The Woodlanders

Description

The Woodlanders is a novel written and serialized by Thomas Hardy between May 1886 and April 1887. The novel depicts how the peaceful and seemingly quiet life in a small village in England is abruptly turned into chaos by external forces.

The story takes place in the small woodland village of Little Hintock. The main heroine of the novel is Grace Melbury, a beautiful young woman who is in love with a simple yet noble woodlander named Giles. They share the passion for each other, but fate, or more exactly Grace’s father, has other plans. Her father is putting every effort possible into educating Grace, and thus he things Giles in no longer a suitable partner for her only daughter, and when the young, handsome and seemingly well-manner doctor Edgar Fitzpiers arrives, her father’s plans start getting shaped.

Grace does not love Edgar, but there is nothing she can do against the will of her father. One early morning she sees another young women getting out of Edgar’s home and she suspects that they have an affair. When she confronts him, he says that she had a toothache and he needed to extract it.

However, things go ahead with the marriage only to have Edgar cheating Grace with a rich widow afterwards. Grace becomes estranged with Edgar, her father assaults him and things take an abrupt turn. Edgar flees for the continent with his rich widow and Grace starts thinking about her true love – Giles. But fate yet again sets a different course for Grace who will be unable to stay with her true love.

In this novel, social and partnership mismatching, unrequited love, unhappy endings are themes which are present, just as in most other works of Thomas Hardy’s. Readers will find reflections on moral and social issues, all set in rustic environment and depicted with great skill.
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