Abstract

The Son’ s Veto is regard as the greatest novel of Hardy. It reflects the Victorian social reality and the cruel hierarchy through the tragedy of the main character named Sophy. And as a writer of the late 19th century, Hardy’ s works are influenced a lot by the development of the painting at that time. In this short novel, Hardy manages to connect his story with the painting techniques perfectly. This thesis analyzes the pictorial art used in the main character Sophy and the development of the tragedy. There will be two parts, one is about the description of nature and scene description, the other about characters. During the Victorian era, painters started to focus on the use of colors, ray and light as well as the different perspectives to show a unique picture. These are what Hardy used in this novel. All of the nature or characters description is combined with these four aspects. In conclusion, his pictorial art plays an important role in depicting the scenes, portraying the characters, setting off the atmosphere , reveling the theme and proving us the tragedy about a women in Victorian era.

Keyword: pictorial art; Sophy; tragedy; Victorian era; hierarchy

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

1. Introduction-1

1.1. Background and Significance-1

1.2. Reseaches Both at Home and Abroad-2

1.2.1. Researches Both at Home and Abroad about Hardy and The Son’ s Veto-2

1.2.2. Researches Both at Home and Abroad about the pictorial art of Hardy’ s works-4

1.3. Thesis statement and research questions-5

2. Pictorial Art-6

2.1. The Development of painting in 18th and 19th century-6

2.2. Hardy’ s Experience of Art-8

3. Pictorial Art in Nature and Scene Description-9

3.1. Pictorial Art in Natural Description-9

3.2. Pictorial Art in Scene Description-12

3.3. Pictorial Art in the Changes of Weather-14

4. Pictorial Art in Characters Description-15

4.1. Sophy-15

4.2. Randolph-17

5. Conclusion-19

5.1. A Summary of This Essay-19

Reference-...20