Heredity

Question 1

Determinism - Hardy’s philosophy

Answer 1

Literary critics often group Hardy with the Naturalist movement (Zola, Dreiser), which emphasized deterministic views of human existence.

His novels (Tess of the d’Urbervilles, 1891; Jude the Obscure, 1895) are filled with characters crushed by inherited social positions, genetic traits, or inescapable moral flaws.

Question 2

Darwinism

Answer 2

Hardy, deeply influenced by scientific thought, integrated these ideas into his work: his speaker in “Heredity” reflects on being “merely as the seed” that carries forward ancestral traits beyond his control.

By 1910, genetic science was advancing rapidly: William Bateson coined the term “genetics” in 1905, and early 20th-century biology emphasised heredity as a biological determinism shaping human fate.

Question 3

Hardy’s personal ancestry

Answer 3

He trained as an architect before coming a writer, due to his family’s focus on masonry, woodwork etc.

His notes often reference his family lineage with a mixture of pride and resignation