How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
But Providence is nothing if not coquettish; and no sooner had Eustacia formed this resolve than the opportunity came which, while sought, had been entirely withholden. (2.3.28)
Providence sounds a lot like Eustacia then. Ba-dum. We're here all week folks. Anyway, in terms of the book's themes, it's definitely worth noting that fate is very, very fickle here.
Quote #2
Wildeve stood, and stood longer, and breathed perplexedly, and then said to himself with resignation, "Yes – by Heaven, I must go to her, I suppose!"
Instead of turning in the direction of home he pressed on rapidly by a path under Rainbarrow towards what was evidently a signal light. (1.5.122-3)
Wildeve's word choice here is worth exploring – he says that he "must" go to her, not that he "should" or that he "wants to." He didn't even toss an "I guess I must" in there. Wildeve makes it sound like he has absolutely no choice in the matter; in fact he's "resigned" to the fact that he doesn't have a choice.
Quote #3
"I do not plead for him, aunt. Human nature is weak, and I am not a blind woman to insist that he is perfect. I did think so, but I don't now. But I know my course, and you know that I know it. I hope for the best." (2.8.18)
Unlike most of the other characters here, Thomasin isn't a big believer in fate. Thomasin "knows her course" because it is practical. She isn't getting married because the universe demands it.
Quote #4
He reached home damp and weary enough after his ten-mile walk. It had hardly been a propitious beginning, but he had chosen his course, and would show no swerving. (6.3.8)
It's interesting that both of the Yeobright cousins have scenes in which they consider the "course" they have chosen, and it's definitely interesting that both of them deliberately chose their life path and then stubbornly stick to it.
Quote #5
The game fluctuated, now in favour of one, now in favour of the other, without any great advantage on the side of either. [...] But neither of the men paid much attention to these things, their eyes being concentrated upon the little flat stone, which to them was an arena vast and important as a battle-field. (3.8.12-13)
Gambling as a metaphor for fate almost borders on the cliché, it's been used so often. But that doesn't mean it isn't an effective comparison, and it certainly works well in this book, given that fate, like gambling, is highly unpredictable. It's also interesting that Damon and Diggory are so intent on the "battle-field" that they don't notice or consider the implications of their actions, much like how people don't tend to notice the bigger picture or the workings of the universe around them.
Quote #6
She had calculated to such a degree on the probability of success that she had represented Paris, and not Budmouth, to her grandfather as in all likelihood their future home. Her hopes were bound up in this dream. (4.1.4)
The word choice here styles Eustacia as a sort of gambler against fate and the universe. She "calculates" the odds and banks on the "probability" of going to Paris eventually. Eustacia should have taken a statistics class.
Quote #7
To Eustacia the situation seemed such a mockery of her hopes that death appeared the only door of relief if the satire of Heaven should go much further. (4.3.17)
"Heaven" or fate is kind of a punk here. Eustacia seems to think the entire universe is "mocking" her and she responds in typical melodramatic fashion, hoping for "death." She really should have just considered getting a better sense of humor and reassessing her priorities, but then this book wouldn't be all that dramatic.
Quote #8
"Sometimes more bitterness is sown in five minutes than can be got rid of in a whole life; and that may be the case here." She paused a few moments, and added, "if you had never returned to your native place, Clym, what a blessing it would have been for you!... It has altered the destinies of –"
"Thee people."
"Five," Eustacia thought; but she kept that in. (4.4.57-9)
Major thematic passage alert! The idea that Clym, the "returning native," has completely "altered the destinies" of a group of people is pretty much the central point of the plot. And it's very significant that Eustacia thinks of two extra people here – we're guessing she means Damon and Diggory, who are also affected by Clym's return. While Clym made the decision to come back and then stick around while only thinking himself, his decision had a huge ripple effect on other people.
Quote #9
"The fates have not been kind to you, Eustacia Yeobright."
"I have nothing to thank them for." (4.6.18-9)
The idea that fate has it in for Eustacia runs throughout the book, though it's mainly brought up by Eustacia herself. In this case, Damon points it out to her, and further solidifies the similarities between these two characters.
Quote #10
"It is simply the accident which has happened since that has been the cause of my ruin. I have certainly got thistles for figs in a worldly sense, but how could I tell what time would bring forth?"
"Sometimes, Eustacia, I think it is a judgment upon you. You rightly belonged to me, you know; and I had no idea of losing you." (4.6.29-30)
It is interesting that Eustacia, who's definitely on the whole "fate is a jerk" bandwagon, refers to her situation as an "accident" here. Perhaps this is her way of deflecting blame off herself, a thread she takes up later in the sentence where she rhetorically asks (or asks without expecting an answer) what she could have done to avoid the fix that she's in. Though Damon answers her question with his usual obnoxious commentary, the narrator seems to be prompting the reader to consider Eustacia's question – how does Eustacia evade personal responsibility here and could she have done something to prevent or improve her situation?
Quote #11
"Let it be as you say, then," she replied in the quiet way of one who, though willing to ward off evil consequences by a mild effort, would let events fall out as they might sooner than wrestle hard to direct them." (4.7.23)
This is great character analysis for Eustacia – the word choice here casts Eustacia as lazy in a way. She'll put up a small fight against fate but she won't actively "wrestle" with it or try to change anything.
Quote #12
Yet, instead of blaming herself for the issue she laid the fault upon the shoulders of some indistinct, colossal Prince of the World, who had framed her situation and ruled her lot. (4.8.2)
This is pretty much Eustacia in a nutshell. She won't accept any blame or responsibility, and instead pushes everything off onto some vague deity figure. It's interesting that the word "Prince" is used to refer to the unseen power here – prince is used in reference to both Jesus Christ and to Satan, the "Prince of Darkness."
Quote #13
"How I have tried and tried to be a splendid woman, and how destiny has been against me!... I do not deserve my lot!" she cried in a frenzy of bitter revolt. "O, the cruelty of putting me into this ill-conceived world! I was capable of much; but I have been injured and blighted and crushed by things beyond my control! O, how hard it is of Heaven to devise such tortures for me, who have done no harm to Heaven at all!" (5.7.20)
Eustacia's final soliloquy is very dramatic. Stylistically, this reads like something right out of a play. The diction here is also pretty archaic, or old-fashioned – Eustacia uses "O" a lot, which is yet another example of how this resembles dialogue in a play, possibly a Shakespearean tragedy.
Quote #14
To have lost the godlike conceit that we may do what we will, and not to have acquired a homely zest for doing what we can, shows a grandeur of temper which cannot be objected to in the abstract, for it denotes a mind that, though disappointed, forswears compromise. (1.7.20)
This is a good example of how the narrator breaks in with some "wise" commentary. Here, Hardy uses a lot of big words to say that people who are confident and "godlike" in their behavior are all well and good in "the abstract," or in theory, but in reality aren't all that great.