Gonzalo of Tempest

In Chapter 47 Hardy describes that swimmers caught in the dangerous current had often prayed for rescue and like Gonzalo also, had been unanswered. 

Here, Hardy refers to Gonzalo, a character in Shakespeare's The Tempest. 

Gonzalo is an honest and good hearted counsellor who survives a shipwreck.  At one point in the play, he imagines and hopes for an ideal commonwealth --- a utopian society free from the corruption and hardships of ordinary life. His hopes are noble, but they are not fulfilled; the world does not conform to his wishes. 

Hardy's allusion works on two levels. 

At literary level, Troy is struggling in the sea, wishes desperately for rescue.  Like many swimmers before him, his prayers seem unlikely to be heard. 

Ironically, Gonzalo's hopeful expectations were not granted simply because he had desired them. Likewise, Troy's wishing for safety has no special claim on fate.  Nature remains indifferent to human hopes. 

The allusion also fits Hardy's recurring theme: Human beings may pray, hope, or plan, but nature has its own designs.  Troy once caught in the current, he is helpless before it.  His survival depends less on merit than on chance --- the appearance of sailors boat. 

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