Return of the Native Lesson Plan

What appeal does Eustacia find in Clym?

Eustacia, described in the first book as a passionate girl in search of a place to direct that passion, finds one in Clym, although it is in less in him than in her idea of him. From the first mention she hears, she equates him with Paris, which she considers the epitome of culture, civilization, and fashion.

The fact that the laborers consider her in his league seems to stroke her ego by stressing her distinctness from everyone else on the heath. There is certainly an irony in how she takes their assessment as accurate while instinctively considering them below her, but she is not a position to consider such irony, as she is so...