Religion

• He rejected the charge of pessimism against him, believing that he was a realist.
• Victorians held a firm belief in God/divine Providence - a God-given plan for the world - belief rejected by Hardy.
• Beliefs challenged (and shattered) by Darwin’s On the Origin of Species in 1859.
• Randomness of the process of natural selection made it difficult to believe in design/purpose.
• Hardy’s faith dissolved around 1865 - felt an acute sense of loss yet still felt an impulse to believe in some force shaping experience.
• The force he envisaged was indifferent - called the ‘Immanent Will’.
• Hoped that ‘loving-kindness’ might influence things for the better - First World War shattered this hope.
• Hardy didn't believe that 'the world must somehow have been made to be a comfortable place for man' (1886)
• Alternative to Christian faith as Hardy saw it was a randomness where things simply happen - he called this ‘Hap’.