Clym and Eustacia Relationship in Return of the Native

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CLYM- EUSTACIA RELATIONSHIP OR THEME OF FRUSTRATED IDEALISM & UNHAPPY LOVE Hardy’s The Return of the Native is a novel of frustrated idealism and unhappy love mainly for incompatible relationship between two major characters – Clym Yeobright and Eustacia Vye. Both of them are the real natives of the land, Egdon Heath. However, both of them are poles apart in character. The former is a plodding idealist, whereas the later is a fiery sensualist. When the story begins, we are not introduced with Clym who has been in Paris at that time but returns soon to the heath and his return to the heath alters the destinies of several persons including himself. Eustacia is, as described by Hardy, as “Queen of Night” whose eyes are pagan, are too fancy that a whole winter does not contain darkness enough to form its shadow. She is a woman of nineteen, tall, straight and graceful. Both Clym and Eustacia are creatures of impulse and live more by passion than by reason. Eustacia always longs for passionate love and her great desire is “to be loved to madness”. On the other hand, Clym is not less passionate than her. As a result, as soon as they see to each other, they fall in love. Throughout the novel Eustacia is filled with romantic imagining of a man who would “love her to madness” and take her away from the heath. She falls in love with Clym as soon as she learns Clym’s arrival. She imagines Clym as a born leader of man who would go with her into the brilliant world – Paris from where he has come and give her the fullness of life and the freedom she craves for. She is so reckless in Clym’s love that she does not hesitate a little bit about her identity during the performance of the mummers’ play. She disguises herself as one of the mummers in the play in order to be able to take a look at Clym and gives a fig care about her identity. This shows how reckless Eustacia
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