Role of Chance and Fate in Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd

Abstract

Without any shadow of doubt, it can be said that Thomas hardy is of the leading novelists of the Victorian Age who contributed a great deal to the development of Victorian novel by imparting it depth and gravity. Far From the Madding Crowd is a powerful tragic expression by Hardy in which he portrays beautifully the role of chance and fate played in the lives of the characters that ultimately leads to the suffering and even death of some characters. This role of chance and fate is so prominent in hardy’s fictional works that some critics call hardy as a pessimistic novelist.

Hardy’s philosophy of life is marked with a strong note of fatalism. In Hardy’s novels Destiny is character. Man is a helpless creature, a mere puppet at the hands of Destiny or Fate. Man in Hardy’s world does not enjoy Free Will. The keen eyes of fate are always looking intently on his activities with a view to intervening as and when it so likes. Man is not free to choose the type of life he wants to live. Obstacles and hindrances swarm on his path of life,