The novel occurs in Victorian England, a historical era when society was transitioning from the pastoral to the urban. The contrast between the heath and the city exemplifies that conflict. Eustacia, from Budmouth, yearns to return to city life. She likes to have Clym describe Paris to her: Versailles, the Louvre, the places she has never seen. She makes him promise they will spend no more than six months in seclusion in Alderworth. She marries him thinking that she will change his mind, that she will lure him back to Paris. When Wildeve inherits his fortune, he will spend a year seeing the world before he settles in Paris. Eustacia’s final escape to Budmouth harbor will, she hopes, open passage to Paris.

The Victorian era’s social changes inform Clym Yeobright’s inner transformation. He rejects the superficiality of glamour and riches in the city to return to the pastoral life, yet he intends to create a school where he will teach in new ways. The people in Egdon Heath consider it a waste of time, a waste of his talents, education, and resources. They see his pallor and consider his enterprise unnecessary. Clym’s study blinds him.