Tess

Author: Thomas Hardy (English), translated by Sun Zhili and Tang Huixin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-05-01
Features: This is the author's most outstanding work. The pure and beautiful rural girl Tess was defiled by a wealthy man. On their wedding night, she told her new husband about her misfortune, but he could not forgive her and left her. Forced by livelihood, Tess had to cohabit with the wealthy man. Later, her husband had a change of heart and wanted to make amends with Tess. In despair, Tess believed the wealthy man had ruined her happiness and killed him, only to be executed herself. The work profoundly reflects the social reality of the time, exposing how the hypocrisy of the bourgeois morality caused Tess's misfortune. Tess is one of Thomas Hardy's representative novels. The story tells the tragic tale of the innocent rural girl Tess: due to poverty, Tess was forced to work for the wealthy d'Urberville family, was seduced by the playboy Alec, and left, giving birth to a child who died in infancy. Later, she worked at a dairy farm and met Angel Clare, falling in love with him. On their wedding night, she confessed her past to Clare, only to find that the deeply loving Clare could not forgive her and left her. Eventually, she was forced by livelihood and cohabited with Alec. When Clare returned to find her, Tess killed Alec to prove her love for Clare. The protagonist Tess is a hardworking, kind, beautiful, and innocent rural girl, possessing the qualities of resilience, self-respect, and the courage to defy fate. However, the oppressive forces of society did not spare even such a vulnerable woman, ultimately leading to her tragedy.