Is Clym responsible for his mother and wife deaths?

Clym thinks himself responsible for the deaths of his mother and wife though according to Hardy, it is not the man but unseen agencies, which are responsible for man’s misery. But for Clym it can be said that human misunderstandings and shortcomings, when coincide with fate and chances, bring about the tragedy. Clym at some places seems to be responsible for the deaths of Mrs. Yeobright and Eustacia. At first, he decides to marry Eustacia in spite of his mother’s opposition. According to Mrs.Yeobright, Eustacia is

“An idle voluptuous women.”

But Clym even knowing that his mother gives accurate opinion marries Eustacia. On the other hand his marriage does not make even Eustacia happy because it was based on Clym’s misunderstandings of Eustacia’s intentions, as the writer himself comments:

“Take all the varying hates felt by Eustacia Vye towards the heath and translate them into loves and you have the heart of Clym”

So clym in this way not only teases his mother but also his wife, by not understanding the fundamental difference that was there between him and Eustacia. This difference is evident at many places in the novel as clym loves the heath and is

“a mere parasite of heath”

Writer says about Clym:

“If anyone knew the heath well it was Clym….he might be said to be its product”

On the contrary Eustacia hates the heath and its people.

“I cannot endure the heath…”

This is what she says about heath and whenever she met Clym, she asked him to talk about Paris to which he replied:
“I hate talking of Paris!”
Clym never thought on these grounds and married Eustacia though he married her chiefly to fulfill his purpose of opening a school but he had no ground for thinking that Eustacia would agree to it. She herself said to Clym:

“I think there is not that in Eustacia Vye which will make a good homespun wife.”

So Clym can be said responsible for the calamity because he never thought on these aspects.
Clym can be stated responsible for the catastrophe also because of his being too practical at times. For example when he decides to marry Eustacia and his mother opposes to it, he leaves his house at once. Clym leaves the house without letting himself blow in the emotions of a son, and goes in spite of his love for his mother .Writer tells us about Clym’s reason for leaving the house:

“To stay at home a minute longer than necessary after having once come to his determination would be, he felt, only to give new pain to his mother.”

If Clym would not be too practical and stayed at Blooms End after marriage, the chances of reconciliation could have been better and the tragedy could have been avoided.

This trait of his character also makes him responsible for the tragedy of Eustacia. When he writes the letter to Eustacia for reconciliation, he becomes too thoughtful and too practical that he does not delivers the letter to her at once rather he waits for her to come first and then delivers the letter till it gets too late. Clym himself admits this:

“I spoke cruel words to her and she left my house. I didn’t invite her back till it was too late.”

Clym’s delay made Eustacia to suffer and not only in her case but the delay on Clym’s part made Mrs.Yeobright to suffer as well. Clym kept on asking Eustacia for going to mother and he didn’t go to her by himself until “it was too late.” When his mother was dead, he said:

“I never went to her! When I set out to visit her it was too late.”

Keeping in view this fact Clym seems to be responsible for bringing about the tragedy in the novel.
Clym inability in maintaining human relationships makes him responsible for the death of two ladies. Clym wasn’t able to maintaining his relation with his mother and this lacking in his personality also caused his break up with Eustacia. Mrs.Yeobright herself pointed to this deficiency in her son’s character. She said to Eustacia:

“You will find that though he is as gentle as a child with you now, he can be as hard as steel.”

So Clym seems to be responsible because reconciliation between mother and wife was his responsibility which he didn’t fulfill and he remained indifferent towards their relation to each other. Clym says at the death of Eustacia:

“She is the second women I have killed this year. I was a great cause of my mother’s death; and I am the chief cause of her’s”

But in all this tragedy the vital role played by fate and chances cannot be avoided. Though because of some actions of his, Clym seems to be responsible for bringing about the tragedy but actually it was fate that made him do so.
It was Clym’s fate that he didn’t get up when Mrs.Yeobright came to his house. It was fate than an adder bitted Mrs.Yeobright. It was chance that Eustacia didn’t received Clym’s letter that night. It was fate that Eustacia wasn’t rescued by Clym or wildeve, rather wildeve himself died during his effort to save her. As Hardy says:

“….to be born is a palpable dilemma….”

So we can conclude that tragedy in the novel is the result of human shortcomings which were planned by fate. Clym rightly thinks himself responsible for the deaths of his mother and wife because of a series of events over which he had very little control.