1. 1 119047216
Challenging Victorian Myths of the Urban and the Rural in the Novels of Dickens and Hardy
The presentationof the cityandthe countryas irreconcilableoppositesissomethingwhichis
prevalentthroughoutVictorianliterature. The processof urbanisation,people movingfromthe
countryto the city,wasa majorfacetof the Victorianera,the ratioof rural to urban population
changingfrom70%/30% in1801 to 49%/51% in1851.1
Sucha significantshiftinpopulation
demographicsinthe space of fiftyyears understandablycaused social andcultural upheaval,
particularlyforthe menand womenmovingfromthe countrytothe city, whose wayof life was
suddenlychanged;asF.S.Schwarzbachwritesinhisbook Dickensand the City,‘To come from the
countryto the citywas to move froma familiarandknownworldtoan unfamiliarandunknown
one’.2
Thiseffectof ‘dislocation’,Schwarzbachbelieves, gave rise whathe referstoasthe ‘myth’of
the urban and the rural,namelythatthe countryside issynonymouswithgoodwhilstthe cityis
representative of evil,castinganidealisingglossoverthe negative aspectsof the countrywhich
people movedtothe citytoescape. Throughan analysisof the novels OliverTwistand Great
ExpectationsbyCharlesDickensand Tessof the D’Urbervilles byThomas Hardy, thisessaywill
examine the presence of thismythinVictorianliterature andwhetherornotthese novelsmaybe
consideredaschallengingoradheringtoit.
Perhapsthe mostobviousareawithwhichtobeginthisanalysisislanguage. How Dickens
and Hardy describe andpresenttheirurbanandrural settingsincontrastto one anotherisvitally
importantinestablishing towhatextentthey maybe consideredascorroboratingorrefuting the
aforementionedVictorianstereotypes. InOliverTwist, for instance,the language usedtodescribe
the countryside environsof the Maylie cottage maybe comparedwith that usedforLondon. Both
settingsofferOliverwhathe mostdesires;anew beginning,awayto start hislife againafterhis
childhoodof workandhardship,andas such bothLondonand the country are givenequal statusat
the start of the novel,bothhavinganequal opportunityto provide Oliverwithanew life. London’s
1 F.S. Schwarzbach,Dickens and the City (London: The Athlone Press,1979) p. 7
2 Ibid.,p. 9

2. 2 119047216
reputationasa ‘promisedland’precedesit,the sightof amilestone reading‘London’earlyinthe
textevoking‘avisionof boundlessopportunity’ forOliver:3
‘He hadoftenheardthe oldman in the
workhouse…saythatnoladof spiritneedwantinLondon;…itisthe veryplace fora homelessboy’.4
The city, however,doesnotliveuptoitsreputation;thoughitoffersprogression,bothsociallyand
economically,whatitactuallydeliversisregression. Thisisparticularlyhighlightedbythe depiction
of Smithfieldmarket,wheremanandbeastseemtomerge togetherin‘filthandmire’.5
The listthat
Dickensusestodescribe the marketflitsbetweenanimal andmanwithsuchspeedthatit becomes
nearlyimpossible totell themapart. This,coupledwiththe imagesof the people of London
‘positivelywallowinginthe filth’, isevocative of adeteriorationof culture andsociety;inshort,the
opposite of whatLondonpromisedtosupply.6
The countryside of Oliver Twist,by contrast, provides exactlywhatLondonhasfailedto. The
time Oliverspendsatthe Maylie cottage ischaracterisedbythe themesof rebirthandrejuvenation;
the language Dickensusestodescribe hissojournthere beingfilledwithreferencestovivacityand
newbeginnings;‘Oliver…seemedtoenteruponanew existence there’,‘…seemedtopassat once
intoa newstate of being’. 7, 8
There isno doubtthat thisrural settingisfar more pleasantand
hospitable thanthe urban landscape of London,butthe differencesrundeeperthanthat. The
Maylie cottage and itsenvironsare oftendefinedbytheirrelationtoyouthand innocence,‘every
tree and flowerwasputtingforthitsyoungleavesandrichblossoms’,‘allthe pleasures andthe
beautiesof spring’ whereasthe citymaybe saidto relate to age and experience;itwas,afterall,an
‘oldman’whoreferredOlivertoLondoninthe firstplace.9, 10
Furtherevidence forthismaybe
foundinthe effectof the city of Londonuponits inhabitants. Althoughthe Artful Dodgeris‘about
3 Ibid.,p. 45
4 Charles Dickens,Oliver Twist (London: Penguin, 2002) p. 57
5 Ibid.,p. 171
6 Ibid.,p.63
7 Ibid.,p.262
8 Ibid.,p.261
9 Ibid.,p.261
10 Ibid.,p.256

3. 3 119047216
[Oliver’s] ownage’he ‘hadgotabout himall the airs and mannersof a man’.11
It is possible,
therefore,toclaimthatthe dichotomybetweenthe Rural andthe Urban, at leastin Oliver Twist, is
not a case of good versusevil,butratheracase of youthversusage. Thistheorycertainlyhassome
credence – itcorrespondsto Dickens’personal experience of the cityandthe country. Thisis
perhapsbestexplainedby Schwarzbach;
‘The mythic interpretation Dickens casts over them is really a very simple one. Basically it divides
the world and life in it into two parts. The first, set in the country, corresponds to the years of
earliestchildhood,andisseenasparadise;whilethe second,setinthe city,correspondstoadultlife
and work and its responsibilities, and is seen as a literal hell.’12
The problemin Oliver Twist liesinthe fact that Oliverisforcedtoexperience the ‘adultworld’of the
citywhilsthe isstill a child. He ismade to endure ‘workandits responsibilities’inthe workhouse
whenhe isyoungand, whenhe attemptstoescape to a landof hope andopportunity,he instead
findshimselfinthe ‘literalhell’ of London,havingexperiencedlife withoutchildhood. Thisiswhy
the country isso appealingtoOliver;itoffershimachildhoodwhere he hadnone. The urbanworld
isonlybearable once the rural one has beenexperienced,andthe progressionfromrural tourban is
as natural as the progressionfromchildtoadult,though hardlyasnecessary.
A similarsituationmaybe observedin GreatExpectations. Pipbeginshislife inthe country
and movestoLondonin orderto, ostensibly,improve himself. He finds,however,that the cityisa
corruptinginfluence ratherthan a beneficial one. Despite this,PipdoesnotfindLondonquite as
hellishoroverwhelmingasOliver. A perfectexample of thisisPip’sdescriptionof Smithfieldmarket
incomparisonto Oliver’s. While the marketforOliveris‘astunningandbewilderingscenewhich
quite confoundedthe senses’,forPipitissimplya‘shameful place,beingall asmearwithfilthand
fat and bloodandfoam’. 13, 14
Though bothcharacters findthe place disgusting,Pipdescribes
Smithfield‘more economically’than Oliver,with lessemotionandmore detachment.15
This
11 Ibid.,p.60
12 Schwarzbach, Dickens and the City, pp. 15-16
13 Ibid.,p. 171
14 Charles Dickens,Great Expectations (London: Penguin, 1981) p. 189
15 Alexander Welsh,The City of Dickens (Oxford: Clarendon Press,1971) p. 9

4. 4 119047216
detachmentarisesfromPip’sage incomparisontoOliver’s;whilebothare youngwhentheygoto
London,Piphas beenable toenjoyachildhood inthe country which,whilstnotwithoutits
hardshipsandtoils,wasfar superiortoOliver’searliestyears spentinthe Workhouse of the townof
Mudfog. Piphas experiencedthe rural ‘paradise’andthusisable to bearthe urban ‘hell’. Though
thisconclusion, clearly,doesnotchallengethe Victorianstereotypesof the rural as ‘good’andthe
urban as ‘evil’,itdoeschallengethe theory putforwardbySchwarzbachthatthe cityis inhospitable,
‘There isbut one mode of response tothisterrifyingurbanworld –escape. Noattemptcan be made
to reach an accommodationwithorwithinit. To putit simply,itcannotsustainlife’.16
Thistheoryof urbanuninhabitability,specificallythe postulation that‘noattemptcan be made
to reach an accommodationwithorwithinit’,isfurtherchallengedbythe existence of areasof rural
refuge,‘occasional havensof idyllicrepose’, withinthe urbanenvironmentof London.17
Suchareas
may be observedinbothOliver Twist andGreat Expectations and,thoughtheyare locatedinthe
city,the language usedtodescribe themhasfar more incommon withthe country. For example,
Mr Brownlow’shouse in OliverTwistis ‘clearlyina differentworld,notatall like the Londonwe
have beenseeing’.18
The ‘quiet,shadystreetinPentonville’,thoughlocatedwithinthe urban
confinesof London,is,in essence,arural location;the countryinthe city’sclothing,offeringall the
happinessandrecoveryassociatedwiththe more obviouslyrural environmentof the Maylie
cottage.19
However,the greatestexample of arural refuge inthese novelsisWemmick’shouse in
Great Expectations. Thoughthe Walworthhouse ismerely‘alittle woodencottage inthe midstof
plotsof garden’,itsphysical separationfromthe urbanworldsurroundingit,aswell as Wemmick’s
opinionregardingthe segregation of private andpubliclife, allow ittobecome adistinctlyrural
settingdetachedfromthe cityaroundit.20
Its positionasa rural paradise issecuredbyWemmick’s
16 Schwarzbach, Dickens and the City, p. 50
17 Bernard N. Schilling,TheRain of Years: Great Expectations and the World of Dickens (Rochester: University
of Rochester Press,2001),p. 27
18 Schwarzbach, Dickens and the City, p. 51
19 Dickens,Oliver Twist, p. 86
20 Dickens,Great Expectations, p. 229

5. 5 119047216
self-sufficiency,‘Atthe back,there’sapig,andthere are fowlsandrabbits;then,I knocktogethermy
ownlittle frame,yousee,andgrowcucumbers’,thisraisingof animalsandvegetablesalmostseems
like anact of defiance towardsanurbanenvironmentwhichissupposedly ‘unabletosustainlife’.21
However,the existenceof settingssuchasthe housesof WemmickandMr Brownlow domore than
simplydiscreditthe ideathatthe cityis ‘uninhabitable’, theyserve toblurthe linesbetweenthe
urban andthe rural,bringingintoquestionthe extenttowhichthese settingsare separate and,asa
result,the extenttowhichtheyrepresentthe separate qualitiesof goodandevil.
While the rural and the urban maycollide inthe formof these ‘rural havens’, afar more
commonchallenge tothe separationof cityandcountry arisesfromthe seepingof the urbaninto
the rural. This‘corruption’of the purityof the countryside isobservableinboth GreatExpectations
and Tess of the D’Urbervilles,beingamajor theme inthe latter. In Great Expectations,the Hulks
whichare to be found‘right‘crossth’ meshes’ are anunpleasantreminderof the insidious
pervasiveness of urbaninstitutionsof whichthe inhabitantsof Pip’srural communityare
uncomfortablyaware.22
Theirdisruptingeffectonthe surroundingcountryside isemphasisedbythe
soundof theirguns firing,whichdisturbsthe usual quietroutineof the Gargeryhousehold. The link
betweenthe HulksandLondonisapparentthroughtheireffectof reducinghumannature andhabits
to those of animals,aneffectsharedbythe prisonof Newgate andthe Smithfield marketof Oliver
Twist, ‘The dehumanisationenforcedbythe hulks…is nodifferentfromthatof Newgate in
London.’23
However,the corruptionof the rural in Great Expectations cannotsimplybe attributedto
‘urbanisation’,norcan Pip’svillagebe seenasapastoral utopia besetbyexternal,urban, woes;
corruptionisto be foundwithinthe internal institutionsof the rural setting,mostclearlyinthe form
of StatisHouse.
21 Ibid.,p. 229
22 Ibid.,p. 46
23 Schwarzbach, Dickens and the City, p. 189

6. 6 119047216
Thoughattemptshave evidentlybeenmade tocauterise the woundthatisStatisHouse by
barringit off fromthe surroundingcountryside with‘agreatmanyironbars’, 24
its verypresence isa
constantreminderthatthe rural ‘paradise’isnotinfallible –thatit can easilybe subjectto the
corruptionanddegradation associatedwiththe city. While itmaybe temptingtodraw comparisons
between StatisHouse andWemmick’s‘Castle’byclaimingthatthe isolationof bothsettingsfrom
theirsurroundingsmakesStatisHouse an‘urbansanctuary’inmuch the same waythat Wemmick’s
house isa ‘rural sanctuary’,the characteristicsof Statishouse are clearlyrural innature,butwarped
and distorted;itsruinedgardenforinstance is‘agrim, ironicparodyof the supposedpastoral
qualitiesof the village’.25
The effectof StatisHouse iscomparable tothatof the Hulksinthe
marshes,indeed,the language usedtodescribethe house isreminiscentof aprisonship, ‘ironbars’
and ‘chains’ adorningthe mansion,while the windthatblowsinthe courtyardbeingdescribedas
‘like the noise of windinthe riggingof ashipat sea.’26
What Dickensispresentingthe reader
throughPip’svillage isnotthe idealisedcountry‘paradise’of the Maylie cottage, nota setting
synonymouswithgood, butrathera rural settinggroundedinreality. Whilstthereare some
elementsof the village whichremainapart of the wholesome rural ideal,suchasBiddyandJoe in
theirinnocence, itisthe imperfectionswhichmake the setting‘arecognisablyreal place’.27
Accordingto Schwarzbach,‘Itisone of Dickens’mostsatisfyinglyaccurate renditionsof rural
life…Pip’schildhoodisnotspentinanidyllicfairyland,butinaplace where all of the unpleasantand
corruptinginstitutionsof societyare alreadypresent.’28
Conversely,the rural societypresentedin Tessof theD’Urbervilles leansfar more towardsthe
idyllicthanthe realistic. Despite Hardy’sreputationas arealist,the corruptionof the countryside in
the novel stemssolelyfromoutside urbaninfluencesratherthaninternal degradation,andthe novel
isclearlydividedinplacesintoastruggle betweenthe ‘good’countryside andthe ‘evil’moderncity.
24 Dickens,Great Expectations, p. 84
25 Schwarzbach, Dickens and the City, p. 188
26 Dickens,Great Expectations, pp. 85-86
27 Schwarzbach, Dickens and the City, p. 187
28 Ibid.,p. 187

7. 7 119047216
Chief amongstthese urbancorruptionsare the Stoke-d’Urbervilles, specificallyAlec. The
D’Urbervillesembodyboththe deceptionandallure of the urban,fulfillingmuchthe same role as
the oldman in Oliver Twist claiming‘noladof spiritneedwantinLondon’.29
Theirmansionis‘bright,
thriving,andwell kept’,instarkcontrastto the filthyurbaninfluencesof OliverTwist and Great
Expectations;indeeditappearsbetterthanrural landsurroundingit, rising‘likeageraniumbloom
againstthe subduedcoloursaround’.30, 31
However,despite the apparentpleasantnessof the
D’Urberville mansion,itisasettingwhichismostcertainlyassociatedwiththe urbanratherthanthe
rural. AswithWemmick’sHouse,the mansionisseparatedfromitssurroundings;the Chase,for
instance,‘atrulyvenerable tractof forestland’being‘outside the immediate boundaryof the
estate’ and,while Wemmick’shousemarksitself outasrural throughthe growingof cucumbers,so
the D’Urberville mansionmarksitselfasurbanby itslack of ‘fields,andpastures, andagrumbling
farmer’;nothingisbeinggrownonthe estate.32
The ‘same rich redcolour’whichallowsthe
mansiontorise above itssurroundingsalsodisassociatesitwiththem, markingthe estate outlikea
bleedingwoundonthe countryside.33
The redof the mansionisechoedbythe redhuesof the
‘reaping-machine’atthe endof the secondphase,where the conceptof the urban‘wounding’the
rural isfurtherexplored. The machine inmanywaysmirrorsthe D’Urberville house–itboth
associatesanddisassociatesitselffromthe rural worldaroundit;thoughthe noise itmakesmimics
the natural ‘like the love-makingof agrasshopper’,itsredpaintstandsout againstthe rustic‘yellow
cornfield’.34
The image of the reaping-machine bringingdeathtothe countryside isparticularly
graphic;
‘Rabbits, hares, snakes, rats, mice, retreated inwards as into a fastness, unaware of the
ephemeral nature of their refuge, and of the doom that awaited them later in the day when, their
covertshrinkingtoa more and more horrible narrowness,theywere huddled together, friends and
29 Dickens,Oliver Twist, p. 57
30 Thomas Hardy, Tess of the D’Urbervilles (London: Macmillan,1912),p.44
31 Ibid.,p. 43
32 Ibid.,pp. 43-44
33 Ibid.,p. 43
34 Ibid.,pp. 111-112

8. 8 119047216
foes,till the lastfewyardsof uprightwheatfell alsounderthe teethof the unerringreaper,andthey
were every one put to death by the sticks and stones of the harvesters.’35
The advance of the reaper,like the advance of urbanisation,isinescapable,bringingdeathand
destructiontothe rural landscape underthe guise of progress. Aswiththe D’Urberville mansion,
the reapingmachine appearsbetterthanitssurroundings;‘the glisteningbrassstarin the forehead
of the fore horse firstcatchingthe eye as itrose intoview overthe stubble,thenthe brightarms,
thenthe whole machine.’36
Thisimage of a‘glisteningstar’ supposedly bringingthe lightof
knowledge andwisdomtoa rural worldcloudedbydarknessandignorance isfurtherexplored inthe
fourthphase withthe descriptionof the train andthe railway. Althoughthe lightfromthe station
contrastsdirectlywiththe ‘expanse of shade’whichconstitutesthe rural landscape,itisa‘feeble
light’comparedtothat stars ‘towhichit stoodinsuch humiliatingcontrast.’37
While the station
light,the lightof progress,modernismandthe urban,is‘inone sense of more importance
to…mankind’,there issomethingaboutthe light of the starswhichissuggestive of a knowledge
which,thoughless tangible andof lesspractical value,isdeeperandmore importantthanthe
fleetinglightof the train station.38
Thisgulf inknowledge betweenthe urbanandthe rural isequallyasobservablein
characters as insettings. Tessandher mother Joanare productsof two differenttimes,Joanfrom
an era where the rural was untouchedbythe urbanand Tessfroma time whenthe presence of the
modernworldhadalreadybegun tobe feltinthe countryside; ‘Betweenthe mother,withherfast-
perishinglumberof superstitions,folk-lore,dialect,andorallytransmittedballads,andthe daughter,
withhertrainedNational teachingsandStandardknowledgeunderaninfinitelyRevisedCode,there
was a gap of two hundredyears’.39
Inthiscontext,itispossible toview Joanasa representationof
the perfectrural world, unblemishedanduncorruptedbyanyoutside influence, and,if usingthe
35 Ibid.,pp. 112-113
36 Ibid.,p. 112
37 Ibid.,p. 241
38 Ibid.,p. 241
39 Ibid.,pp. 24-25

9. 9 119047216
Victorianmythsof the urban andthe rural,a paragon of good. Certainly,the wayshe isdescribedin
the novel alignswithSchwarzbach’sconceptof the rural as a ‘childhoodparadise’ –herface still
showing‘somethingof the freshness,and eventhe prettiness,of heryouth’,despiteherage.40
Althoughshe spendsherday workinghardand caring for herchildren,she doesnotgive waytothe
‘carewornspirit’whichHardyassociateswith‘the modernspirit’,rathershe goesaboutherwork
with‘a dreaminess,apreoccupation,anexaltation’whichTess,touchedbythe ‘modernspirit’inthe
formof her‘National teachings’,‘couldnotunderstand’.41, 42
As JoanDurbeyfieldisamanifestationof the rural spirit,sois AlecD’Urbervilleasmucha
representationof the urbanworldandthe creepingprocessof industrialisationin Tessof the
D’Urbervilles as the railwayorthe reaping-machine. Indeed,he isdescribedusingsimilarlanguage
to the machine – hislips,like the D’Urbervillemansionandpaintof the machine,are ‘redand
smooth’,andthe ‘mechanical reaper’ispre-echoedbythe mechanical movementsof Alec;
‘D’Urbervillemechanicallylitacigar’.43, 44
Hiscorruptinginfluence onthe rural worldisequallyas
apparentas that of the machine;soonafterhismovementsare describedas‘mechanical’sotooare
Tess’,‘she mechanicallyresumedherwalkbeside him’.45
Itisthe interactionbetweenTessandAlec
whichformsthe crux of the argumentin Tess of the D’Urbervilles that the rural and the urban are
inherentlyincompatible. Followingherrape inthe firstphase,TessfeelssocorruptedbyAlecthat
‘she couldnotbear to lookforwardintothe Vale’,the separationshe experiencesfromherrural
home parallelingthe separationbetweenthe D’Urberville mansionandthe surrounding
countryside.46
Similarly,the fruitsof this forced unionbetween the urbanand the rural are rotten,
Tessand Alec’schild‘Sorrow’ livingonlyafew weeks. However,despite thisevidence of the
40 Ibid.,p. 21
41 Herbert B. Grimsditch,Character and Environment in the Novels of Thomas Hardy (London: H. F. & G.
Witherby, 1925) p. 77
42 Hardy, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, p. 22
43 Ibid.,p. 45
44 Ibid.,p. 99
45 Ibid.,p. 103
46 Ibid.,p. 98

10. 10 119047216
incompatibilityof urbanandrural, Tess,until she israpedbyAlec,isrepresentative of the perfect
balance betweenthe countryandthe city. Thoughshe doesnot share that ‘lumberof superstitions,
folk-lore,dialect,andorallytransmittedballads’of hermother,insteadadheringtoastandardised,
urban knowledge, hercharacterisdistinctlygroundedinthe rural.47
Tess,like hermother,is
characterisedbyher‘freshness’and,thoughshe isarguablywiserandmore mature thanJoan, she is
still linked tothe innocent‘childhoodparadise’of the rural;48
‘Phases of her childhood lurked in her aspect still. As she walked along to-day, for all her
handsome bouncingwomanliness, you could sometimes see her twelfth year in her cheeks, or her
ninth sparkling from her eyes; and even her fifth would flit over the curves of her mouth now and
then.’49
The existence of Tess,inasimilarmannertothe existence of Wemmick’shouse, suggeststhat,
rather thanbeing‘irreconcilableopposites’,the urbanandthe rural are able to coexistinharmony
providedthatthe perfectbalance isfound betweenthem.
Evidentially,however,this‘perfectbalance’whichexistswithinTessisfleeting. Notonlyis
Tess’corruptionat the handsof Alecand,by association,the urban, the endof anyhope of
coexistencebetween the urbanandthe rural in Tess of theD’Urbervilles,it isalso part of larger
tradition;accordingtoMerryn Williams,‘The seductionof village girlswasatheme deeplyrootedin
rural tradition,goingbackasfar as the earliestballads’.50
The lossof Tess’ rural innocence is,
therefore, aforegone conclusion –itexistssolelytobe corrupted,itsallure akintothatof Isabella’s
to Angeloin MeasureforMeasureandTessfalls‘aneasyvictimto Alec,asHardy continually
stresses,notbecause she isabandonedbutbecause she isinnocent.’51
Inthe same way,it may be
arguedthat the innocence of the rural countryside existsinasimilarstate,the image of a ‘rural
paradise’ anun-maintainable fallacytowhichVictoriansocietyclings,itscorruptioninevitable.
Thoughboth Hardy andDickensvenerate the rural ideal anditsmythicassociationswithgoodover
47 Ibid.,pp. 24-25
48 Ibid.,p. 15
49 Ibid.,p. 14
50 Merryn Williams,ThomasHardy and Rural England (London: Macmillan,1972),p.79
51 Ibid.,p. 92

11. 11 119047216
the urban ‘evil’,bothwritersrealise that,inthe face of urbanisation,the daysof the innocentrural
ideal are numbered. EvenWemmick’shouse, withitscucumberpatchandbrave attemptsto defend
itself againstitsurbansurroundings,isdoomedtofailure. Thatthe house isso surreal isparticularly
telling. Though itisdesignedtoappearas a castle,the emphasisof itsdescriptionisplacedonits
artifice;‘the topof it wascut out and paintedlike abatterymountedwithguns’,‘the queerest
gothicwindows(byfarthe greaterpart of themsham)’,‘the bridge wasaplank’.52
While Pip
commends‘the pride withwhich’Wemmicktendstohishouse,itismerelythat –a house,nota
castle.53
The rural image that WemmickispresentingwithhisWalworthabode ismerelyafaçade,
an illusion,anattemptto findthe ‘childhoodparadise’of whichSchwarzbachwritesand,ultimately,
an attemptto finda meaningful,wholesomeexistence inamorallybankrupturbansettingwhere
there isno real meaningtoanything.
Perhapsthe saddestcharacteristicof the rural whenlookedatfromboth thisperspective
and alsothe perspective of itbeingrepresentative of childhoodisthat,once itislost,it is
irrecoverable. The transitionfromchildtoadultcannotbe reversed,norcanthe lossof virginity,
and itis this ‘emphasisonpermanentloss’which makesthe conflictbetweenthe urbanandthe
rural sucha highlychargedone,especiallywhenthe rural,throughthe ‘mythicinterpretations’of
Victoriansociety,issynonymouswithall thatisgood.54
‘The railway…stretchingoutitstentaclesinto
the virgincountryside’isnotsimplyindicative of the ‘corrupting’advancementof the urbanintothe
rural,but alsothe endof the dreamthat the rural ‘paradise’couldexistoutside andapartfromthe
urban ‘hell’ –a dreamwhichwas central tothe mythosof the Victorian countryto citymigrants.55
It
was the desire tomaintainthisdreamwhichformedalarge part of the critical receptiontoHardy’s
more seriousandtragic works. AsWilliamswrites;
52 Dickens,Great Expectations, p. 229
53 Ibid.,p. 229
54 Schwarzbach, Dickens and the City, p. 16
55 Grimsditch,Character and Environment in the Novels of Thomas Hardy, p. 77

12. 12 119047216
‘The Victorianswantedhimtogoon writingnovelslike FarFromthe Madding Crowd, which
one critic called a ‘picturesque romance of rural life’…they continually abused his best and most
seriousworkbecause theywouldhave liked to reduce him to a mass entertainer, giving support to
their own conventional and misleading views of what the English countryside was like.’56
While the countryside itselfremainsapicture of paradise forTess,once she hasbeenraped,and
despite itsapparentperfection,the Vale isnolongerthe ‘earlychildhoodparadise’ that
Schwarzbachhighlightsasbeingthe ‘mythicinterpretation’of the countryside. Farfromdancingin
the May-Day dance,Tess’corruptionbythe urban throwsherinto‘adultlife anditsresponsibilities’
and seeshertoilinginthe dairy,workbeing asmucha necessityforthe ‘fallen’ Tessinthe
countryside asitis forOliverinthe Workhouse andLondon. It isthe city,in fact,whichoffersTessa
respite fromwork,AlecD’Urberville,asa representative of the city,claimingthathe is‘readyto pay
to the upmostfarthing. You knowyouneednotworkin the fieldsordairiesagain.’57
Thisis,of
course,exactlywhatLondonpromisedtoofferOliverin OliverTwist yetfailedtodeliver. While the
cityclaimsto offerrelief,the remainingvestigesof rural purity thatconstitute the Vale formastark
contrastingbackgroundtoher ‘corrupted’life,Tessbelievingherself ‘afigure of Guiltintrudinginto
the hauntsof innocence.’58
Itisthisimage of herno longerbelonging,of beingcastout,which
allowsthe lossof hervirginityandmaidenhoodtobe seenasechoingthe Fall of Man and the rural
paradise she isexpelledfrom asechoingEden.
Despite this, the rural countryside isnotinevitablysynonymouswithEden. WhenOliverfirst
leavesthe townof Mudfogand venturesintothe countrysidehe isgreeted notbya ‘paradise’,but
by a forebodingwastelandwhichoffershimno love orsuccour,the windmoaning‘dismallyoverthe
emptyfields’andOliversufferingin‘the bleakdampair’.59
Similarly,the marshsurroundingthe
village of Pip’sbirthis‘bleak’,a‘darkflatwilderness...thedistantsavage lairfromwhichthe wind
was rushing’.60
Equally,the cityandotherurbanenvironmentsare notnecessarilyconnotationsfor
56 Williams,Thomas Hardy and Rural England, p. xi
57 Hardy, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, p. 100
58 Ibid.,p. 110
59 Dickens,Oliver Twist, p. 58
60 Dickens,Great Expectations, pp. 35-36

13. 13 119047216
hell,asthe existence of the housesof WemmickandMr Brownlow servestoshow. Though the
connotationsof goodand evil thaturbanand rural settingshadfor the Victoriansare undeniable,it
isevidentthatthese mythswere farfromall encompassing. The reverence forthe ‘Eden’of the
countryside wasnotso highthatDickenswasunable tocast rural settingsina negative light;forhim
the city andthe country,though ladenwithmeaning,were stillmerely settings,the significance of
whichcouldbe changeddependingonthe differingrequirementsof the narrative.
That Dickenswasable to challenge the ‘myth’of the urbanandthe rural as representations
of goodand evil insucha mannerwas largelydue tothe age of the stereotype. Schwarzbach himself
admitsthat the mythwas ‘nothingnew’ forthe Victorians,writing that‘fromRomantimestothe
earlyeighteenthcentury,townlife andcountrylife have beenseenasan oppositionbetweengood
and evil’ andthat‘bythe latterhalf of the eighteenthcenturyithadbeenrelegatedtothe statusof a
cliché’.61
He goeson to write thathe believesthe mythgainedanew meaningfollowingthe mass
immigrationfromcountryto townof the nineteenthcenturyand,while thisargument certainly has
some validity,Dickens’abilitytodisregardthe stereotype andpresentrural lifeasbeingequallyas
degradedasurban life –for example withStatisHouse –showsthat,at leastto some extent,the
mythof the rural paradise andthe urban hell remainedacliché,albeitone withmore immediate
relevance,ratherthanbecomingauniversallyacceptedtruth.
Ultimately,thoughthe theme of strugglebetweenthe urbanandthe rural isone which
pervades OliverTwist, Great Expectations andTessof the D’Urbervilles,the presentationof these
settings inthe novelsisnot the ‘mythic’Victorianrepresentationof the rural andthe urban as the
‘irreconcilable opposites’of goodandevil,but ratherastwo distinctlyseparate,butequallyas
necessaryandvalidaspectsof life inthe nineteenthcentury,andwhatbothDickens andHardy seek
throughouttheirnovels,ratherthanconflict, issome formconciliationbetween these twofacetsof
humanlife. Itisevidentthatbothwritersregardthe steadyadvance of urbanisationasinevitable,
61 Schwarzbach, Dickens and the City, pp. 19-20

14. 14 119047216
and similarlythattheybothholdagreat deal of love andrespectforthe rural worldwhichis
potentially threatenedbythisadvancement,andthroughtheirtexts,bothwishtoensure thatthe
quintessential ‘spirit’of rural life whichtheydisplayisnotlostamidstthe increasingdominanceof
the urban.

15. 15 119047216
Bibliography
Primary Texts:
Dickens,Charles, GreatExpectations (London:Penguin,1981)
Dickens,Charles, OliverTwist(London:Penguin,2002)
Hardy, Thomas, Tess of the D’Urbervilles (London:Macmillan,1912)
Secondary Texts:
Grimsditch,HerbertB., Characterand Environmentin theNovelsof ThomasHardy (London:H.F. &
G. Witherby,1925)
Schilling,BernardN., TheRain of Years: Great Expectationsand theWorld of Dickens (Rochester:
Universityof RochesterPress,2001)
Schwarzbach,F.S. Dickens and the City (London:The Athlone Press,1979)
Welsh,Alexander, TheCityof Dickens (Oxford:ClarendonPress,1971)
Williams, Merryn, ThomasHardy and RuralEngland (London:Macmillan,1972)