Gothic Representation in the Work of Thomas Hardy

There has been no significant study published within the past twenty years that analyses Thomas Hardy’s (1840-1928) literary exploration of the Gothic. The discrete period of the ‘Victorian Gothic,’ as defined within recent studies of the Gothic and delineated within this thesis, has been applied retrospectively by critics. Despite comprehensive studies concerning the ‘Victorian Gothic,’ Hardy’s work is largely absent. This thesis addresses such an oversight by utilising Hardy’s exegesis of contemporary theory and philosophy, that influenced his own exploration of the Gothic, to assert his place within this field of literary criticism. This thesis traces the development of Hardy’s fiction within its historical context by analysing Gothic representation in a selection of his novels, whilst also considering the recently established critical framework of the ‘Victorian Gothic.’

To inform close readings of Hardy’s novels, the three major modes of the Victorian historical period of the Gothic are outlined and analysed chronologically, each within their own chapter. Chapter One presents compelling evidence that Hardy was engaging with sensationalism within four of his novels published in the 1870s: Desperate Remedies (1871), A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873), Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), and The Hand of Ethelberta (1876). Chapter Two analyses the influence of the Scientific mode of the Gothic, via the lens of post-Darwinian theory, on two of Hardy’s novels published within the 1880s: Two on a Tower (1882) and The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886). Chapter Three identifies a hybrid mode of the Gothic that considers the intersection of the two aesthetics of Decadence and the Gothic revival within Hardy’s prominent fin de siècle novels: Tess of the D’Urbervilles (1891) and Jude the Obscure (1895). This thesis concludes that Hardy was consistently exploring and developing the Gothic aesthetic within his work, therefore, his novels should be considered within future critical studies of the Gothic.