ABSTRACT
The Return of the Native is the representative novel of Thomas Hardy(1840～1928), who is considered as the last great novelist of the Victorian period. Eustacia, the heroine in The Return of the Native, called “the queen of the night” by Hardy, has long been the focus of literary criticism. This paper plans to present the embodiment of the tragic fate of Eustacia from her life in Egdon Heath, marriage with Clym and inevitable death. Then it analyzes the tragic fate of Eustacia from three perspectives as follows. First, it analyses the weaknesses deep inside her characters, then presents the social and natural background Eustacia lives in, finally it elaborates on the coincidental factors throughout the paper. We all know that the key factor is the weaknesses of her inner characters. This paper pays more attention to Eustacia’s inner factors: characters of “witch”; nonserious attitude to love and marriage; and fantastic thoughts. This paper aims to make readers understand this novel more deeply by analyzing the tragic fate of Eustacia, particularly from the aspect of her inner weaknesses.
Keywords：Eustacia; Egdon Heath; tragedy
Contents
1. Introduction 1
2. The author and the novel 2
2.1 Thomas Hardy 2
2.2 The brief introduction to The Return of the Native 3
3. The embodiment of the tragic fate of Eustacia 4
3.1 Life in Egdon Heath 4
3.2 Marriage with Clym 5
3.3 Inevitable death 6
4. The analysis of the tragic fate of Eustacia 7
4.1 The factors of Eustacia's inner characters 7
4.1.1 Characters of "witch" 7
4.1.2 Nonserious attitude to love and marriage 8
4.1.3 Fantastic thoughts 9
4.2 The factors of the surroundings 9
4.2.1 The environment in Egdon Heath 10
4.2.2 Social background 10
4.3 The factors of conincidence 11
5. Conclusion 13
Acknowledgements 14
References 15
