It is always interesting and challenging to examine the shaping influences of an artist's mind and writings. Thomas Hardy is no exception. He offers an exceptionally intriguing case where his novels have what can be called a significant element of thought. Critics and readers today, without any apparent sense of incongruity, frequently refer to Hardy as a pessimist novelist but without examining the real causes and impact of such a vision. He is accused of thrusting abstraction and theories on his artistic creation. Exploring his Wessex novels, we need to highlight a major issue which is either his pessimism or realism. An in-depth study of his novels will obviously persuade us that his attitude towards life is pessimistic. In discussing the causes of his pessimism I have chosen to focus on the environment he was living in and how he was influenced by his own Victorian society. As a result of such an age, there is a pessimistic, dismal and fatalistic tone in his novels. This paper is an attempt to discuss Hardy's pessimism with the ultimate goal of finding a better understanding of his pessimistic vision.