World Map_Tess of the d'Urbervilles

Author: (British) Hardy, T.
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-04-01
Features: Tess's tragedy, as well as its social and moral roots, primarily stems from the rigid concept of female chastity in a male-dominated society. When Hardy portrays Tess's thoughts and actions, he consistently opposes this notion, directing his critique directly at the society and the Christian Church that uphold it. According to the prevailing conventions, after Tess loses her innocence, the best course of action would be to either passively accept her role as the mistress of Alester Durbeyfield or find ways to legitimize their relationship. However, Tess insists on being a "fallen woman" rather than entering an unloving union. On her second escape from Alester Durbeyfield, returning from Pure Ridge to her hometown, she sees religious commandments written in blood-red letters along the roadside: "Do not commit (adultery)." She exclaims, "Pah, I don't believe God ever said such a thing." From this moment until she privately baptizes her illegitimate child, Tess begins to doubt the conventions and the Church in her thoughts, though she still believes in God and hell and has not completely shaken off religious superstition. Subsequently, the "mired and stuck" Tess lives in isolation, silently enduring physical and emotional pain, and her rebellious thoughts grow deeper. This is the result of her long struggle against these conventions and their impact on her. By the time Tess leaves home for the second time, falls in love with Angel Clare, and resolves to marry him, and finally kills Alester Durbeyfield with her own hands and flees with Angel Clare, the entire process clearly shows that Tess's attitude toward societal conventions evolves from doubt to denial, then to resistance, and ultimately pays a high price with her young life. Hardy not only fights against societal conventions through Tess's thoughts and actions but also directly throws his own sharp critiques. In the eyes of the world, Tess has lost all credibility after losing her innocence, but in Hardy's portrayal, "her appearance is beautiful and striking; her soul is that of a woman who, despite the chaotic experiences of the past one or two years, has not been corrupted or." If such discussions in the book are placed back a hundred years into the Victorian era, we are even more impressed by the "avant-garde" nature of Hardy's thoughts. It is precisely because he infused such ideas into the character of Tess that the character gains richer depth and deeper social critique. In his later work, Jude the Obscure, Hardy further develops these same ideas.