The Role of Nature in Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Tess of the D’Urbervilles

Abstract

Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence and Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles are novels with a female protagonist and in which nature plays a prominent role. In the novels, nature often appears as a setting, a place of refuge, or simply the background of a walk or journey. However, both novels seem to express stronger statements about nature, almost ascribing to it the quality of pureness and fertility. When examining nature closely in the two novels, it becomes clear that natural metaphors, attributes, or settings, quite consistently present a philosophy and reflection on society, although Hardy and Lawrence each have a unique approach to this.

Although eco-criticism is a relatively young discipline (the movement started in the 80’s and 90’s), it offers a helpful framework for making such a comparison. In its broadest sense, eco-criticism is the branch of literary criticism that is concerned with the relationship between humans and the environment in all areas of cultural production (Garrard i). This thesis examines the role of nature in Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Lady Chatterley’s Lover, elucidating the philosophy behind (1) nature and society as represented in the novels, (2) the interaction between spirituality and nature, and (3) the relationship between the female and her natural surroundings. Nature will be analysed from the perspective of eco-criticism, looking at the relationship between humans and their environment.