Critique of Victorian Bourgeois Morality in Hardy’s The Woodlanders

Abstract

This thesis on The Woodlanders tries to expose the ideology of the Victorian society, which privileged materiality over spirituality and ethics. Hardy explores all this through the fictionalized form as he weaves this theme with the love story based on self-interest. In addition, Hardy critiques the values of Victorian upper class people who focused on superficiality, artificiality, selfishness and hypocrisy. Hardy shows that the love between high class and low class people does not last long as it is motivated by material gain. The love between Giles Winterbourne and Grace Melbury, Edred Fitzpiers and Grace, and Fitzpiers and Mrs. Charmond results in failure because of the characters' hypocrisy and materialistic interest.