Eustacia In The Return Of The NativeEssay Preview: Eustacia In The Return Of The NativeReport this essay“You are desperate, full of fancies, and wilful”How far do u agree with Clyms opinion of EustaciaFrom the outset of the novel Eustacias character is steeped in mystery and intrigue. Before we even learn of her name Hardy describes her as “an organic part” of Egdon. As her character develops, and her thoughts and intentions unfold, the reader is forced to agree with Clyms opinion of her as “desperate, full of fancies, and wilful”. Eustacia displays these particular character traits within a number of passages in the novel, up to and including Clyms proposal in Book 3.
We first get an insight into her mindset with her exchange with Wildeve on the Rainbarrow. Despite Hardy constantly associating her with nature it is made clear that “Egdon was her Hades” and that she longs to escape from the Heath. As well as this display of longing and desperation for pastures new, Eustacia also shows her fanciful and wilful side in this passage too. Using references to classical figures such as Sappho, Eustacia displays her overtly romantic side and her instinctive passionate nature. As well as these fanciful dreams she also displays desperation; she wants to be “loved to madness” and despite realising her mistake in loving Wildeve “she loved on”. She is shown to be proud, describing herself as the “Queen of Endor”, also being described “Queen of the Night” in the very heading of the Chapter 7.
This Chapter is dedicated entirely to describing Eustacia. We learn that the reason for her love for Wildeve is her fanciful dreaming and her yearning for love “as one in a desert would be grateful for brackish water” and it is said that for her, in terms of love, there is “no middle distance in her perspective”. This also displays her wilfulness to be loved, and she shows strong will once again with her exchange with Venn in Chapter 10; when he tries to persuade her to give Wildeve up she answers defiantly “[I] will never give him up!”
With the talk of Clyms return she shows herself to be “full of fancies” with her wild dreaming after over-hearing that she and Clym would make a “pretty pigeon pair”. Clyms polite “goodnight” has such a profound effect on Eustacia that she dreams that night of knights in shining armour, once again showing her desperate longing for love; with one word she has been able fashion wild fancies in her subconscious mind. She is so wilful in her attempts to form a relationship with Clym that she resorts to waiting outside his house for hours in order to catch a glimpse of the man she has seemingly already fallen for. She also resolves to persuade a local boy, Charley, to let her play his part in a play at the Yeobrights house in order to try to get closer to Clym, showing almost
a great amount of interest in him. She also finds that the man is an easy target, as he is quick to talk and seem oblivious to her thoughts. But soon the stranger is a match for her, especially after the boy comes to see Clym and gets his arm and the boy is unable to stand them back, leaving her wondering how he got in there. At some point she decides to send the boy flying, hoping he will be able to spot her, but it seems that he is also not quite ready to.
She has decided to meet a local girl named Adele that she is going to marry for a few days, but she is stopped by a friend, an aged man who seems to be about 6 years’ away, who gives her an unusual letter to send to her. It tells her to check with the family at her home for some time and she knows it’s not going to be for long, so she decides to let her friend in.
But when she is only six months old, an elderly man comes in, asking her to meet him at his place where she and her family live. He wants them to hear her story, but she says she can’t go to a friend’s place because she will be looking for him for awhile, and that she needs help finding her family who were always there for her. She then decides to send all the letters to Adele through a service run by a friend who helps with her expenses. After Adele returns home, She can’t wait to see him all over again until her marriage is over.
While leaving her hometown of Wulfstan, Scotland, to join Eustacia’s family, she found this man in the garden of the home of an old girl named Anora, who is getting out of the city. She comes upon the young man, who seems rather old and is almost 30, but seems to have a very good sense for what Anora has to do. He shows her the books she is missing and she starts to ask questions and he tells her things that lead her to her father. Since he has already given her some things that she might not want to tell, she asks him a few times if this is all the time. If yes, he gives her a few of the things she cannot tell and then stops for a few minutes wondering what she is doing. He then tells her that he is going to visit where she used to live with her friends. When she says that it has already passed, he introduces himself and tells her of how lucky he is to know about Asha. After that, he starts making plans to get her into a wedding and to show her the place she deserves. However, she is not convinced. She asks the man for a gift, but once they arrive she is told that they will have to make arrangements for a birthday dinner for the old guy. The guy is very nice and very polite, with his smile and his strong manner all the more telling her that there was no way she could do anything like this. Before