Summary & Analysis of "Hardy's Moments of Vision"

Summary:

One of the pieces of criticism I read and chose to focus on is called "Hardy's Moments of Vision" by Virginia Woolf. Reading her piece helped me a lot because she put into words some of the things I was also feeling about Tess, but didn't know exactly how to state them. Woolf highlights many of the things that make Hardy's novels great pieces of literature, namely that he has these 'moments of vision' that make up for the other less great parts of the story. She calls Hardy's 'moments of vision' "those passages of astonishing beauty and force which are to be found in every book he wrote" (401). According to Woolf, these moments are gone as suddenly as they appear, but they leave a profound effect on readers nonetheless. She also talks a lot about the kinds of characters Hardy writes, and how they are less like individuals and more like types. She, however, does not see this as a negative thing. Woolf does admit that Hardy has some faults in his writing, but she says, "If we are to place Hardy among his fellows, we must call him the greatest tragic writer among English novelists" (405).

Analysis:

It was clear throughout reading her piece that Woolf had a lot of respect for what Hardy was doing with his writing. I especially liked the way she described Hardy's characters because that was a big point we all debated about in class. We agreed that we wanted to see more of Tess's individual thoughts, feelings, and motivations--especially during the important parts like the murder scene--but Hardy does not give that opportunity to readers. In fact, in many parts of the story I found myself wanting to hear a little more directly from Tess just how she felt about things, but she was always a little distant. In Woolf's piece, she argues that Hardy does this sort of thing with all of his characters because they are supposed to represent more of a type of person than a real, individual one. She states that his characters are "eternal," and says, "We meet them over and over again in the novels, and they always have something typical about them, more of the character that marks a race than of the features which belong to an individual" (402). Taken altogether, the characters in Hardy's novels are supposed to give off more of a hazy impression than have specific characteristics, so it would make sense then that we aren't always able to hear Tess's thoughts. If this is what Hardy is indeed doing, it would seem that Tess and Angel and Alec and everyone are kind of symbols for something bigger about life, than just there to tell a story about a woman who has a tragic end. The part I struggled with in the novel was that it's obvious Hardy has a lot of bigger ideas about society and life in general he's trying to express through Tess, but it's difficult for me to pin down exactly his intentions when he's only giving these hazy and incomplete impressions and types of characters instead of more specifics.