What do we Learn From Society and Life in Hardys England from his Short Stories

Hardy was born in 1840 in the southwest of Britain, Dorset. It is isolated and cut off from the rest of the more urban areas of England and it is very rural and agricultural. It is this isolated rural Britain where most of his stories are set. The Rural Society in Hardy’s time was split into two clear divisions, the higher class and the poor class. The high classes were rich landowners that never did …

…know this because Hardy tells us that, although Farmer Lodge doesn’t admit it, in the back of his mind he wants to believe in a cure. “…these smouldering village beliefs made him furious if mentioned, partly because he half entertained them himself.” Hardy’s short stories tell us a lot about the rural West Country of England, about how people lived and what they thought and believed as I have shown in my essay.