Abstract: Thomas Hardy’s Wessex novels portray the natural world not merely as a backdrop but as an active, deterministic force shaping human lives. This paper argues that Hardy employs environmental determinism—the idea that physical landscapes dictate societal and individual outcomes—to critique Victorian industrialization and social hierarchies. Through close readings of Tess of the d’Urbervilles, The Return of the Native, and The Mayor of Casterbridge, this study demonstrates how Hardy’s settings (Egdon Heath, agrarian valleys, and industrializing towns) function as agents of fate, constraining characters’ agency and reflecting broader tensions between rural tradition and modernity. Engaging with eco-critical theory and Darwinian discourse, the paper positions Hardy as a transitional figure who bridges Romantic nature worship and 20th-century ecological consciousness.

Keywords: Environmental determinism, Physical determinism, Victorian industrialization, Socio-economic structures, Eco-critical theory, Darwinian discourse, Anthropocentrism.