I wish all good women were as good as I!-- Arthur Hopkins's of Hardy's The Return of the Native

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I wish all good women were as good as I!

Arthur Hopkins

6.4 by 4.3 inches

Hardy's The Return of the Native

Belgravia 35 (April), 235

Text illustrated: "Yet why, aunt, does everybody keep on making me think that I do, by the way they behave towards me? Why don't people judge me by my acts? Now look at me as I kneel here, picking up these apples-- do I look like a lost woman? . . . I wish all good women were as good as I!' she added vehemently."

Image scan, caption, and commentary by Philip V. Allingham

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The March plate’s quality of interior action and inner vision appears again in April's illustration. This picture helps the reader nderstand the narrative because it highlights Thomasin as a major, rather than a secondary, character, making her retain a prominent position in the reader's mind after the introduction of Hardy's 'dark' heroine, the more fascinating and passionate Eustacia. This interpretation of Hopkins’s intentions reflects Hardy's, which the novelist communicated to the artist in the February 8th letter: "Thomasin, as you have divined, is the good heroine, & she ultimately marries the reddleman, & lives happily. Eustacia is the wayward & erring heroine" (Letters, I, 53). Hardy had seen the April illustration already: "Strangely enough I myself thought that Thomasin in the apple-loft would be the best illustration for the fourth number" (I, 52), suggesting that he had seen several proposed illustrations, and that the appleloft had been Hopkins' favourite as well.

Created 5 December 2000

Last modified 30 December 2019