Return of the native; a complex chracterisation

'In Eustacia, Hardy creates a woman who challenges conventions of her society' How do you respond to Hardy's presentation in 'Return of the native' of the conventions surrounding the relations between men and women?
Contemporary readers tend to take for granted the notion that literature does not convey, or even attempt to convey, absolute truth. Since the modernist movement at the beginning of the 20th century, literature has tended to pose questions rather than define answers. One of the hallmarks of modern literature can be said to be unreliability: authors and readers recognize that li…