In Wessex, people lived in the conflict between the old patriarchal civilization and modern capitalist civilization. They perplexed, suffered, struggles and at last, they were mentally and physically exhausted.
Eustacia was tired of the dull and simplicity of country life and looked forward to the glittering outside world. But the rural people regarded her as an evil woman, which made her lonely, agony and unable to extricate herself. While Herchard clung to the character of the old patriarchal form and made no concession to modern civilization. Finally, he was utterly isolated and died in loneliness.
Hardy has his eyes on the cultural transform and people's inner world in Wessex, so the social tragedies in his works not only reveal the social phenomena, but also includes some complicated and deep cultural connotation. This is why Hardy is better than his contemporaries. .
II. Tragic consciousness of fate.
There is a pronounced fatalism colour in Hardy's works. Some critics see it as the limitation of Hardy. But I think they have it exactly backwards. The tragic consciousness of fate is his accurate grasp of people's cultural spirit in Wessex and it makes the novels real and touching.
Hardy uses fate to explain the reason of people's tragic life. " Hardy's pessimistic philosophy accentuates that active part played by the mysterious force of chance and external circumstances upon human lives. It seems to him that there is something mysterious in the world of nature, something beyond the control of human power that decides human fate and that has its powerful role in frustrating human desires and aspirations" (Chen 429). Consequently, the heroes or heroines in his novels often cry about the fate when unfortunate things happen. When the child of the couple died tragically, Sue cried to Jude distressingly, "Fate has given us this stab in the back for being such fools as to take Nature at her word!" (Hardy, Thomas 357-358).