Paganism in Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure: The Possibility of Faith and Ethics in a Darwinian World
This article aims at exploring Hardy’s representation of paganism in Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure, in the light of Hardy’s Darwinism. While Hardy’s support of paganism has been much debated, the comparison between these two novels shows that everything tends towards an unambiguous...
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Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée
2014-09-01
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| Series: | Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/cve/1490 |
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| author | Marie Panter |
| author_facet | Marie Panter |
| author_sort | Marie Panter |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article aims at exploring Hardy’s representation of paganism in Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure, in the light of Hardy’s Darwinism. While Hardy’s support of paganism has been much debated, the comparison between these two novels shows that everything tends towards an unambiguous praise of paganism, which appears as a possible alternative to Christianity. Hardy reads paganism as a form of pantheism and ethics based on ‘Nature’s Law’, which matches his Darwinian view of nature. Through the pagan theme, his late works show that man may replace God by nature, and that religion, though needing to be deeply renewed, remains necessary for humanity to be able to found an ethical society. By using Darwin, he relates to the early romantic debates with Deism, natural philosophy, and the foundation of republican ethics and politics. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-90c85e0782ba4194aa6e6d33f54f9423 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0220-5610 2271-6149 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2014-09-01 |
| publisher | Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens |
| spelling | doaj-art-90c85e0782ba4194aa6e6d33f54f94232025-01-30T10:21:31ZengPresses Universitaires de la MéditerranéeCahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens0220-56102271-61492014-09-018010.4000/cve.1490Paganism in Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure: The Possibility of Faith and Ethics in a Darwinian WorldMarie PanterThis article aims at exploring Hardy’s representation of paganism in Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure, in the light of Hardy’s Darwinism. While Hardy’s support of paganism has been much debated, the comparison between these two novels shows that everything tends towards an unambiguous praise of paganism, which appears as a possible alternative to Christianity. Hardy reads paganism as a form of pantheism and ethics based on ‘Nature’s Law’, which matches his Darwinian view of nature. Through the pagan theme, his late works show that man may replace God by nature, and that religion, though needing to be deeply renewed, remains necessary for humanity to be able to found an ethical society. By using Darwin, he relates to the early romantic debates with Deism, natural philosophy, and the foundation of republican ethics and politics.https://journals.openedition.org/cve/1490Hardy (Thomas)PaganismethicsDarwinismTessJude |
| spellingShingle | Marie Panter Paganism in Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure: The Possibility of Faith and Ethics in a Darwinian World Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens Hardy (Thomas) Paganism ethics Darwinism Tess Jude |
| title | Paganism in Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure: The Possibility of Faith and Ethics in a Darwinian World |
| title_full | Paganism in Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure: The Possibility of Faith and Ethics in a Darwinian World |
| title_fullStr | Paganism in Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure: The Possibility of Faith and Ethics in a Darwinian World |
| title_full_unstemmed | Paganism in Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure: The Possibility of Faith and Ethics in a Darwinian World |
| title_short | Paganism in Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure: The Possibility of Faith and Ethics in a Darwinian World |
| title_sort | paganism in tess of the d urbervilles and jude the obscure the possibility of faith and ethics in a darwinian world |
| topic | Hardy (Thomas) Paganism ethics Darwinism Tess Jude |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/cve/1490 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mariepanter paganismintessofthedurbervillesandjudetheobscurethepossibilityoffaithandethicsinadarwinianworld |