Compare and contrast the openings of Tess of the D’Urbervilles and
Mrs Dalloway
Hardy and Woolf have very different novels and go about their storytelling in very different ways.
With some overlay, the authors have created two alternative novels that are good in their own ways.
The narrative technique, character exposition, scene setting methods and chronology set these texts
apart.
Both texts have a third person narrative however, the authors approach this narrative technique
differently. Hardy writes his novel from an external perspective in which the narrator is an onlooker.
This allows the narrator to be omniscient and to give an objective view as they are in possession of
all the knowledge associated with the story, despite this power of omniscience, it gives the story a
detached feel. This is where Woolf’s narrative technique contrasts, as Mrs Dalloway is written in free
indirect discourse. In this writing style, Woolf uses the third person but gives the reader the illusion
of going into the characters thoughts as they occur to that character, through this the narrator dips
in and out of multiple characters ideas and feelings. This gives the narrative a stream of
consciousness that allows the reader to possess their own point of view from these multiple
perspectives, making the novel as a whole more personal and involving. Through this style of writing,
Woolf attempts to relay how our thoughts are not linear or complete however, the changing of
perspective can be random and disorientating for the reader. In this sense, Hardy’s writing has more
clarity making it easier to understand but Woolf gives an internal perspective that can be more
intriguing.
In Tess of the D’Urbervilles, place and character descriptions are clearly stated to give the reader
optimal opportunity to see the imagery painted by the author and to firmly grasp the story. For
instance, Hardy writes that John is a “middle aged man” “walking homeward from Shaston”. This
clear description orientates the reader and guides the reader as Hardy intended. Woolf’s exposition
of place and character, however, is more erratic and untraditional. Unlike Hardy, Woolf uses little
explicit description of the setting other than the view from Bourton in Clarissa’s memory. This
challenges the reader’s understanding of the text as we have to piece together our own impression
of the characters. The reader, hereby, has more control of the setting and allows them to develop
their own perception of the narrative. In this way, Woolf gives the reader more freedom whilst
Hardy confines the reader’s imagination as he has a clear intent on how he sees the narrative
developing and the setting portrayed.
Because Woolf writes in free indirect discourse, time, place and character perspective jumps often.
This style of writing mixes the objective and subjective telling’s of the story. This contrasts Hardy as
he remains with the two-character’s dialogue. His narrative is told in chronological order in which
the narrator remains in an external perspective that primarily is objective. Woolf needs to create a
distinctive voice for each character but even so, sometimes the narrator is ambiguous. For example,
“which she could hear now” could be a thought by Clarissa as she registers the sound of squeaking
hinges or it could be the objective narrator informing the reader that Clarissa is able to hear the
sound still. This uncertainty is avoided by Hardy’s single objective narrator writing style, which avoids
confusion by relaying a linear narrative. In some way, Woolf’s unclear chronology reinforces her
attempt to highlight how our thoughts are not linear or chronological, an idea that Hardy would lack
but on the other hand, the reader has less chance to fully grasp the narrative because of the jumps
in time and space. Even the multitude of characters’ points of view could be confusing to a reader.
Hardy, thereby, guides the reader more smoothly through the opening than Woolf.
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