A PAIR OF BLUE EYES

BY THOMAS HARDY

Moise Emilia
XD
 Plot summary

 The story begins when Elfride meets Stephen

Smith, an architect who is similarly young and
innocent, when he is sent to Endelstow to
survey the church for repairs
 Parson Swancourt sees Stephen as a perfect match for
his daughter and encourages their growing infatuation
with each other. Unfortunately, when Stephen and
Elfride have become engaged, Stephen reveals an
unfortunate truth: that he is in fact the son of the head
mason in the parish. He is educated because he has
been fortunate to have a good friend and mentor,
Henry Knight. Nevertheless he is still the son of a
laborer, and even worse, a laborer in the same
town. Swancourt forbids their engagement, but
Elfride and Stephen, caught up in the passion of the
moment, agree to elope and remain secretly married
until Stephen can earn the approval of her father.
 By coincidence, Swancourt remarries a woman who
is a distant relative of Knight’s. Mrs. Swancourt
invites him to visit, and when he arrives, Elfride and
Knight develop a friendship. Knight is an intellectual
who is prepared to think Elfride is vapid and
silly. She is not. Elfride may be young but she’s also
educated, loves to read, and has even written a novel.
Elfride and Knight’s relationship is more thoughtful
than the one she shared with Stephen. Where she was
somewhat pushed into the relationship with Stephen,
with Knight she has to resist her growing interest,
because she is still corresponding with Stephen.
 Elfride begins to forget Stephen & falls in love
with Knight & they become engaged. She
gradually becomes uneasy as she learns more
of his ideas of love & becomes frightened that
he will stop loving her if he discovers her
relationship with Stephen.
 Eventually Elfride, out of desperation, marries
a third man, Lord Luxellian.
 The conclusion finds both suitors travelling
together to Elfride, both intent on claiming her
hand, and neither knowing either that she is
already married or that they are accompanying
her corpse and coffin as they travel.
 Psycho-analytic interpretations of the novel
might well then observe that she is ‘punished’
by dying in childbirth.
 Main Characters

 Elfride Swancourt-the heroine, is both

extremely attractive and emotionally naive

 Stephen Smith-her first suitor, also has this

childish innocence, and she loves him because
he is 'so docile and gentle‘

 Henry Knight- the second suitor, is more

dominantly masculine, with the expectation of
Elfride's spiritual and physical virginity.
 Secondary Characters

 Parson Swancourt-Elfride’s father

 Mrs.Swancourt-wife of
Mr.Swancourt,related to Henry Knight
 Background

 This was the third of Hardy's novels to be

published and the first to bear his name. It was
first serialised in Tinsley's Magazine between
September 1872 and July 1873.
 The novel is notable for the strong parallels to
Hardy and his first wife Emma Gifford. In
fact, of Hardy's early novels, this is probably
the most densely populated with
autobiographical events.