Who “kills” Tess D’Urbervilles

Introduction:

1. Brief introduction of the author Thomas Hardy
2. 2.     An introduction of the novel

   
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 

 
 
Thomas Hardy（1840-1928），son of a mason, was born on June 2, 1840, in Higher Bockhampton in Dorset, a rural region of southwestern England. At the age of sixteen, Hardy was apprenticed to John Hicks, an architect who lived in the city of

Dorchester. Six years later he went to London to work for a famous architect. During his spare time, he studied widely: language, literature, history, philosophy and art, and he won two prizes for essays on architectural subjects. But architecture was never his desired profession. Soon he turned to literary creation. He spent nearly a dozen years toiling in obscurity and producing unsuccessful novels and poetry. In 1871, his first novel “Desperate Remedies” was published and well received. His “Under the Greenwood Tree” (1872) and “A pair of Blue Eye”(1873) are the most interesting idyrllic love stories. Then the Madding Crowd was published in 1874, it was the author’s first critical and financial success and finally able to support himself as a writer. “The Return of the Native” (1878) and “The Woodlanders”(1887) are generally regarded as his masterpieces; but “Tess of the D’Urbervilles”(1891) and “Jude the Obscure”(1895) are better expressions of Hardy’ literary art and of his gloomy philosophy. His other novels include “The Trumpet Major” (1880) and “The major of Casterbrige” (1886). He also wrote many poems. His “Wessx poems”, a collection of some lyrics, was published 1898. 

     His style: Hardy seems to belong to the present rather than to a resent age.

In style, Hardy is direct and simple, aiming at realism in all things. Hardy makes man an insignificant part of the world, struggling against powers greater than himself. Sometimes against systems which he cannot reach or influence, sometimes against a kind of grim world-spirit who delights in making human affairs go wrong. He is, therefore, Hardy a realist, hut rather a man blinded by pessimism; and his novels, though generally powerful and sometimes fascinating , are not pleasant or wholesome reading.

A.  Main characters

Tess Durbeyfield

 

Intelligent, strikingly attractive, and distinguished by her deep moral sensitivity and passionate intensity, Tess is indisputably the central character of the novel that bears her name. But she is also more than a distinctive individual: Hardy makes her into somewhat of a mythic heroine. Her name, formally Theresa, recalls St. Teresa of Avila, another martyr whose vision of a higher reality cost her life. Other characters often refer to Tess in mythical terms, as when Angel calls her a “Daughter of Nature” or refers to her by the Greek mythological names “Artemis” and “Demeter” The narrator himself sometimes describes Tess as more than an individual woman, but as something closer to a mythical incarnation of womanhood. Tess’s story may thus be a “standard” story, representing a deeper and larger experience than that of a single individual.

In part, Tess represents the changing role of the agricultural workers in England in the late nineteenth century. Possessing an education that her unschooled parents lack, since she has passed the Sixth Standard of the National Schools, Tess does not quite fit into the folk culture of her predecessors, but financial constraints keep her from rising to a higher station in life. She belongs in that higher world, however, as we discover on the first page of the novel with the news that the Durbeyfields are the surviving members of the noble and ancient family of the d’Urbervilles. There is aristocracy in Tess’s blood, visible in her graceful beauty—yet she is forced to work as a farmhand and milkmaid. When she tries to express her joy by singing lower-class folk ballads at the beginning of the third part of the novel, they do not satisfy her—she seems not quite comfortable with those popular songs. But, on the other hand, her diction, while more polished than her mother’s, is not quite up to the level of Alec’s or Angel’s. She is in between, both socially and culturally. Thus, Tess is a symbol of unclear and unstable notions of class in nineteenth-century Britain, where old family lines retained their earlier glamour, but where cold economic realities made sheer wealth more important than inner nobility.

 

Alec d’Urberville

 

An insouciant twenty-four-year-old man, heir to a fortune , and bearer of a name that his father purchased, Alec is the nemesis and downfall of Tess’s life. His first name, Alexander, suggests the conqueror—as in Alexander the Great—who seizes what he wants regardless of moral propriety. Yet he is more slippery than a grand conqueror. His full last name, Stoke-d’Urberville, symbolizes the split character of his family, whose origins are simpler than their pretensions to grandeur. After all, Stokes is a blunt and inelegant name. Indeed, the divided and duplicitous character of Alec is evident to the very end of the novel, when he quickly abandons his newfound Christian faith upon remeeting Tess. It is hard to believe Alec holds his religion, or anything else, sincerely. His supposed conversion may only be a new role he is playing.

This duplicity of character is so intense in Alec, and its consequences for Tess so severe, that he becomes diabolical. Some readers feel Alec is too wicked to be believable, but, like Tess herself, he represents a larger moral principle rather than a real individual man.

 

Angel Clare

 

A freethinking son born into the family of a provincial parson and determined to set himself up as a farmer instead of going to Cambridge like his conformist brothers, Angel represents a rebellious striving toward a personal vision of goodness. He is a secularist who yearns to work for the “honor and glory of man,” as he tells his father, rather than for the honor and glory of God in a more distant world. A typical young nineteenth-century progressive, Angel sees human society as a thing to be remolded and improved, and he fervently believes in the nobility of man. He rejects the values handed to him, and sets off in search of his own. His love for Tess, a mere milkmaid and his social inferior, is one expression of his disdain for tradition. This independent spirit contributes to his aura of charisma and general attractiveness that makes him the love object of all the milkmaids with whom he works at.

 

B. plot

Rising action

Tess’s family’s discovery that they are ancient English aristocracy, giving them all fantasies of a higher station in life; Tess’s accidental killing of the family horse, which drives her to seek help from the d’Urbervilles, where she is seduced and dishonored.

 

Climax

Tess’s new husband discovers her earlier seduction by Alec and decides to leave her, going off to Brazil and not answering her letters, and bringing Tess to despair.

 

Falling Action

Tess’s last-ditch decision to marry Alec, who claims to love her; Angel’s return from Brazil to discover Tess marriage to her former seducer, and his meeting with Tess; Tess’s murder of Alec and short-lived escape with Angel before being apprehended and executed.

Analysis of the causes of Tess’s Tragedy:

The external reasons

 

The social environmental influence is the most essential reason of Tess’s tragedy. On one hand, during Tess’s time, the industrialization of the cities was diminishing the quality of life of the inhabitants of rural areas. “England entered an agricultural depression in 1870s, brought on in part by the completion of the first transcontinental railroad across the United States. This made it easier and cheaper for American goods to compete with British goods. ”¹ Industrialization made rural life depressed. Besides the machines, like the steam threshing machine at Flintcomb-Ash, made agricultural workers less in demand. Many rural workers were unable to get job and throw them into poverty. On the other hand, “At the end of 19th century, capitalism prevailed in the whole England that made broad masses of peasant went bankrupt and then they had to live in poverty and grave situation.”²The capitalism brings a great harm to the rural and agricultural life of the place. The self-supporting peasants are displaced. They are extremely poor and live a very miserable life. Born as a daughter of a peasant’s family, Tess also suffered very much from the industrialized and capitalist society. Family poverty put the heavy duty upon the shoulders of young Tess. The death of the horse destroyed the family’s livelihood which forced Tess to go to see their cousin and worked there as an employee of Alec. With no means to maintain their daily existence, Tess had to claim kin against her own will at the expense of her own pride and dignity. The employment by Alec is the beginning of Tess’s tragedy. If she had not been worked under Alec, she won’t be seduced or raped by Alec, and there would not the consequent tragedy happened to Tess. Again, it is poverty which, when her father dies, drives Tess back to the arms of Alec, ruining her last chance of happiness. So the essential reason of Tess’s tragedy is brought to her by the society. The poverty of Tess’s family to which the society brought is the inevitable cause of Tess’s tragedy.

The external reasons also related to four people who are involved in Tess’s tragedy tightly. They are Tess’s father and mother, Alec d’Urbervilles and Angel Clare.

Tess’s father Jack beyfild is lazy, ignorant, incapable and selfish who just think of himself. Also he is a drinker. He could have supported the family by himself if he had not been so proud about being descendants of the famous d’Urbervilles family. After Tess’s father learned that he was descendant of a noble family, he became indolent and sluggish. He had never done more work than was necessary to keep his family. Even though his family was very poor, he never took the responsibility to make his family live better life but was addicted to alcohol. So Tess, the oldest daughter of this family, was obliged to take the duty of supporting her family. Tess’s father’s irresponsibility forced Tess to go into the way towards tragedy.

Tess’s mother also played an important role in the cause of Tess’s tragedy. Tess is innocent without experiences. Her mother should have informed her of the dangers of a man for a woman when Tess’s innocence is at risk. Instead of educating Tess properly about danger of some men she only hoped that Tess would make a good impression on the rich d’Urbervilles and perhaps a good marriage with one of the son. She is also an irresponsible character. She only cared about her own happiness rather than her daughter’s. She should have thought over that Alec may cause danger to her daughter Tess and protected her from being hurt. But actually she didn’t. So Tess’s seduction is indirectly caused by her mother.

Alec, a wicked character, caused Tess’s tragedy directly. He is lecher, a fraud as well as a morally corrupt person. He took advantage of Tess’s innocence and helplessness to set a trap to seduce her and rape her. He added the most to Tess’s tragic life because he got Tess pregnant. Although her child died soon after his born, this incident played a crucial role in her marriage to Angel. Innocence is crucial for a woman at that time of the society but Alec robbed all Tess’s right to happiness since he raped her. The affair with Alec made Angel who Tess fell in love with deserted Tess after his learning of Tess’s past. Tess lost the final opportunity to live a happy life as Angel abandoned her. Alec just cared about himself and his needs more than others. He even did wrong to others to benefit for himself. Alec is possessive of Tess although she is technically married to Angel. He exemplifies this point when he says, “remember, my lady, I was your master once, I will be your master again. If you are any man’s wife you are mine!”³ This line again represents Alec’s characteristic of selfishness.

Angel Clare is an opposite of Alec who is educated, reserved and subtle but also adds to Tess’s tragedy though he is the person Tess loves deeply. Angel is important in forming part of the environment which brings ruin to Tess. He went to woo Tess, deserted her for her past, and finally, recognizing her spiritual purity, he returns to her. This fluctuation on the part of Angel is one of the most important causal factors in the development of Tess’s character and her final ruin. Before the acquaintance of Angel, Tess suffered very much from her tragic life but Angel enlightened Tess’s final hope for happiness. But Angel’s desertion of Tess made Tess’s life a completely tragedy. Angel had an idea of egoism, even though, he himself was not a pure man, and he could not to accept Tess who was not a really pure bride. Angel idealizes her as the incarnation of innocence, purity and virginity, yet fails to see that Tess’s beauty lies more in her spiritual power which she has gained from her past sufferings. Angel is the slave to custom and conventionality and so the idealist can not face reality and leaves Tess which was a deathblow to innocent woman Tess.

 

 

The internal reasons

 

Tess’s tragedy is partly caused by the character of herself. Tess was a girl of integrity and of purity in her heart without experience. “Much of her suffering is due to an inner conflict between her longing for happiness, a right given by nature, and her conscience, forced upon her by society.”⁴ Tess struggles bravely against her destiny and the conventional morality. She desires for happiness and true love. Although she is courageous enough to set out, after suffering the initial consequences of the seduction or rape, for a better life, she can not completely get rid of social conventions and moral standard of the day, which makes her believe that she has to pay for what she has sinned. She always felt guilty after being raped by Alec. When she fell in love with Angel Clare, she hesitated in acknowledging her love for Angel because she thought of herself had no right to be Mrs. Angel Clare for her past but her longing for happiness and true love made her accept Angel Clare’s propose. The eager for happiness and true love indulged Tess’s love for Angel and the sense of guilt made Tess submit to Angel’s abandonment of her without any resistance, thinking she deserved it, which turned her tragedy from bad to worse. Undoubtedly, this kind of character of Tess helps to create the tragedy.

Tess’s fate is another reason for her tragedy. Tess’s tragic fate is firmly built up in the novel. Tess involved in the mysterious fate which leads to the tragedy step by step. Her misfortune started from the poverty of her family which forced her to work under Alec who later seduced her. If it hadn’t been for the duty of supporting her family, Tess would not meet Alec who is of wickedness. The acquaintance of Alec is Tess’s fate to some extent. “Hardy makes sure that no one reason for Tess’s fate can stand out among the many offered, because no one choice Tess might have made could have redirected her life.…… A series of relatively minor and logically unrelated events and facts are responsible for her fate, everything from her mother’s not educating her properly about designs of some men, to the death of Prince, her family’s horse, to Angel’s not selecting her from the dancers at the star. ”⁵ So Tess’s fate is an inevitable reason for her tragedy.

 

 

 

Conclusion:

Hardy portrayed Tess as a pure and innocent woman who has the quality of endurance and self-sacrifice. Through the above analysis, it is obvious that Tess was the victim of the society and her poor family. The cause of Tess’s tragedy rooted in the cruel social environment and the poverty of her family. Her character and fate also helps to create her tragedy in a way. As well as the outside influences which refers to the cause by Tess’s parents, Alec and Angel are the inevitable reason for Tess’s tragedy. Anyway Tess’s pathetic and miserable tragedy was caused by many means and impressed and moved readers deeply.