Social Context

Question 1

Between what years did the population of the UK double

Answer 1

1841 and 1901

Question 2

How much did the population of Dorset increase by between 1841 and 1901

Answer 2

15%

Question 3

Between 1873 and 1901, why did the population double put that of of Dorset only increase by 15%? (3)

Answer 3

1. Import of American wheat
2. A series of bad harvests from 1873 to 1879
3. Animal diseases which killed several million sheep

Question 4

What type of farming became more prominent and why

Answer 4

Dairy, as dairy products could now be transported

Question 5

How is the decline of British agriculture reflected in hardys novels

Answer 5

By the changes in his writing from the early idyllic novels like far from the madding crowd to the bleakness of tess and jude the obscure at the end of his novel writing career

Question 6

How is the decline of British agriculture reflected in hardys novels

Answer 6

By the changes in his writing from the early idyllic novels like far from the madding crowd to the bleakness of tess and jude the obscure at the end of his novel writing career

Question 7

When where hardys earlier novels written and what was significant about this time

Answer 7

1870s- it is the time where changes are starting to take place

Question 8

When does hardy set his earlier novels

Answer 8

Before the 1870s in earlier times when things were more settled

Question 9

When does hardy set his earlier novels

Answer 9

Before the 1870s in earlier times when things were more settled

Question 10

What did hardy write in the preface of far from the madding crowd

Answer 10

That he is writing about places and customs that have already disappeared

Question 11

How do characters from hardys earlier and later novels contrast

Answer 11

In earlier novels characters were more ‘rustic’ and seemed to represent the old way of life, whereas in later novels characters are more unsettled and mobile

Question 12

What were the 1840s known as

Answer 12

The golden age of agriculture

Question 13

What were the 1840s known as

Answer 13

The golden age of agriculture

Question 14

When was the golden age of British agriculture

Answer 14

1840s

Question 15

What was the golden age of British agriculture actually like

Answer 15

There was a surplus of labour, which meant that agricultural workers were poorly paid and wives and children were expected to work also

Question 16

In which novels does hardy show how Dorset was one of the poorest and most backwards of the British counties, and how

Answer 16

In far from the madding crowd and the return of the native, shown by the superstitions he writes about

Question 17

When and how did hardy view of the rural past become less romantic

Answer 17

After 1833 when he researched into an even earlier era

Question 18

What did hardy research into after 1883

Answer 18

Stories from the local paper, the Dorset county chronical from 1820s and 30s, a time of great hardship and almost lawlessness

Question 19

Which event in tess was a real event from the Dorset county chronicles of the 1830s

Answer 19

The accident to the durbeyfield family horse

Question 20

The hardships of pre-victorian era may have seemed more relevant than the so called ‘golden age’ of the mid-Victorian era. Therefore…

Answer 20

Hardys later novels were combining the social injustices of earlier times with the uncertainties of the late 19th century