Was Thomas hardy a feminist? How can you tell by his characters in D'urbervilles and Return of the Natives?

Question

I'm doing a paper o Thomas Hardy's views of women in those two novels [Tess of the D'urberville and The Return of the Natives] and I'm understanding if he's a feminist or not. Could someone help me?

Answer 1

Don't know if he was a feminist or not, but he was in love with a woman who he wasn't allowed to marry and he used her as a character in almost all of his books. Triphena was her name. Not too sure about the spelling on her name, however.