Beginning of Essay
THE RON - THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE OPENING CHAPTER 'Remind yourself of the opening chapter. Assess its significance in terms of how Hardy creates mood, tone and atmosphere in terms of the continued progress of the novel'. The fact that Hardy devotes the entire ope ....

Middle of Essay
.... On Egdon Heath, night and darkness comes before its 'astronomical hour'. In addition to reinforcing the idea of Egdon Heath's unchangeable place in time (as will be discussed later), this early arrival of darkness is well in tune with the overall atmosphere of tragedy. Dominance of darkness is clearly ominous and Hardy also says of the heath that it could 'retard the dawn, sadden noon…and intensify the opacity of a moonless midnight to a cause of shaking and dread'. The images conjured are explicitly ominous and suggesting tragedy. It is also inferred that the Heath itself creates the darkness - 'the heath exhaling darkness as rapidly as t ....