'The Well -Beloved : A Sketch of Temperament ' By Thomas Hardy
A lesser known Hardy novel : No classic but interesting.
It is hard to call The Well -Beloved a 'lost classic' : Usually depicted as a novel for Hardy diehards only. In fact D.H.Lawrence described it as 'sheer rubbish' VICTORIAN WEB . F.B.Pinion in his extensive survey of Hardy writings thought that the novel was 'light' and 'tragic-comic'. F.B.PINION Hardy's recent biographer Claire Tomalin advises that the novel began as a lighthearted story The Pursuit of the Well-Beloved TOMALIN The first version was published in weekly instalment form in The Illustrated News from October-December 1892, this work was not published as a novel until 1897 with an extra portion, making it technically Hardy's last published novel. THOMAS HARDY SOCIETY.A new edition emerged in 1912 with some more pages added.
The lead character is a young successful sculptor Jocelyn Pierston, He remains wealthy, there is no J'ude the Obscure' type tumbling into catastrophe. But Jocelyn is condemned to an inner restlessness. The more he pursues his need for fulfilment, the more elusive his life goal becomes.
Jocelyn is based in London, and revisiting his native Isle of Portland, Dorset, named as 'The Isle of Slingers' in Hardy's Wessex terms. Portland is part of Dorset's Jurasic coast, and the town is connected to the rest of the county by a very narrow road. Hardy even compares it to Gibraltar .To the west side lies Chesil Beach, a long shingle bank, and the sea's clash with the shoreline is epic. Portland was already well known for its stone quarries,fort and prison. ( The famous Portland Bill Lighthouse was only built in 1906) There is also the ruins of a castle said to date back from William Rufus' reign, a landmark cited in the novel as 'The Red King's Castle'.
The Isle of Slingers /Portland is portrayed as having its own customs. Most notably the 'Portland wedding ' where a man and woman live together before marriage. The main wedding then takes place once the woman is pregnant, though this practise appears to be dying out as the decades move on. Outsiders to the Isle are referred to as 'kimberlins'. Hardy, as the narrator makes an noble effort to portray this community quite sympathetically, but one feels that by the end of the novel his patience is running thin.
The essence of the novel concerns Jocelyn (whilst aged 20, then 40, then 60) experiencing defining encounters with three young women from successive generations, so covers a forty year period. The novel is not surprisingly divided into three separate parts. Jocelyn is struck by the trio; they appears to share a likeness beyond family genetic traits, almost a mythical muse with three aspects.
To confuse matters Jocelyn appears to have begun with his quest for the Well Beloved before this tale begins until he becomes infatuated with said trio. Early on in the novel there is an indication that he is being consumed by fantasy.
To his Well-Beloved he had always been faithful; but she had many embodiments. Each individuality known as Lucy, Jane, Flora, Evangeline, or whatnot, had been merely a transient condition of it. He did not recognise this as an excuse or as a defence,but as a fact simply. Essentially she was a perhaps of not tangible substance, a spirit, a dream, a frenzy, a conception.........(Part one, Chapter two).
The first 'Well-Beloved' is Avice Caro in the novel , who belongs to a family living on the Isle who knew his parents. Jocelyn accompanies her on local wanderings, praises her piano playing and walks with her to and from a poetry reading session Avice is taking part in. Yet Jocelyn surrenders to the lure of the London art world where he has wealth and status , and leaves the Isle. Avis can not bring herself to say farewell, and gets a touching and quite sweet letter delivered to him. It is assumed that Jocelyn will return to marry her.
In London Jocelyn attempts to sculpture a classical goddess figure, and fails. But it takes him years to return to the Isle. By then Avice is dead but her daughter is living there who is about 20 years old. Jocelyn becomes obsessed with her, to the point of stalking, even refers to her by her mother's name. But the new Avice is unable to marry Jocelyn.
Finally a pattern is repeated. The second Avice gives birth to a daughter who is formally christened Avis. Jocelyn tries to obtain her hand in marriage when the third Avice is 20, and he is still wealthy, aged 60. Jocelyn is thwarted again. It is worth stating that each of the Avice women are quite dynamic in their own right, they are not helpless prey.
The Goddess, an abstraction to the general, was a fairly real personage to Pierston. He had watched the marble images of her which stood in his working-room, under all changes of light and shade- in the brightening of morning, in the blackening of eve, in moonlight, in lamplight. Every line and curve of her body none, naturally, knew better than her;and, though not a belief, it was, as has been stated, a formula, a superstition, that the three Avices were interpenetrated with her essence. (Part Three: Chapter 2)
Whilst some sixty years later, Robert Graves, via his inspiration drawn from 'The 'White Goddess' could acknowledge a triad of 'Virgin,Maid, Mother,' RiCHARD GRAVES Jocelyn simply transfers his allegiance to his 'Well-Beloved' 's daughters when they come of age.There is quite an amusing scene in the third part of the novel when Jocelyn's gaze is captured by a mirror and he has to focus on his face, now that he is a sixty year old.
It is only in the final pages Jocelyn finds a constant companion of his own age whom he first met at the start of the novel. By now some forty years have passed. Jocelyn can finally grasp the fact that they have both aged. In the 1912 version Jocelyn appears to have finally been released from his obsession.
Though the plot is awkward and clumsy at times, and there are some plainly ridiculous coincidences, the novel is worth reading. Ageing, sickness, decay of the body , death are just part of human existence. Perhaps art is an attempt at defiance, the idea of creating something that is more permanent that survives the physical death and decay of its creator.. Keats famous line ' A thing of Beauty is a Joy forever ' comes to mind . Jocelyn can not create a statue of classical goddess- his own 'thing of beauty'. His solution is to somehow chase the beauty of a woman as it is somehow passed to the next generation , and the next. But Jocelyn is left behind.
Overall an interesting novel, but more of a curiosity. Not Hardy's greatest work by any means, but worth a read.
Picture Credit
Michael Bully,
Worthing
West Sussex
England
26th February 2026
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