The Return of the Native Characters

The VillainGiven the era when The Return of the Native was written, it's surprising that Eustacia wasn't cast as the villainess, with Thomasin as the heroine. After all, heroines were often quite v...

The Homecoming KingClym is the native who's returning. His very existence in the novel poses two big questions: what makes a native return home, and how does that return go? Clym's return is the dr...

The JerkWe get told more about Damon than about any other character in the book (unless you count the heath as a character, that is…). Other characters get imagery and symbolism attached to t...

The Mysterious Mrs. YeobrightWe never learn Mrs. Yeobright's first name. She's one of those nameless characters that always intrigue us – like the second Mrs. de Winter in Rebecca, who always...

Compared to the other powerhouse women in the novel, Thomasin is a bit dull. She's nice, she tries to be a good wife and mother, and she's sympathetic. True, she's not super nice to Diggory and she...

Diggory is a weirdo. Really. He's a recluse, a loner who rather melodramatically adopted an outcast profession after he got his heart broken. After a break-up, most people just listen to sad music....

Little Johnny Nunsuch is always at the wrong place at the wrong time. He's present for a lot of the novel's major scenes and the poor kid's usually around to witness some pretty disturbing stuff. F...

Poor, sweet Charley doesn't just have a crush on Eustacia; he practically worships the girl. We pretty much only see Charley in scenes with Eustacia, and the way Charley acts around her helps to em...

Depending on your point of view, Captain Vye is either the world's best or the world's worst guardian. On the one hand, he lets his granddaughter do whatever she wants. If Eustacia wanted to throw...

Grandfer Cantle is goofy, but we kind of love him. He's definitely around for purposes of comic relief, which is a staple in most tragedies. Think of characters like the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet &...

Christian might be the most pathetic person in the entire novel. He's like Charlie Brown – he's perpetually sad-sack and sort of descends on a crowd like a wet blanket."I'm the man""What man?...

Fairway is a bit like Hardy's emissary in the novel. He often acts as the voice of the narrator and he helpfully delivers exposition, themes, and general commentary on topics ranging from marriage...

As the somewhat crazy mother of Johnny Nunsuch, Susan causes a whole lot of problems for Clym and Eustacia. She really has it in for Eustacia, and she practices auditioning for The Crucible by cons...

Aside from Susan Nunsuch, Olly is the only other female member of the Egdon chorus that we hear about, mainly at the beginning of the novel. She features in the Guy Fawkes Night bonfire celebration...

Humphrey and Sam are two of the local heath characters that we hear about in passing. They appear throughout the novel, usually with their fellow Egdon chorus members, and they both do work at Capt...

Eustacia Clementine is the name that Thomasin gives her baby daughter, though the name is hardly ever used in the book. Thomasin generally refers to the kid as "baby." This might be because Clym wa...

Rachel is Thomasin's servant and her baby's nurse, and she is only thirteen. This little detail gives us a lot of insight into the historical period in which this novel is set. Poor kids didn't go...