Examine the role of Chance and Co-incidence in The Return
of the Native.
Chance and co-incidence plays an important role, even an
exaggerated role, in the novels of Thomas Hardy. Many things which are
mysterious and sudden, which cannot be accounted for in
any natural way, take place. The unexpected often happens and always
it is the undesirable unexpected. Such chance events are heavy blows aimed
at the head of Hardy's protagonists and they send them to their doom.
Hardy's plots are dominated by chance
events. This is also true of the Return of the Native. In this
novel also there are many things which happen at the wrong moment, when they
are least expected to happen, and the result is sorrow, suffering,
and tragedy for all concerned. For example,
(1) Clym's coming across Eustacia by chance as he returns
home with his mother and Thomasin, leads to their sad and tragic
love.
