The Tragedy in The Return of the Native:A Darwinist Perspective

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Abstract：The Return of the Native is one of Hardy’s representative works. As the first great tragic novel of Thomas Hardy in order of publication, The Return of the Native，is a tragedy of character and environment. This essay attempts to analyse the tragedy in The Return of the Native in view of Darwinism. The central task of this essay is to prove that the conflicts between character and environment (natural and social environment included) lead to the tragedy. The thesis is composed of four parts: two chapters and an introduction as a beginning and a conclusion as a summarization. The introduction is a survey of Hardy’s life and work, current studies on Hardy’s tragic novels at home and abroad. This part also states the aim of the thesis, i.e., to make a detailed probe into the tragedy of various kinds in the novel from the aspect of the conflicts between human and environment by applying Darwinism as a theoretical basis. The first chapter, which lays a theoretical foundation for the second chapter, is about Darwinism and its influence on Hardy. Chapter 2 is to analyse the tragedy from the perspective of conflicts between the protagonists and environment. The thesis concludes that the novel is a tragedy of character and environment, as man is under the control of law of nature and environment：only the adaptive will survive; the ill-fitting will be exterminated. This may serve as a bitter lesson for the modern society where competition is getting more and more intensive as well.
Key words: Thomas Hardy;，The Return of the Native，tragedy，Darwinism

內(nèi)容提要:《還鄉(xiāng)》是托馬斯•哈代的代表作之一。按小說出版的時(shí)間先后而論，《還鄉(xiāng)》是哈代的第一部杰出的悲劇。這是一部人物與環(huán)境之間的悲劇。本論文擬應(yīng)用達(dá)爾文主義為理論依據(jù)探究《還鄉(xiāng)》中的悲劇。本文的核心任務(wù)即論證人物與環(huán)境（包括自然環(huán)境與社會環(huán)境）的沖突導(dǎo)致悲劇的發(fā)生。論文分為四個部分：引言部分﹑第一章﹑第二章和結(jié)論部分。引言部分介紹哈代的生平﹑主要作品﹑國內(nèi)外哈代悲劇小說研究簡述，并說明本論文的宗旨，即以小說中人與環(huán)境的沖突為突破口，運(yùn)用達(dá)爾文主義來具體探討《還鄉(xiāng)》中各種人物的悲劇。其中第一章為第二章作理論鋪墊：探討達(dá)爾文主義的自然選擇和社會選擇的理論以及達(dá)爾文主義對哈代創(chuàng)作的影響。第二章從人物與環(huán)境的沖突著眼，根據(jù)達(dá)爾文主義的理論（哈代的創(chuàng)作曾深受該理論的影響）來具體分析悲劇產(chǎn)生的原因。文章最后得出結(jié)論：《還鄉(xiāng)》的悲劇是一部人與環(huán)境的悲劇，是在優(yōu)勝劣汰的自然法則支配下必然產(chǎn)生的悲?。凰鼘Ω偁幖ち业默F(xiàn)代社會仍有著十分重要的借鑒意義。
關(guān)鍵詞：托馬斯•哈代;《還鄉(xiāng)》; 悲劇; 達(dá)爾文主義
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