In twenty six pages the influence of Charles Darwin on Hardy's novel are considered in the intermingling of Darwin's philosophies into the text. Nine sources are cited in the bibliography.
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the writings of Darwin, and was no stranger to his work. The ways in which Darwins theories are interwoven with Hardys work in this brilliant novel are numerous and
are well explained in this paper. HARDYS OBSESSION WITH DARWIN Hardy was nineteen when Charles Darwins Origin of Species was first published. Hardy openly has stated that it
is Darwins work and in fact the work of many scientists that he had a fascination with as a youth. As Hardy explains it: "One of the ideas that
seized my imagination was Darwins vivid depiction of a world of predators and victims - of each species preying upon others. This was very different from the idealized and optimistic
concept of nature that I had found in Wordsworth and other Romantic poets, and it made a great difference to the way I portrayed the life of the countryside when
I became a writer. People sometimes say I wrote pastoral novels, but in some ways these stories are anti-pastoral in that they refuse to give a sentimental or idealized picture
of the world of nature or of country life" (Hardy (2) PG). In Thomas Hardys Tess, Hardy examines his fascination with predators and victims and takes it up a
notch to become a tale about the near-extinction of a species - that is, the family called the DUrbervilles - and how they attempt to make a comeback. As
we see, however, with the end of the novel, the predator, Alec still wins even though he is killed in the end. The death of Alec at the hands
of Tess results in her being hanged. Thomas Hardy explains that "Like a species that is fighting a losing battle for survival, the Durbeyfields are at the mercy of