Sense Of Existential Estrangement And Loneliness In Thomas Hardy’s ‘Novels Of Character And The Environment’

Abstract

   In Hardy’s novels human helplessness in face of the conditioning forces of existence has been portrayed vividly. Hardy, in almost all of his novels, seems to convey that pain and disappointment constitute an integral part of human existence in the world. Estrangement or alienation is a multidimensional term used in many disciplines such as Sociology, Economics, Psychology, Law, Political Science and Medicine etc. however, the term has been used here in a limited sense which simply implies an individual’s sense of non-belongingness and exclusion in social relations, and his estrangement from society and its culture.

Keywords:- Existential, Estrangement, Loneliness, Alienation, Social Injustice, Discrimination,  Isolation, Frustration.