. Basically, he goes around marking flocks of sheep with a red colour a mineral called "reddle". Not much call for such services these days I imagine, but it makes him a fair amount of money and also causes his entire body to be red coloured. It plays hell with his attempts at courting a certain young lady, but he eventually finds a way. According to Wikipedia Hardy had a tack on a happy ending for commercial purposes so not all the characters are down in the dumps by the end of the book.

Left to his own devices he would rather depress the hell out of his readers. Over all this is a typically depressing book by Thomas Hardy. Yet I really like it and recommend it for people who are not overly sensitive or those who are too insensitive and need to emote a little. View all 9 comments. I enjoy many classic authors, chief amongst them Jane Austen. It is a truth universally acknowledged that she parodied the people and books of her time in order to criticize society. Now I know why. Doesn't mean all people who recognize the name have also read one of his books.

Shamefully, I have to admit that while I had heard the name, I had never read anything by him either. Thus, in our quest to completely drown me in mon I enjoy many classic authors, chief amongst them Jane Austen. Thus, in our quest to completely drown me in monthly schedules, Brad and I decided that we'd give one of his books a chance. We enter a rural area in England and meet a host of its inhabitants.

There are Eustacia, an exotic because Greco-Roman roots beauty; Thomasin, a pretty if not as exotic young woman; Clym, a diamond merchant; Mrs. Yeobright, who is Clym's mother and Thomasin's aunt; Venn, the reddleman; Damon Wildeve, a local innkeeper. These are the central characters.

At the beginning of the novel, Thomasin after having turned down Venn's proposal a few years ago is on her way to marry Damon, who has had and is still having a passionate love affair with the bored and arrogant Eustacia, before she discovers and starts desiring Clym, against the wishes of Mrs. So yeah, it's basically one big relationship novel. However, there are also events set in motion by each respective character that will have serious repercussions, thereby exploring all kinds of character traits.

Eustacia and Damon were the worst characters here. Yeobright was far too stiff in her social mannerisms and expectations, she at least cared for her son and niece. Damon is a player. There is no other way of saying it. One of those guys who just can't keep his pants on. While Eustacia was an arrogant bitch, who was very good at throwing tantrums and not having the least care for any other creature but herself. They were all very frightful drama queens to be honest. However view spoiler [that made Eustacia's and Damon's end all the more hilarious as hide spoiler ] one could call it poetic justice.

In its set-up, the novel often reminded me on many Bronte stories, what with all the melodrama. However, this book was never as horribly dark. It was also not as light and silly as Austen's hyperboles. It is placed firmly in the middle of those two opposites. What makes Hardy stand out despite the mundane topic of relationship problems are two things: First, the beauty of his prose. From the first line when he starts describing Edgon Heath the setting to the very end a year and a day later , I was enchanted. Second, there is the fact that Hardy quite liberally describes the sexual escapades of Eustacia and Damon.

This is still in no way pornographic unless expressions like "tumbling in the hay" get you going I already know who will answer in the affirmative to that , but when this was published as a serial in , his open way of addressing social misconducts and his open acknowledgement of illicit sexual relationships caused quite the stir! In any way, this was one of those classics that I'm glad I didn't miss out on even if the general story is nothing special.

This might also have something to do with the fact that my audio version was superbly narrated by none other that Alan Rickman. View all 26 comments. Jan 01, J rated it really liked it. There used to be a lot more words in the world. Now we're all about short, blunt sentences. View all 7 comments. So, what do I say about this extraordinary novel. I have a feeling this is going to turn into a story. I'd like to begin by saying that this was my Mother's.

Previously, I have read Tess of the D'Urbervilles also because of my mom who narrated it to me when I was younger by Hardy and I was bewitched by his picturesque poetic prose, and I have Far from the Madding Crowd waiting on my shelf I watched the movie with my mom. I love Classics, my love for them is unbounded. So I finish The Divergent Series, like all of them except We Can Be Mended which I couldn't get for free and I was craving a story with depth, like real depth, a Classic, for me, so I tell myself that pick the hardest book on your shelf, one that you wouldn't pick up on a normal day so my hand automatically goes to The Return of the Native, like it's obvious, duh.

The backstory is it had been kind of been in the backlist for a long while, actually ever since I added my mother's books to mine. It kind of had a bleak cover, it was a cheap student edition so it didn't look so good and I kept thinking it's some dry book so it's gonna be difficult to read it. So, here was a quandary and an opportunity so I went for it.

The first two days were agony. At first, I wouldn't even pick it up, I was so not eager to. Then, I pick it up and I doze off a little into it. Yeah, the first two or three days, I kept dozing off, it was so funny and annoying. The point was getting to the middle of the book. The last two times I snooze by the time I was getting to the middle, I had the scenario acting in my head, I was completing the sentences of my own making in my head, like gah! I want to read this book so bad, but the writing is deep and convoluted and I keep nodding off.

After I had finished half the book, thankfully, that was over. I had just to reach the middle to relax and focus, and the story picked up by then too, because it really wasn't difficult after that. Actually, much to my bewilderment, it turned out to be quite an easy book compared to other Classics and my assumptions about it. It's plot and storyline were relatively simple and by the end had easily broken down but was nevertheless cute. By the end, I didn't even notice until I had reached the last two pages. And, by the end, to my surprise, I had that feeling as if I had lost a friend.

It was not a sad parting but a happy one and I can't help but smile now. I learned some new things and I learned, as ever, not to judge a book by its cover, even though I hardly do. Not Hardy's best work but definitely an experience in itself. The novel revolves around his mother Mrs. Yeobright, his cousin Thomasin "Tamsin" Yeobright, his cousin's old admirer Diggory Venn called the reddleman he travels the country supplying farmers with a red mineral called reddle dialect term for red ochre that farmers use to mark their sheep , his cousin's intended Damon Wildeve and Wildeve's clandestine love Eustacia Vye.

The heath was a marvel of nature, a world in itself, a living being. I could relate to it more than to the myriad of locations presented in Tess of the d'Urbervilles. I could feel what Clym felt for his home, what Thomasin did while also understanding Eustacia's feelings. The imagery was so vivid, I could see and feel the characters walking around the heath, hiding them amongst the heather, the insects and animals in the furze, the frogs in the ponds and the heath breathing and witnessing everything.

The Return of the Native Summary

I felt Sherwood forest vibes from Henry Gilbert 's Robin Hood when green turf and shepherd's thyme were mentioned. The great inviolate place had an ancient permanence which the sea cannot claim. On Olympus she would have done well with a little preparation. She had the passions and instincts which make a model goddess, that is, those which make not quite a model woman.

I liked it's construction; the division into books and chapters. The names of the chapters were so adorable, telling the theme of the chapter and the direction of the story without giving too much away. The character of the reddleman was quite amusing and a rare example of ingenuity and humility.

I loved how his character appeared here and there without notice. I loved how he gave to furze-cutting being a practical rather than a proud man. He set out to do something entirely radical, his plans were cut short but I really liked what he ended up doing, his redemption and his life. It was a great end to the story. She always tried to be good as much as she knew to be and fidelity was embedded in her personality but the circumstances were not in her favor. I could not help but sympathise with her at the time of her downfall.

She was cursed by the people around her. The ending, to my great surprise, was certainly climactic and, in ways, just. I liked how the story ended, poetically. It was a beautiful book. I love how after reading a book you feel transformed. View all 8 comments. It first appeared in the magazine Belgravia, a publication known for its sensationalism, and was presented in twelve monthly installments from January to December The novel takes place entirely in the environs of Egdon Heath, and, with the exception of the epilogue, Aftercourses, covers exactly a year and a day.

Venn is a reddleman; he travels the country supplying farmers with a red mineral called reddle dialect term for red ochre that farmers use to mark their sheep. Although his trade has stained him red from head to foot, underneath his devilish colouring he is a handsome, shrewd, well-meaning young man. His passenger is a young woman named Thomasin Yeobright, whom Venn is taking home. Earlier that day, Thomasin had planned to marry Damon Wildeve, a local innkeeper known for his fickleness; however, an inconsistency in the marriage licence delayed the marriage.

Thomasin, in distress, ran after the reddleman's van and asked him to take her home. Venn himself is in love with Thomasin, and unsuccessfully wooed her two years before. Now, although he believes Wildeve is unworthy of her love, he is so devoted to her that he is willing to help her secure the man of her choice. However, and this may shock and surprise you, I really liked this one. In contrast to Tess of the D'Urbervilles or Far from the Madding Crowd , I did not get exasperated with the characters, did not want to slap them or root for the sheep to turn into man-eating overlords - even though I still think that this would have made a better plot than what Far from the Madding Crowd had to offer.

The Return of the Nati "What depressed you?

The Return of the Native

The Return of the Native was quite different - it also had a woman at the centre of the story but the people around her were much more interesting characters, more likable, and some with a great sense of humor, or was it Hardy showing us his own sense of fun? Anyway, I loved Eustacia Vye. And being different or an outcast from the community is never a good thing in a Hardy novel. His use of humor and his patience in drawing up well-rounded, complex characters really helped make me want to invest time in the book.

Of course, having the book narrated by Alan Rickman helped, too, but given my previous experience with Hardy, I was surprised that I did not only enjoy the book but that I actually wanted to find out what happened to the characters.

View all 14 comments. Jun 18, Bradley rated it really liked it Shelves: My very first Hardy. Naturally, I have been mortified at my neglect. So many people have been required to read his works and yet I have gracelessly skipped on by. So what do I think of this Master of the English Novel? I mean, let me be clear here: And tha My very first Hardy.

And that's just the description of the fictional town. And then we were introduced to the people. Young people, all of them. With not a lick of sense, amazing passions, blinded perceptions, wild imaginations, and almost guaranteed spots on any daytime tv serial designed to spark emotion but not even two brain cells.

For all that, I loved the characterizations and the build-up before the first of the marriages I mean, nothing gets THAT tragic. Or drenched in pathos. But this does come close. Well, let me put it this way. I would knock on every door and pound on any window if I read a writer with this much talent putting his skills to a much worthier topic than the stupidities and tragedies of kids with their heads firmly ensconced in their backsides.

To imagine this as a fantasy title would have me jittering with enough pent-up excitement to power a city block for a week. This is just a torrid soap opera. But then, we must make some adjustments for the time in which this was written. Too bad about the ideas. View all 5 comments. I kept falling asleep at the beginning of this book. Finally I gave up. I mentioned to my friend Rich that I'd stalled out, and he quoted his high school English teacher, whose words predicted Rich's own experience of the novel: One of the I kept falling asleep at the beginning of this book. One of the main characters in this novel is named Diggory Venn, and I thought of Venn diagrams while reading this book, which is about intersecting circles of romantic desire.

It turns out, though, that the novel was published in , and John Venn didn't introduce his diagram until Still, the diagram seems to evoke the complicated connections among the five major characters, whose very names are wonderful: I still can't figure out why. She is a great character, though--proud, imperious, impetuous.

Hardy describes her as "the raw material of a divinity. On Olympus she would have done well," he writes, for "She had the passions and instincts which make a model goddess, that is, those which make not quite a model woman. I like reading Hardy during the summers I read Tess of the D'Urbervilles over the summer nine years ago, and tried and failed to read Jude the Obscure the following summer.

Maybe I should go back and give it another try, too. The bleakness of his vision is easier to take when the world is green and sweet leisure is plentiful. This one's somewhat less bleak than Tess , though, given its ending which, according to a footnote from Hardy, was made sunnier because of "certain circumstances of serial publication. View all 4 comments.

by Thomas Hardy

Clym Yeobright, neither young nor that bright, bags the ravenous stunner Eustacia Vye, and the two waltz into an ill-thought ill-prepared marriage with conflicting ambitions, and unamusing consequences. I actually swooned when the story began, I have never swooned.

So when it comes down to it Rickman was just an added bonus! I'm never disappointed in a Thomas Hardy story. In the twentieth century, The Return of the Native became one of Hardy's most popular and highly regarded novels. The novel takes place entirely in the environs of Egdon Heath , and, with the exception of the epilogue, Aftercourses , covers exactly a year and a day.

The narrative begins on the evening of Guy Fawkes Night as Diggory Venn is slowly crossing the heath with his van, which is being drawn by ponies. In his van is a passenger. When darkness falls, the country folk light bonfires on the surrounding hills, emphasising—not for the last time—the pagan spirit of the heath and its denizens. Venn is a reddleman; he travels the country supplying farmers with a red mineral called reddle dialect term for red ochre that farmers use to mark their sheep. Although his trade has stained him red from head to foot, underneath his devilish colouring he is a handsome, shrewd, well-meaning young man.

His passenger is a young woman named Thomasin Yeobright, whom Venn is taking home. Earlier that day, Thomasin had planned to marry Damon Wildeve, a local innkeeper known for his fickleness; however, an inconsistency in the marriage licence delayed the marriage. Thomasin, in distress, ran after the reddleman's van and asked him to take her home. Venn himself is in love with Thomasin, and unsuccessfully wooed her two years before. Now, although he believes Wildeve is unworthy of her love, he is so devoted to her that he is willing to help her secure the man of her choice.

She is a good woman, if somewhat proud and inflexible, and she wants the best for Thomasin. In former months she opposed her niece's choice of husband, and publicly forbade the banns ; now, since Thomasin has compromised herself by leaving town with Wildeve and returning unmarried, the best outcome Mrs. Yeobright can envision is for the postponed marriage to be duly solemnised as soon as possible. She and Venn both begin working on Wildeve to make sure he keeps his promise to Thomasin.

Wildeve, however, is still preoccupied with Eustacia Vye, an exotically beautiful young woman living with her grandfather in a lonely house on Egdon Heath. Eustacia is a black-haired, queenly woman, whose Italian father came from Corfu, and who grew up in Budmouth, a fashionable seaside resort.

She holds herself aloof from most of the heathfolk; they, in turn, consider her an oddity, and some even think she's a witch. She is nothing like Thomasin, who is sweet-natured. She loathes the heath, yet roams it constantly, carrying a spyglass and an hourglass. The previous year, she and Wildeve were lovers; however, even during the height of her passion for him, she knew she only loved him because there was no better object available. When Wildeve broke off the relationship to court Thomasin, Eustacia's interest in him briefly returned. The two meet on Guy Fawkes night, and Wildeve asks her to run off to America with him.

Eustacia drops Wildeve when Mrs. Yeobright's son Clym, a successful diamond merchant, returns from Paris to his native Egdon Heath. Although he has no plans to return to Paris or the diamond trade and is, in fact, planning to become a schoolmaster for the rural poor, Eustacia sees him as a way to escape the hated heath and begin a grander, richer existence in a glamorous new location. With some difficulty, she arranges to meet Clym, and the two soon fall in love. Yeobright objects, Clym quarrels with her; later, she quarrels with Eustacia as well.

When he sees that Eustacia is lost to him, Wildeve marries Thomasin, who gives birth to a daughter the next summer. Clym and Eustacia also marry and move to a small cottage five miles away, where they enjoy a brief period of happiness. The seeds of rancour soon begin to germinate, however: Clym studies night and day to prepare for his new career as a schoolmaster while Eustacia clings to the hope that he'll give up the idea and take her abroad. Instead, he nearly blinds himself with too much reading, then further mortifies his wife by deciding to eke out a living, at least temporarily, as a furze -cutter.

Eustacia, her dreams blasted, finds herself living in a hut on the heath, chained by marriage to a lowly labouring man. At this point, Wildeve reappears; he has unexpectedly inherited a large sum of money, and is now in a better position to fulfill Eustacia's hopes. He comes calling on the Yeobrights in the middle of one hot August day and, although Clym is at home, he is fast asleep on the hearth after a gruelling session of furze-cutting.

While Eustacia and Wildeve are talking, Mrs. Yeobright knocks on the door; she has decided to pay a courtesy call in the hopes of healing the estrangement between herself and her son. Eustacia looks out at her and then, in some alarm, ushers her visitor out at the back door. She hears Clym calling to his mother and, thinking his mother's knocking has awakened him, remains in the garden for a few moments.

When Eustacia goes back inside, she finds Clym still asleep and his mother gone. Clym, she now realises, merely cried out his mother's name in his sleep. Mrs Yeobright, it turns out, saw Eustacia looking out the window at her; she also saw Clym's gear by the door, and so knew they were both at home. Now, thinking she has been deliberately barred from her son's home, she miserably begins the long, hot walk home. Later that evening, Clym, unaware of her attempted visit, heads for Bloom's End and on the way finds her crumpled beside the path, dying from an adder 's bite.

When she expires that night from the combined effects of snake venom and heat exhaustion , Clym's grief and remorse make him physically ill for several weeks. Eustacia, racked with guilt, dares not tell him of her role in the tragedy; when he eventually finds out from a neighbour's child about his mother's visit—and Wildeve's—he rushes home to accuse his wife of murder and adultery.

Eustacia refuses to explain her actions; instead, she tells him You are no blessing, my husband and reproaches him for his cruelty. She then moves back to her grandfather's house, where she struggles with her despair while she awaits some word from Clym. Wildeve visits her again on Guy Fawkes night, and offers to help her get to Paris. Eustacia realises that if she lets Wildeve help her, she'll be obliged to become his mistress. She tells him she will send him a signal by night if she decides to accept. Clym's anger, meanwhile, has cooled and he sends Eustacia a letter the next day offering reconciliation.