Based on your reading so far, expecially of chapters 6 and 7 of book 1, explore how Hardy establishes Eustacia as an intriguing and mysterious character.
...d curious character, who Hardy is taking so much care to build up. The character of Eustacia is often associated with fire, leaving thrills and excitement closely connected with her in our minds. Hardy suggests “you could fancy the colour of Eustacia’s soul to be flame-like” and he describes her indignation when conversing with Wildeve to “spread through her like subterranean heat.” These references add a certain volatility to her that works to intrigue the reader. Eustacia is also associated with two “instruments of darkness” - a telescope and an hourglass, which Hardy deftly uses to add mystery and depth to her character. The telescope accentuates her distance from the community as well as her desire to be in control - she likes to be able to see what cannot see her. In the hourglass she finds relief by seeing time physically passing away and also by defying the timescale of “the great inviolate Heath.” Such unusual pastimes and habits for a young maid such as Eustacia add great mystery to her character and intrigues the reader to find out why she feels like this. Through Eustacia’s conflict with the Heath, Hardly reflects her internal conflict. Eustacia belongs to the Heath, as the Reddleman saw in chapter one - she is an organic part of it, she is even musically unified with it when she sighs: “her articulation was but as another phrase of the same discourse as there’s.” However, despite her bond with it she hates it - “Egdon was her Hades.” She feels she has been exiled from Budmouth, where she thinks she belongs: “she hated the change; she felt like one banished; and here she was forced to abide.” The ambiguity in her relationship with the Heath and how it reflects on her inner conflict of feeling makes Eustacia all the more remarkable and mystifying. Her union with the Heath emphasises her association with darkness. She has “wild dark” eyes and “shady” hair and Hardy aligns her with the dark creatures of the heath - the heath ponies, bats and snakes. We also associate her with night. Hardy is careful that we only hear about and see Eustacia at night time, and so building a correlation in our minds. She is completely unafraid, almost at one with it: “her heedlessness of night, betokened among other things an utter absence of fear.” Even her nature is all too familiar with the “night-side of sentiment.” Probably the most powerful association Hardy builds up is her’s with paganism. Timothy informs us “some say she is a witch” because she is always up to some kind of odd conceit and Hardy himself says she has “Pagan eyes, full of nocturnal mysteries.” Her association with these three powers adds true depth to Eustacia’s character and establishes her as even more intriguing and mysterious. Hardy also uses a number of important techniques in his descriptions of Eustacia to make her as interesting and mysterious as possible. He describes her features is incredibly intricate and intimate detail e.g. he devotes a long paragraph solely to an almost architectural description of her “lip-curves.” Such obsessive attention to the detail of particular features paints a vivid and intriguing picture of Eustacia in our minds. Hardy also uses classical allusion and historical references to add depth to her character and detail to her appearance. He uses Marie Antoinette to suggest the arrogance of her profile and the Victorian actress Mrs. Siddons to suggest its tragedy. He says “her moods recalled lotus-eaters, the march of Athalie” to suggest her passion, while she admires the barbaric rebels of William the Conqueror, Strafford and Napoleon Bonaparte, suggesting her own “smouldering rebelliousness.” However, in contrast he also uses the technique of understatement to maintain the mystery that surrounds her character, e.g. he simply says “she was not altogether unlovable” yet does not expand or explain the idea. All these techniques embellish the descriptions of Eustacia in such a way that she becomes clear as a character in our minds, yet still retains the mystery that continues to intrigue us. Eustacia is fond of “filling up the spare hours of her existence by idealising Wildeve for want of a better object.” Her relationship with him tells us a great deal about her character. Their rendezvous on bonfire night shows her struggle to be in control and hold power - Hardy compares her signal to him with the Witch of Endon calling up Samuel. She seeks passion from the relationship: “To be loved to madness - such was her great desire.” This assertive side to Eustacia’s character is unusual in the context of the Victorian novel and leaves us intrigued in both her past love life and her future loves. Hardy carefully and effectively places the character of Eustacia in complete contrast against the already sketched Thomasin. Thomasin is the fair Victorian heroine of the novel, as Wildeve says, “she is a pleasing and innocent woman.” Hardy describes her as having “a fair, sweet and honest country face, reposing in a nest of wavy chestnut hair.” She is at her ease in the community and is subdued to the normalcy of society. In direct contrast Eustacia is set against her as the dark Victorian heroine. Unlike Thomasin, she is passionate, wild and full of “non-conformity” and “smouldering rebelliousness.” She has “pagan eyes, full of nocturnal mysteries” and her hair is so dark it “closed over her forehead like nightfall extinguishing the western glow.” She is also manipulative and controlling, as we can see from her tête-à-tête with Wildeve and her repression of poor Johnny Nunsuch - her “little slave.” The juxtaposition of these two extremes of characters effectively puts Eustacia’s persona and behaviour in the context of the Victorian era, and thus makes her al...