'The Return of the 'Native' is a special book for me as it was the first Hardy novel that I read back in about 1983 at the age of seventeen. It's also one of only a handful of novels that I've read more than once, the others being 'The Rainbow' by DH Lawrence and Orwell's '1984' (prophetic vision of the Western totalitarian ideology of political-'correctness').
The last time I read 'The Return of the Native' was in the mid-1990s while living in an attic flat on Walmersley Road in Bury, Lancashire. Thus, when I saw that the 1994 film version existed, I viewed this as a great opportunity to quickly refamiliarise myself with the plot and central themes of the novel.
EUSTACIA VYE
Must say that Catherine Zeta Jones plays a great part as Eustacia Vye in the 1994 version of the novel. Being Captain Vye's grandaughter and a colourful outsider to Egdon Heath, Eustacia Vye is commonly viewed as a pagan priestess or some kind of witch by the local superstitious rustics/furze-cutting community who live in some kind of pre-Christian harmony with their rugged heathland. Throughout the novel, Eustacia can be seen in the darkness next to campfires/bonfires and at the top of ancient burial mounds which kind of ignites the local rustics' imagination. Correspondingly, the tragedy of the novel lies in Eustacia being no more than a lively and beautiful, young woman who wants to escape the rustic limitations of Egdon Heath for the bright lights of the city.
EUSTACIA AND CLYM YEOBRIGHT
And Eustacia sees her potential escape route when Clym Yeobright returns to Egdon Heath after a few years working away in the bright lights of Paris. Eustacia goes after Clym and they get married, but their marriage turns into a further imprisonment for her as Clym doesn't retract on his obsessive desire to educate the local rustics and starts losing his sight due to this.
Moreover, the couple separate through the local rustics commonly holding Eustacia responsible for Mrs Yeobright's death on Egdon Heath.
EUSTACIA AND DAMON WILDEVE
And then the 'moth to the flame' motif, the local pub landlord, Damon Wildeve's fatal attraction to Eustacia:
Another strand of tragedy here as Wildeve and Eustacia would've probably been compatible as a couple had not Wildeve been engaged and then married to the pleasant but somewhat nondescript Thomasin Yeobright:
Thus, eventually, Eustacia and Wildeve plan to elope together to escape their own unsuccessful marriages and the bleakness of Egdon Heath.
DIGGORY VENN (THE REDDLEMAN)
And here enters the understated/unusual hero of the novel, Diggory Venn, the reddleman:
Resigned to his fate as a reddleman (putting the red 'paint' on sheep) due to Mrs Yeobright not having viewed him as good enough to marry Thomasin, Diggory Venn pops up all over the place selflessly trying to correct the errors of Eustacia and Wildeve to make Clym and Thomasin happy.
Thus, it's no surprise that near the end of the novel, Diggory Venn jumps in the river to try to save Eustacia; Wildeve; and Clym from drowning, but is only successful in saving Clym despite pulling all three bodies out.
DIGGORY VENN AND THOMASIN YEOBRIGHT
And after this, the novel ends with Clym Yeobright preaching a humanist version of the 'Sermon on the Mount' to a few (neo-) pagan local rustics, and Diggory Venn (now cleansed from his red-coloured imprisonment through his heroics in the river) and Thomasin happily marrying. Both Diggory and Thomasin are satisfied by the 'smaller' (attainable) things in life, thus, they are compatiple for marriage and life together on Egdon Heath. In other words, they are two of Hardy's 'lesser' heroes whose stoic virtues will allow them to gently prosper in the rustic confines of Egdon Heath, something that the much larger heroic figure of Eustacia Vye could sadly have never done.
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