Thomas Hardy

A Pair of Blue Eyes Illustrated Thomas Hardy

A Pair of Blue Eyes is a novel by Thomas Hardy, published in 1873, first serialised between September 1872 and July 1873. It was Hardy's third published novel, and the first not published anonymously upon its first publication. The book describes the love triangle of a girl, Elfride Swancourt, and her two suitors from very different backgrounds. Stephen Smith may be a socially inferior but ambitious young man who adores her and with whom she shares a rustic background. Henry Knight is that the respectable, established, older man who represents London society. Although the 2 are friends, Knight isn't conscious of Smith's previous liaison with Elfride. Elfride finds herself caught during a battle together with her heart, her mind and therefore the expectations of these round her - her parents and society. When Elfride's father finds that his guest and candidate for his daughter's hand, architect's assistant Stephen Smith, is that the son of a mason, he immediately orders him to go away . Knight, who may be a relative of Elfride's stepmother, is afterward the purpose of seeking to marry Elfride, but ultimately rejects her when he learns she had been previously courted. Elfride, out of desperation, marries a 3rd man, Lord Luxellian. The conclusion finds both suitors travelling together to Elfride, both bent claiming her hand, and neither knowing either that she already is married or that they're accompanying her corpse and coffin as they travel.