A Pair of Blue Eyes is the third published novel by English author Thomas Hardy, first serialised in eleven instalments, between September 1872 and July 1873, by Tinsley's Magazine and then in book form by Tinsley's in 1873. It was the first of Hardy's novels to bear his name and was included by Hardy in his "romances and fantasies".
Plot summary
The book describes the love triangle of a young, blue-eyed 19-year-old woman, Elfride Swancourt, and her two suitors who come from very different backgrounds. Stephen Smith is a socially inferior but ambitious young man who adores her and with whom she shares a country background. Henry Knight is the respectable, established, though sexually immature and inexperienced, older man who represents London society. Although the two are friends, Knight is not aware of Smith's previous liaison with Elfride.
Elfride finds herself caught in a battle with her heart, her mind and the expectations of those around her – her parents and society. When Elfride's father finds that his guest and candidate for his daughter's hand, architect's assistant Stephen Smith, is the son of a stone mason, he immediately orders him to leave. Knight, who is a relative of Elfride's stepmother, is later on the point of seeking to marry Elfride, but ultimately rejects her when he learns she had been previously courted.
Elfride, out of desperation, marries a third man, Lord Luxellian. The conclusion finds both suitors travelling together to Elfride, both intent on claiming her hand, and neither knowing either that she already is married nor that they are accompanying her corpse and coffin as they travel.
The novel has various settings including gothic churches, coastal cliffs, hills, valleys, and beaches.
Characters
Elfride Swancourt, the blue eyed 19-year-old heroine, is both extremely attractive and emotionally naïve; a Victorian Miranda.
Stephen Smith, her first suitor is socially inferior, also has this childish innocence, and she loves him because he is "so docile and gentle" (chapter 7).
Henry Knight, the second suitor, is more socially superior and dominantly masculine but sexually inexperienced and immature, with the expectation of Elfride's spiritual and physical virginity. Knight is also Stephen Smith's mentor.
The novel is notable for the strong parallels to Hardy and his first wife Emma Gifford. In fact, of Hardy's early novels, this is probably the most densely populated with autobiographical events.
Late in his life, Hardy met composer Sir Edward Elgar and discussed the possibility of Elgar basing an opera on the novel. Hardy's death put an end to the project.
In 2008 BBC Radio 4 recorded the book as a serial, with Jeremy Irons as Harry Knight.
Literary criticism
A Pair of Blue Eyes normally is categorised as one of Hardy's minor works, "a book with a few good points but a failure as a whole". Like Desperate Remedies, it contains melodramatic scenes that appear disconnected from the characters and plot. On the other hand, Millgate claims the scene forms part of the "irrelevant" description suited to the "rag-bag" of a novel. Literary scholar John Halperin posited that the "cliff without a name" is probably based on Beeny Cliff.