Class Consciousness And Social Discrimination In Thomas Hardy’s A Pair Of Blue Eyes

Abstract

The issue of class consciousness and social discrimination has always been one of the major themes in the works of literature and other arts in almost all the literary ages and languages. In A Pair of Blue Eyes, Thomas Hardy represents the contemporary Victorian era social conflicts and the status consciousness of the people of that time. Stephen Smith, the protagonist of the novel, is denied to marry, Elfride, the daughter of a Reverend Parson belonging to the superior and elevated strata of social structure. Knight, another character, has been presented as a highly educated and intellectually superior fellow. He is too fastidious and idealist to fit the practical social atmosphere of society; and seems not to be ready to compromise his whims and cynical ideals for the so called inferior worldly activities. In A Pair of Blue Eyes the theme of class consciousness and social discrimination has been depicted vividly.

Keywords:- Class Consciousness, Social Discrimination, Dejection, Status, Idealist, Vacillation Human Psyche.