Hardly Hardy Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Return of the Native

Thomas Hardy's 'The Return of the Native' was first published in serial format in 1878. The "native" in question was Clym Yeobright, who returned to his native Egdon Heath after becoming disillusioned with his wealthy lifestyle as a diamond merchant in Paris.

He instantly attracted the attention of Eustacia Vye, a half-Italian young woman who hated living with her grandfather in an isolated house on the heath and saw marriage to Clym as an opportunity to lead a more glamorous life. She also thought he was a better option than running away to America with her former lover, Damon Wildeve - who was also the love interest of Clym's cousin Thomasin.

Answer: Tess of the D'Urbervilles

The full title of what is probably Thomas Hardy's most famous novel is 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented'. It was first published in book format in 1892, having appeared in serial form in a weekly illustrated newspaper called 'The Graphic' the previous year.

The title of the newspaper was somewhat apt as many of its Victorian readers were outraged by the inclusion of themes such as sex before marriage and adultery - although this criticism apparently didn't stop people from buying it! As the novel's subtitle suggests, Hardy leads his readers towards sympathy for the main character, Tess Durbeyfield, who suffers a catalogue of disasters and painful situations, most of which are inflicted as a result of her relationships with the two main male protagonists, Alec D'Urberville and Angel Clare.

Answer: Far from the Madding Crowd

'Far from the Madding Crowd' was Thomas Hardy's first novel to be explicitly set in a part of rural England called "Wessex". It was also his first novel to achieve significant literary success when it was published in serial form in 1874.

The heiress in question was Bathsheba Everdene who inherited a large farm and proceeded to attract the attentions of three very different men - a local farmer named William Boldwood; a dashing soldier, Sergeant Francis "Frank" Troy; and a loyal shepherd, Gabriel Oak. The title of the novel came from the 1751 poem 'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard' by Thomas Gray.

Answer: The Trumpet-Major

Unusually for a Hardy novel, 'The Trumpet Major' is set before the author's lifetime, in the era of the Napoleonic Wars. The title character, John Loveday, was a soldier who eventually fought in the forces led by the Duke of Wellington, while his brother was a naval lieutenant who served on HMS 'Victory' - the famous flagship of Admiral Lord Nelson - during the Battle of Trafalgar. The brothers were the sons of a miller who later married the mother of the main female protagonist, Anne Garland.

A 'trumpet major' was a rank in the British army, but it wasn't equivalent to the rank of major, which, at the time, was usually held by an officer who was second-in-command of a regiment or a battalion. In fact the 'trumpet major' was usually a corporal, sergeant or warrant officer in command of a regiment's trumpeters.

Answer: Under the Greenwood Tree

'Under the Greenwood Tree' was the second of Thomas Hardy's novels to be published and first appeared on bookshelves in 1872. However, anyone in ownership of a first edition copy of this work won't be able to find the name "Thomas Hardy" anywhere on the cover because he published it anonymously. It is also one of the few Hardy novels to have a largely happy ending, despite the fact that Fancy Day, the local schoolmistress and main female character, had a rather complicated love life before she eventually accepted the proposal of choir member Dick Dewy.

The novel's title comes from the William Shakespeare play 'As You Like It'. It is the first line of a song sung by a lord called Amiens in Act II Scene V.

Answer: The Woodlanders

"The Woodlanders" were the residents of a village called Little Hintock. They included Dr Edred Fitzpiers and his various love interests: a well-educated timber merchant's daughter named Grace Melbury; Mrs Charmond, a rich widow; and Suke Damson, a naïve young villager. Fitzpiers married Grace after her father encouraged the match, believing that a doctor was a more deserving match for his beloved daughter than the faithful woodsman, Giles Winterborne, who had been her childhood sweetheart. Sadly, her father turned out to be wrong...

Little Hintock is one of the few places in Thomas Hardy's Wessex that he did not base on a particular real-life location.

Answer: A Pair of Blue Eyes

'A Pair of Blue Eyes' was the first novel published by Thomas Hardy under his own name. The titular blue eyes belong to a young woman named Elfride Swancourt and her potential suitors included an architect's assistant called Stephen Smith, a gentleman named Henry Knight and Lord Luxellian. All three represented a different level in British society. 'A Pair of Blue Eyes' is also partly based on the author's own life, as he met his first wife, Emma Gifford, when he visited her brother-in-law's parish church in Cornwall while working as an architect.

While not the most well-known of Hardy's novels, 'A Pair of Blue Eyes' does have one potential claim to fame. A scene in which Henry Knight was literally left hanging off a cliff is often cited as the source of the name of the literary device now known as a 'cliffhanger'.

Answer: The Hand of Ethelberta

While most of Thomas Hardy's novels take place in the semi-fictional English region of Wessex, 'The Hand of Ethelberta' is largely set in London. The main character, Ethelberta Petherwin, was the daughter-in-law of a rich lady, but had met her husband while working as a governess and her family were poor. The death of her mother-in-law, Lady Petherwin, left Ethelberta's position in society somewhat precarious. While marriage would have secured her future, she had to balance the attentions of four potential husbands with disguising the fact that the servants in her household were actually her family members, not just employees.

First published in serial form in 1876, the novel has the subtitle 'A Comedy in Chapters' and it is certainly more light-hearted than some of Hardy's later works.

Answer: The Mayor of Casterbridge

Thomas Hardy's 1886 work, 'The Mayor of Casterbridge', had the subtitle 'The Life and Death of a Man of Character'. Therefore, it can't really be considered a spoiler for the plot to note that Michael Henchard - the title character - doesn't retain his respected position as the town mayor right through to the end of novel. At the beginning of the story he is introduced to the reader as a drunkard who acts unpleasantly towards his wife and ends up selling her and their baby daughter, Elizabeth-Jane, to a sailor named Mr Newson. The shock when he later realised what he had done led him to take a vow of sobriety, which eventually allowed him to become the town's most important resident.

Hardy based Casterbridge on the town of Dorchester, the county town of Dorset, where he had lived for many years.

Answer: Jude the Obscure

Jude Fawley - the title character of 'Jude the Obscure' - grew up in a working class family in a small English village, at a time when access to higher education was most definitely something reserved for the wealthy and well-connected. So, despite teaching himself Latin and Greek, Jude was only able to move to the university city of Christminster as a stone mason, rather than as a student. Most of the places named in Thomas Hardy's various works are based on real places in the south of England and Christminster was Hardy's name for the famous university city of Oxford.

'Jude the Obscure' was published in book form in 1895 and, like Hardy's previous work 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles', sparked a great deal of criticism. The love affair between Jude and his cousin Sue Bridehead was not frowned upon because of their close family relationship, but because they lived together (and had children together) when they were not married to each other. As a result, the novel was labelled "Jude the Obscene" by a number of critics. It proved to be Hardy's last published novel; he spent the final part of his career focused on writing short stories and poetry.