Hardy as pessimist (Tess of D'Urbervilles)

     Hardy being a pessimist is a much debated and controversial topic. Some critics believe that hardy is a pessimist. They say that Hardy’s view of life is full of sufferings and suffering is a universal law for Hardy. According to Hardy “Happiness is an occasional episode in general drama of pain”. By deep studying his novels it becomes clear and crystal that he is a pessimist towards life.

      Hardy’s view is pessimistic regarding the creator of universe who we call “The first cause”. He does not believe in the first cause, rather he believes in Darwin’s philosophy and other revolutionary scientists who believe that this universe in not created but evolved. He believes in the first cause but not in religious context. He believes that God is malevolent and cruel on human beings. In his novels his characters are faced great challenges and sufferings. 

      To sum up, it is unfair to consider Hardy completely pessimist or optimist. Hardy himself rejects all these charges and calls himself meliorist. He believes in the betterment of human life. He believes that betterment cannot come from outer force, for it one has to struggle, strive and face all the challenges and threats posed by nature.

      On the other hand every writer is the product of his age. The age in which he lived was Victorian age, where despair, doubt selfishness, frustration and industrial revolution were at its peak. He predicted and portrayed everything which he observed in cotemporary English society. So, Hardy cannot be considered as fully pessimist but he was a realist.