Traits of Modernist Feminism in Eustacia Vye's Quest for Self

Abstract

Eustacia Vye in The Return of the Native is one of Thomas Hardy’s most
memorable female characters. Though majority of Hardy’s critics place her at par
with Bathsheba Everdene and Elfride Swancourte, some do not hesitate to
compare her with the monumental Tess and the unparalleled Sue Bridehead.
Notwithstanding any controversy about her generic status among Hardy’s
characters, Eustacia’s queer nature offers a fascinating case for aesthetic cum
psychoanalytical exposition. As an impulsive being with unparalleled emotional
sensibilities, she derives a great part of her personality from her setting and
environment — the romantically gothic Egdon Heath. Though set in a Victorian
frame, she anticipates the emotionally assertive woman of modern era. This paper
aims at exploring her unique psychological constituents, as the seeds and roots of
her spiritual convictions and emotional adventures, projecting her as anticipating
the modernistic woman both in life and literature.