ate maintains a disinterested attitude toward man. Hardy incorporates these feelings into the novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Fateful incidents, overheard conversations, and undelivered letters symbolize the forces of Fate working against man's destiny.
             Hardy's tender sympathy with nature and his belief in her as an instrument of Fate, is to be explained that his entire childhood was spent close to the soil. Growing up in the countryside of a small village of Egdon Heath, he could carefully observe the relentless regularity of natural changes. It is evident that Hardy considered Egdon Heath a personality, and likewise thought of it as an agent of Fate.
             Hardy lived in an age of transition which added to his natural disposition toward a melancholy view of life. The industrial revolution was in the process of destroying the agricultural life and the nature around him that he was so fond of. Subsequent shifting of population caused a disintegration of rural customs and traditions which had meant security, stability, and dignity for the people. It was a period when fundamental beliefs -- religious, social, scientific, and political -- were shaken to their very core and brought in their stead the "ache of modernism".
             Hardy's early struggle with religious problems was an important factor in shaping his fatalistic nature. As a child, it was Hardy's dream to become a parson. He had several clerical relatives who supported him in his goal. His grandfather, father, uncle, brother, cousin, and two sisters had been musicians in various churches. As a young man, he frequently read church lessons and became curious of the different religions of Christianity. He couldn't understand that if each religion believed in the same god how they could practice their faith so differently. This was very bothersome to him and eventually resulted in his conversion to a fatalistic approach to life. Hard...