Figurative expression as an aspect of the novel found in the novels of D.H.Lawrence and Thomas Hardy: Both the novelists engaged intensely with their subject and were also poets. Poems of D.H. Lawrence like ‘ The Snake’ and ‘Ship Of Death’ have a vitality and ardour which can be observed to a greater extent in his novels like ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover,’ ‘The Rainbow’ and ‘Sons and Lovers’. The novels of D.H. Lawrence highlight the importance of natural instict and passion which are essential to realise the joy of living, but are blunted by the onset of invention and technology. His characters desire a deeper engagement with Nature than that is granted them and those that are in disjunct are not able to vibe with the rhythms of Nature. As a result they are misfits, drop-outs or excluded.;Tom Brangwen in the Rainbow or Morel in Sons and Lovers for example. Ursula Brangwen in the Rainbow is an example of a character which is in eternal quest, desiring a deeper more elevated essence from Nature than ordinary people are capable of.
Hardy is also a Naturalist in the mould of Lawrence but his philosophy is deterministic. His natural surroundings are very colorful but seem to present fatal and ill-comprehended laws which randomly make the characters victims of unforeseeable chance. His celebrated novels, ‘Jude the Obscure, Return of the Native, Mayor of Casterbridge and Tess of the D’Urbervilles ‘ make Nature a part of their narrative and endow it with the power and strength to shape the discourse as well as the destiny of the novel.
In the novel Sons and Lovers, D.H. Lawrence, describes the cold animosity that exists between Mr and Ms Morel; “She was like a tide that scarcely rose, standing off from him” The novel’s subject, the unacknowledged love that exists between the mother and Paul which is more like a life force, comes out in the conversations between them. She questions Paul as to why he has to fly to Miriam so often, he says that they talk about things she is not interested in, for eample books. Ms. Morel says “How do you know? Do you ever try me?” Paul blurts out that Mother is old and they were young. She is hurt and says,”You only want me to wait on you. The rest is for Miriam” When Ms.Morel passes away,Paul feels crumpled up and lonely. He had loved her; they two had in fact faced the world together. Lawrence’s fiction is clear and honest and he does not couch the theme in abstractions or generalisations. The complex theme of the novel, the undermining of traditional roles and identities and the fierce possessiveness between the mother and her son is brought out subtly in the novel.
True to his predisposition towards the rural and the pastoral, Hardy in the novel “Tess of the D’Urbervilles” makes Tess a daughter of Nature. He says, “ Her poignancy and quivering sensibility, had the effect of deepening her beauty which shone like a flower, although despoiled by one intruding bee. Again he says, In the diary, the butter turned sour and it was an indication of love between two of the inmates. He hints at the love between Tess and Angel in such idyllic terms. When Angel deserts her and leaves for Brazil, Hardy describes how Alec, who is now a fiery Christian preacher spots Tess again. He gives up his new role accusing Tess of bewitching him again. Thus Tess is Nature’s flower child despoiled twice. The novel crowns the heroine with lyrical poignancy, shadowed by the truculence of others and her own natural fallacy. ( To be continued)