The Return of the Native — Thomas Hardy | Coleman’s Notes A Level Student Guide
Against the unforgettable landscape of Egdon Heath, Thomas Hardy creates a powerful story of frustrated ambition, desire, misunderstanding and tragedy.
Eustacia Vye longs to escape the isolation of the heath and dreams of a more exciting existence. When Clym Yeobright returns from Paris, she sees in him the possibility of the life she desires.
But Clym has returned with very different ambitions.
Their relationship becomes part of a complex web involving Damon Wildeve, Thomasin Yeobright, Mrs Yeobright and Diggory Venn, as individual hopes collide with social expectations, misunderstanding and circumstance.
Hardy places these human struggles against Egdon Heath — a landscape so powerful and enduring that it becomes almost a character in its own right.
Through the novel, Hardy explores love, desire, fate, isolation, social convention, ambition, misunderstanding, nature and the conflict between individual aspirations and environment.
This Coleman’s Notes guide provides the detailed textual knowledge, literary analysis and examination preparation needed for confident A Level study.
Inside the guide
✓ Complete plot summary
✓ Detailed chapter-by-chapter analysis
✓ Egdon Heath Essential Reference Guide
✓ Character relationship map
✓ Eustacia Vye in depth
✓ Clym Yeobright in depth
✓ Damon Wildeve
✓ Thomasin Yeobright
✓ Diggory Venn
✓ Mrs Yeobright and supporting characters
✓ Egdon Heath as setting and symbol
✓ Love, desire and disappointment
✓ Fate, chance and coincidence
✓ Isolation and belonging
✓ Ambition and frustrated aspiration
✓ Marriage and relationships
✓ Miscommunication and misunderstanding
✓ Society and the individual
✓ Nature and landscape
✓ Tradition and social change
✓ Tragedy and responsibility
✓ Hardy’s symbolism and imagery
✓ Narrative voice and structure
✓ Historical and literary context
✓ Key quotations and analysis
✓ A Level literary methods
✓ Structured essay plans
✓ Model answers
✓ Exam & Revision Questions
✓ Quick Recall revision
✓ Key episodes for close analysis
✓ Critical debates for A Level
✓ Exam technique
✓ Final revision checklist
Perfect for
A Level English Literature students • examination revision • essay preparation • teachers • tutors • independent learners
The guide helps students move beyond plot summary to investigate the novel’s major interpretative questions.
Is Eustacia Vye a tragic heroine, a victim of circumstance, or partly responsible for her own destruction? How far does Clym’s idealism contribute to the tragedy? Does Hardy present human beings as victims of fate, or do their choices determine what happens to them? And why does Egdon Heath exercise such extraordinary power over the novel?
Students are encouraged to connect these debates with Hardy’s characterisation, imagery, symbolism, narrative structure and historical context, turning detailed knowledge into effective A Level arguments.
This is a digital product, available for download following purchase.
Individual Student Guide — £7.95
Complete the Thomas Hardy Collection — £34.95
Five comprehensive Coleman’s Notes® A Level Student Guides:
Tess of the d’Urbervilles • Far from the Madding Crowd • The Mayor of Casterbridge • Jude the Obscure • The Return of the Native
Buy all five for £34.95 — saving £4.80 compared with purchasing the guides individually.
Coleman’s Notes® — Understand • Analyse • Revise • Succeed
