淺析哈代的預(yù)示技巧

[收稿日期]2009年9月10日

[作者簡介]王宇光(1975～ ):女，吉林長春人，東北師范大學(xué)人文學(xué)院英語學(xué)院講師。

[摘 要]在古希臘時，預(yù)示已經(jīng)用于文學(xué)作品中。后來，莎士比亞將其推廣。在他的劇作中這種技巧的使用顯而易見。人們也可以在哈代的小說中找到同樣的預(yù)示技巧。由此可見，哈代繼承了莎士比亞的預(yù)示藝術(shù)。但哈代不是簡單地模仿莎士比亞。他進一步發(fā)展和豐富了這種技巧。由于他的宿命論，哈代很喜歡運用預(yù)示技巧。在哈代的小說中這種技巧得到了充分運用。在其小說中，哈代通過各種方式使用這種技巧。各種形式的預(yù)示可分為三類:一、描寫段落中的預(yù)示 哈代的描寫段落也可以分為三種:環(huán)境，場景和人物。二、情節(jié)中的預(yù)示 在小說情節(jié)中，預(yù)示大多通過小說人物的言論以及他們自己表現(xiàn)出來。三、其他形式的預(yù)示 這些形式包括:引用，民歌，民間迷信傳說和人物的名字。

[關(guān)鍵詞]預(yù)感 文學(xué)技巧 宿命論

[中圖分類號]I106 [文獻標(biāo)識碼]A [文章編號]1009-5489(2009)11-0141-04

Ⅰ.A New Discovery

Today，few English writers as Thomas Hardy are enjoying an increasing popularity in the world of literature.There is a craze for Hardy in the world for his fiction as well as his poetry.His novels are widely read，staged and filmed.The main reason，it seems to the author of this thesis，is that there is in Hardy's works a permanent artistic and moral value which commands exploration.Foreboding is just a part of such value.

Foreboding，as a literature technique，can be traced back to the time of ancient Greece.Let us take Aeschylus' masterpiece The Orestes for example:Paris has eloped with Menelaus' wife，Helen，and takes her off to Troy.To punish this crime.Zeus sends Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon to make war on Troy.As they set out，two eagles are seen devouring a pregnant hare and the prophet Calchas interprets this omen as the meaning of the capture of Troy by the two brothers.This omen actually is a foreboding which promises the success of their mission.

Later，it was Shakespear who develop this literary technique and put it to wide use.For instance，in Romeo and Juliet，one can find evident cases of foreboding.In the play Romeo forebodes his fate by saying in Act One:

\"I fear too early，for my mind misgives

Some consequence yet hanging in the stars

Shall bitterly begin his fearful date

With this night's revels and expire the term

Of a despised life closed in my breast

By some vile forfeit of untimely death.\"

(Act I，Scene IV)

Exactly the same kinds of foreboding are found in Hardy's novels.For instance in Tess，after being struck on the mouth at Flintcomb-Ash，Alec speaks angrily to Tess，\"Remember，my lady，I was your master once! I will be your master again.If you are any man's wife you are mine!\"in The Return of the Native，speaking of the Edgon Heath，Eustacia forebodes her fate in the first part of the novel\"\"tis my cross，my shame，and will be my death!\"In Jude the Obscure，in response to Jude's remark，\"we are horribly sensitive;that's really what's the matter with us.Sue!\"Sue gives a clear foreboding of how things will be in the future:\"Everybody is getting to feel as we do.We are a little beforehand，that's all.In fifty，a hundred years the descendants of these two (children)will act and feel worse than we.They will see weltering humanity still more vividly than we do now.\"

Evidently Hardy inherited the art from Shakespear.However，Hardy did not stop at just imitating Shakespear.He had further developed and enriched it.To Shakespear and the other writers preceding Hardy，foreboding functioned only as something to echo a theme，to link up the context，and to prepare the readers for what will come inevitably so as to make the plot well-knit.

The echoing of the theme certainly helps to heighten the tragic atmosphere so as to throw the tragic ending of the play into sharp relief.As a result，not only is the plot closely-knit，but we are fully-prepared for the entrance of what awaits in the end.In this way，we feel gravely edified rather than sorrowful.No wonder Shakespear makes foreboding of his important devices in writing his plays.While retaining many other good devices used by his predecessors，Hardy made the best use of foreboding in conveying to the reader his own ideas and theme.Under Hardy's pen，foreboding，which formerly were often found in one's remarks，are expressed in almost all kinds of forms.On this，the author of this thesis would like to make some researches.

Ⅱ.Analysis Why Hardy uses foreboding in his novels

As the author of this thesis attributes Hardy's use of foreboding，it is necessary to take a full look at the forming and development of Hardys fatalism，which originated from his misery and perplexity in the midst of social upheavals of his time.

Wessex，where Hardy was born and brought up，was an old，patriarchal country，Hardy，in his earlier novel Under the Greenwood Tree，gives this patriarchal society a vivid picturesque description:Beautiful rural scenes are seen everywhere.Every individual farmers，with the traditional ethics and the friendly human relations leads a peaceful，harmonious and simple life.In the second half of the 19^thcentury，capitalism was beginning to invade and conquer the British rural areas.The patriarchal Wessex was now undergoing a big social upheaval.The whole process of the Wessex's upheaval was permeated with acute antagonism and violent conflicts between the old and the new thought.It was a progress for the advanced capitalistic ideology to replace the backward，conservative patriarchal ideology.This historical progress eventually brought about the collapse of the patriarchal society and reduced the individual petty farmers to a miserable state of being jobless farm hands who suffered dire poverty.At the same time，with the invasion of bourgeois ideology came bourgeois ethics，laws and religious ideas which proved to be all the more hypocritical and deceitful.They inflicted unbearable wounds on the minds of those men and women in the patriarchal society，their traditional ethics and human relations being trampled，their wishes and ideals being shattered in their real life.In a word，they fell into the inextricable abyss of agony.

In the face of social upheaval，Hardy，as a bourgeois humanist，deeply felt and experienced the collisions between the old and the new ideology.On the one hand，influenced by Darwin's evolutionary ideas，Hardy admitted that the replacement of the old and conservative patriarchal system by the capitalistic was a historical progress;on the other hand，he cherished a strong nostalgia for the simple pastoral life and the traditional ethics of the patriarchal society.He was pained to see the deterioration of the patriarchal mode of life in rural England，to see the impoverishment and decay of small farmers who became hired farmhands and roamed the country in search of seasonal job and to see those labourers mercilessly exploited and maltreated.His sympathy went all out to those unfortunate men and women of the patriarchal society.He carried farthest of all his ironic exposure of the social conventions that brought so much suffering and humiliation to the individual.However，cramped by his petty-bourgeois outlook，Hardy could not understand that the very root of all their misfortune was capitalism itself，nor could he find for them a way out.In the presence of the social upheaval of Wessex，Hardy was thrown into misery and perplexity.Unable to interpret the cause of the actual predicament and the tragic fate of the laboring people under such circumstances，Hardy would naturally turn to fatalism for help.

Generally speaking，Hardy's fatalism consists of traditional fatalistic ideas and modern deterministic ideas.Being a solitary，introspective boy，Hardy was deeply influenced in his childhood by his mother and grandmother who were brought up in the remote，backward countryside where fatalism was prevalent，they would naturally explain to Hardy what they saw and heard with a fatalistic point of view.Hardy took over from his mother and grandmother this fatalistic point of view with which he was to observe people's miseries and misfortune in the actual life.Later，Hardy read many Grecian tragedies such as Agamemnon，Oedipus etc.The fatalistic ideas of the Greek tragedians made him believe that\"mankind is subjected to the rule of some hostile mysterious fate，which brings misfortune into human life.\"According to Hardy，\"That which，socially，is a great tragedy，may be in Nature no alarming circumstance.\"So far，Hardy's fatalism was only of traditinal fatalism.The author of this thesis takes them for the first stage of Hardy 's fatalism which was yet to be developed.The four years he spent in London was extremely valuable as a time in which to learn，to form the complex of opinions he would retain throughout his life.He poured over Darwin and Spencer，Huxley and Mill，striving to provision his mind and discover the truth about God，man and nature.In 1911 and again in 1924，at the age of 84，Hardy drew up lists of the greatest influences on his thought，and each time cited Darwin first and then the other philosophers:\"Darwin，Huxley，Spencer，Comte，Hume，Mill and others.\"Reading Darwin not only confirmed the young Hardy's rejection of the Christian God，but also confirmed Hardy in his feeling that pain and cruelty are built into the very structure of existence.For Hardy，\"Perhaps the most disturbing of all the implication to be drawn from Darwin's work is the deterministic notion that the characteristics of both the individual and the race are preconditioned by mechanical forces outside humanity's control.\"Spencer taught him that\"the Power which the Universe manifests to us is utterly inscrutable.\"and also provided the germ of Hardy's later notion about Immanent Will or Emergent Consciousness.Huxley spoke more powerfully to him than Darwin and Spencer.\"There is no alleviation for the sufferings of mankind.\"

The great evolutionists furnished him with an ideology that went well with his former fatalistic ideas.\"The philosophic fatalism of the peasant goes hand in hand with the more systematic determinism of an age of science.\"This best summarizes Hardy's fatalism now.Hardy came to realize\"A woeful fact that the human race is too extremely developed for its corporeal conditions，the nerves being evolved to an activity abnormal in such an environment...This planet does not supply the materials for happiness to higher existence.\"and\"what we gained by science is，after all，sadness...The more we know of the laws and nature of the universe，the more ghastly a business one perceives it all to be...\"Those fated for thought have no choice but to suffer，which Hardy put in brief;\"a tragedy exhibits a state of things in the life of an individual which unavoidably causes some natural aim or desire of his to end in a catastrophe when carried out.\"Because everything is fated，people can only suffer as they follow their appointed course.Hardy finally discovered that.\"the cosmos is a trap of fatality\"Whether to understand life with the traditional fatalism or with Darwin's deterministic point of view.In this way，Hardy's fatalistic ideas were further confirmed.

Hardy's fatalism is very well expressed in almost all of his novels.In the Return of the Native，Eustacia attributes her misfortunes to a supernatural force acting against her，\"Yet，instead of blaming herself for the issue，she laid the fault upon the shoulders of some indistinct，colossal Prince of the World，who had framed her situation and ruled her lot.\"In The Mayor of Casterbridge，Henchard also experiences\"an inexorable，all-powerful\"and mysterious\"force of opposition.\"In Jude the Obscure，Hardy presents to us a contrast between the ideal life a man wishes to lead and the squalid real life he is fated to lead.At the end of Tess，Hardy puts it more explicitly:\"Justice was done，and the President of the Immortals had ended his sport with Tess.\"Moreover，according to Hardy，\"Character is fate.\"The very characteristics of such characters as Eustacia，Henchard，Tess，Jude，etc.Ensure their tragic destinies and also，it seems to Hardy，that Tess's tragic fate，the miserable matrimonial relations of Jude and Sue are preconditioned by their ancestors.Just a few of the examples will suffice for us to see that Hardy's fatalism is like a theme running through his novels.In his diary for 1888，Hardy writes:\"There is something this would ought to be shown and I am the one to show it...\"His fatalism is certainly something he intends to show us through his novels.

Owing to his fatalism，Hardy easily feels in foreboding something to his liking.To Hardy，foreboding not only goes well with his fatalistic point of view，but also suits him well in conveying his fatalistic ideas.Being a sign of what is coming inevitably，foreboding functions perfectly as something to show that everything is already predetermined by something beyond our control;one is fated to follow his appointed course from which there is no escape no matter what one does.For this reason，Hardy would certainly make full use of foreboding in his novels，as we can see in the next part that Hardy's fatalism finds explicit expressions in his various ways of foreboding.

Ⅲ.Hardy's Technique of Foreboding

Hardy seems to use foreboding in every way possible in his novels.We find in his novels forebodings of various forms，which can be classified into the following:

A.Forebodings in his descriptive passages:

Hardy's descriptive passages can be divided into three categories:surroundings，scenes and characters.The following descrptive passage of surroundings forebodes not only Tess's transient happiness with Angel at Talbothays，but also another round of her terrible sufferings:

\"The meads were changing now;but it was still warm enough in early afternoons before milking to idle there awhile，and the state of dairy-work at this time of year allowed a spare hour for idling.Looking over the damp sod in the direction of the sun，a glistening ripple of gossamer webs was visible to their eyes under the luminary，like the track of moonlight on the sea.Gnats，knowing nothing of their brief glorification，wandered across the shimmer of this pathway，irradiated as if they bore fire within them，then passed out of its line，and were quite extinct.\"

Here，obviously，Hardy uses gossamer，gnats and the track of moonlight to symbolize something transient，giving a vivid foreboding of Tess's happiness.

Hardy's descriptive passages of scenes are，sometimes，very suggestive as found in Jude the Obscure Hardy presents us the scene of\"the place where Sue，Having brought home the statuettes of Venus and Apollo to her room at the ecclesiastical repository，lies wakeful in the dark.Everytime she opened her eyes there was enough diffused light from the window to show her white plaster figure...in odd contrast to...the Gothic framed Crucifix-picture，that was only discernible now as a Latin cross，the figure thereon being obscured by the shades.\"

This scene is a perfect foreboding of the swaying war between orthodoxy and heterodoxy that is to wage in her after-days.

Some of Hardy's descriptive passages of his characters are meant to indicate what he or she is doomed to be.In Far From the Madding Crowd，our first sight of Bathsheba is a charming picture:

A beautiful girl in a crimson jacket，sitting in a gaily painted farm wagon，surrounded by her househould goods and window-plants.

\"Then she looked attentively downwards.It was not at the bird，nor at the cat;it was at an oblong package tied in paper，and lying between them.She turned her head to learn if the waggoner were coming.He was not yet in sight;and her eyes crept back to the package，her thoughts seeming to run upon what was inside it.At length she drew the article into her lap，and untied the paper covering;a small swing looking- glass was disclosed，in which she proceeded to survey herself attentively.She parted her lips and smiled.\"

Since this is a Hardy novel，we can be sure that her doom is rooted in her vanity.Just as expected，being vain and self-willed，she responds at once to flattery and falls an easy victim to the swaggering and heartless Troy and is，consequently，thrown into humiliation and disillusion.

B.Forebodings in the plot:

In Hardy's plots，forebodings can be found mostly in the remarks by his characters as well，as by himself.Here just to give a few examples:

Before Tess's visit to the rich Trantridge D'urbervilles:\"But Joan Durbeyfield must mind that she don't get green malt in floor.\"The peculiar meaning of this local phrase predicts what is on the way.When Alec D'urberville takes the chance to\"rescue\"Tess from the attack of the jealous village women on her way back from the weekly pilgrimages one Saturday night，one of the on-lookers，seeing the unavoidable misfortune waiting for Tess，comments:\"Out of the frying pan into the fire.\"

In The Return of the Native，Eustacia simply forebodes for herself.Referring to the heath，she says:\"Tis my cross，my shame，and will be my death.\"In the end，Eustacia，indeed，becomes tragically\"an organic part of the entire motionless structure.\"the barrow there.

Occasionally，Hardy even puts himself into his novels and forebodes the plot of the whole play，we can find a typical passage in Tess:

\"Enough that in the present case，as in millions，it was not the two halves of a perfect whole that confronted each other at the perfect moment;a missing counterpart wandered independently about the earth waiting in crass obtuseness till the late time came.Out of which maladroit delay sprang anxieties，disappointments，shocks，catastrophes，and passing-strange destinies.

This is almost a summary of what is to happen among Tess，Alec and Angel.

In all of Hardy's novels，the plot always turns on a succession of accidents and coincidences，in which forebodings can also be found.e.g.In the opening of Tess，after her day-dreaming precipitates the horse，Prince's disastrous death，Tess sees herself as a murderess，at which her guilt persuades her to agree to her mother's plan.Here we are given not simply an omious foreboding，but something which is to characterize the relationship between Tess and Alec.

In Jude the Obscure，the marriage rehearsal by Jude and Sue an hour before Phillostson marries Sue serves as something to predict their temporary living together before going back to their respective spouses.

C.Forebodings in other forms:

1.Quotations and folksongs

At the very beginning of Tess.Hardy presents us a quotation from Shakespear:

\"Poor wounded name! My bosom as a bed.Shall lodge thee.\"(Two Gentlemen of Verona，Act I，Scene II)which indicates not only his sympathy for his\"pure woman\"，but her tragedy that is to happen in the novel.

Forebodings also exist in some folksongs.In Tess，when Tess puts on the gown，which Angel bought her for their marital ceremony，\"before the glass looking at the effect of her silk attire;and then there came into her head her mother's ballad of the mystic robe-

That never would become that wife.

That had once done amiss.\"

By this song，what to become of her marriage with Angel is made clear.

2.Superstitious folklores:

In Hardy's novels，some superstitious folklores are also used for foreboding.In Tess，as Tess and Angel leave the farm in the afternoon after their marriage，the cock crows thrice.To the superstitious countryfolk the coincidence(of an afternoon crow with a marriage)is fraught with evil meaning，though it is explained by Mrs.Crick as an indication of change of weather，to us who know how things stand，it is an omious foreboding of how their marriage is going to be.

3.His characters' names

The author of this thesis holds that，in Hardy's novels，even some of his characters' names are intended for foreboding.

The most successful instance of this practice is found in Tess--the calling of Tess Durbeyfield's husband Angel.Angel sounds like a visitant from the other world as the name suggested.Therefore，it is expected that the man by that name must be a man of spirit;an idealist in a philosophical sense who must be very fastidious.This，again，is confirmed in the novel.Being a man of spirit，Angel loves Tess's soul，her heart，her substance:\"he has himself well in hand and is singularly free from grossness.Being an idealist，he loves her\"fancifully and ideally;\"he sees her as\"...no longer a milkmaid but a visionary essence of a woman--a whole sex condensed into one typical form.He calls her Artemis，Demeter.\"When the image of untouched purity which he has been superimposing on her is shattered，he can not help becoming disappointed;with his fastidious temperament，his temporary rejecting of Tess seems inevitable.

A name，no doubt，can not epitomize a person's character which is very complicated and of many facets.To Hardy，however，the naming of a person can certainly throw some important and revealing light on some of his or her chief characteristics.

Hardy's various ways of foreboding constitute a unique tech-nique of writing，which，as a whole，has a profound influence upon the world's contemporary writers.

Foreboding，as a literary technique，can be used in any artistic forms growing out of literature.It is not surprising that the technique of foreboding has already been extended to dramas and films，etc.

The fatalistic ideas expressed by Hardy through his artistic use of foreboding are，in themselves，negative，for they make the reader believe that there is no way out but to comply to one's fate in one's life.However，what we have got，most surprisingly，after reading Hardy's novels，is a deep admiration and respect towards the unyielding spirit of such staunch figures as Tess，Eustacia，Henchard，even Jude and Sue，rather than a feeling of hopelessness and grievance.What impresses us most is the moral virtue that Hardy bestows on his heroes or heroines in his novels.In spite of his frequent uses of forebodings to indicate the course one is fated to follow，Hardy makes，by design，his heroes or heroines，in one way or another，not submit to their fates.They are all conscious that they are dominated by something beyond human control，but，instead of giving in，they indomitably go on with their pursuit of happiness.Under Hardy's pen，though，none of his heros or heroines such as Tess，Eustacia，Henchard and Jude can escape a tragic death，yet their bodily termination，matter-of-factly，all the more set off by contrast the immortality of their spirit.In this sense，Hardy is virtually an eulogist of people's virtue and spirit.His novels，greatly enchanted by his art of foreboding，have stood the test of time，becoming perennial joy for people all over the world.

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