Tess of dUrbervilles

I. Authors Background

Thomas Hardy, a famous English novelist, poet, and short story writer, (2 June 1840 11 January 1928), was born in Bockhamton, a rural area of the southern part of England. In 1874, he got married with a girl named Emma Lavinia, who later died in 1912. He started his writing when he moved to London to pursue his study, where he never felt at home, and where he hated the social division the rich and the poor, the country people and the city residences. Most of his writings were mainly about the harsh realities of life, mostly of the poor, basically based on his own life experiences. His characters were mostly drawn from people around him, either real or fake, and his settings were in locations known to him. He wrote a number of successful novels and poems, and two of which were Tess of dUrberville and Far from the Madding Crowd that brought him the most memorable reputations. His writings have a huge influence on modern English writing, and many writers admire and are inspired by him.

II.

Summary

Tess of dUrberville, a famous English novel by Thomas Hardy, portrays the life of a woman named Tess Durbeyfield, a young, beautiful country woman, from a poor family. It is a story which comprises of all tastes of life: hardship, struggle, love, hatred, betrayal, tragedy and happiness. It all started when Mr. John Durbeyfield, Tesss father, learnt that he was a
1 |Page

descendent of a noble family, dUrberville family. Proud of himself, he stopped working and turned to be a drunk man. Later, he and his wife, Jone Durbeyfield, decided to send Tess, their oldest daughter, to the dUrbervilles mansion to claim the relationship, hoping that Mrs. dUrbervilles would help their family. Tess agreed to go. However, the terrible irony in this story was that Mrs. dUrberville had no connection to Tesss family at all; her husband, the merchant Simon Stokes, simply changed his name to dUrberville after he retired. Tess and her parents had no idea about this, but kept believing that Mrs. dUrberville was the one.

At the mansion, Tess met Alec dUrbervilles, the son of Mrs. dUrberville, and she told him the reason why she was there. He, Alec, interested in Tesss physical beauty, offered Tess a job at his house. Tess spent several months working at his house, resisting Alecs dark desires to seduce her. Tragically, Tess was eventually raped by Alec. Being able to do nothing, Tess sorrowfully left the mansion and went back to her family. Later, Tess gave birth to a baby who soon passed away not only a few days after his birth. Tess decided to leave her house for a new place where no one knew her as well as her past, the lost of her purity. The lost of her purity was the main driving force that cruelly and unfairly changed her entire life.

At the new place, Talbothays, Tess worked as a milkmaid in a farm where she, later, made love with a man whose name was Clare Angel, the one she saw at the dance in her village. They both felt in love with each other, and agreed to throw a rush wedding, a wedding without even the presence of their parents. After their marriage, Angel and Tess both confessed their indiscretions. Angel confessed his and Tess totally forgave him. Conversely, Tess told him about the lost of her purity; he could not accept that. He gave her
2 |Page

some money and boarded a ship bound for Brazil. He told Tess he would try to accept her past but warned her not to try to contact him until he came for her. Tesss father unexpectedly died and all the properties were seized. To help her family, Tess agreed to live with Alec. Angel, realizing he had done seriously wrong to Tess, came back from Brazil and hurriedly went to meet Tess. He met her, and asked her for forgiveness. Tess, still deeply and truly in love with Angel, killed Alec and escaped with him, Angel. They escaped and spent the time happily together for a few days until Tess was arrested in charge of murder; Tess, tragically, was hanged.

III.

Character Analysis:

A. Tess Durbeyfield: 1.

Responsible: She is a kind of person who is willing to do all the duties she is

required to do, and to find out the solution to the problem she has unintentionally caused. For instance, being the oldest daughter of Durbeyfield family, she, though not really wanting to, agreed to go to dUrberville family upon her parents request. Moreover, as she was the one who killed Prince, their only horse, their only mean of transport that carried their products to the market, she decided to find a way to help her family by going to dUrberville. Well, as I killed the horse, mother, I suppose I ought to go, said Tess. With this statement, we can assume that Tess is a responsible person because she dares to solve the problem that she herself has brought.
2.

Pure-hearted: Tesss love for Angel is so pure that deserves appreciation. For

instance, even though Angel does not forgive her as she does to him, she still loves him, and
3 |Page

never regret loving him. As she said, Ill obey you, even if I have to lie down and die. She dares to scarify her life for him, and does everything as he requestseven to separate from him, to live alone amid the every danger in life which would happen to her every possible moment. She doesletting him go to Braziljust because she loves him so much, knowing the painful feeling in his heart. Furthermore, she still keeps her true love for him, Angel, even though he left her alone without contacting her, even not answering the several letters she wrote to him; she rejects helps offered by Alec. Respect me and my husband, said Tess to Alec. Tess, amazingly, still considers him, Angel, as her husband, now and forever. She loves him, and has never thought of giving up her love for him at all. B. Clare Angel:
1.

Assertive: I want to use my mind. I want to learn philosophy. I want to

question myself, so that what is left after I questioned, will be even stronger. Angel Clare was a kind of person who behaved confidently in achieving what he wanted or believed. For instance, base the quote above which he said to his father, who always wanted him to be a priest as his other two brothers did, we could say that he was very determined in achieving his goal, his vision of life and never let himself be what other people, his father, expected him to be. He did only what he wanted to, only what he loved, and only what he thought to be right for him to do. He had his own clear destination; he wanted to become a farmer, for example, and he made it. Also, even though Tess was not the woman his parents did not really want, he married her, proofing that he was very assertive, very confident in what he believed.
2.

Irresponsible: After the marriage, he should have stayed with Tess and taken

care of her, regardless of whatever matter she, Tess, had done wrong, intentionally or unintentionally. Once after you get married, you have the responsibilities to support and to
4 |Page

take care of each other. However, he, Angel, as a husband, whose responsibility was to take care of his wife, left her alone and went to Brazil without caring of his wifes wellbeing. He did not even answer her letters. Without the presence of Angel, Tess had to struggle living independently and resisting Alecs desire to get her back. He rejected her on the fact that she was not as pure as he had expected even though she, Tess, was the victim of that unfair tragedy. C. Alec dUrbervilles:

1. Deceitful: he was a kind of person who could never be trusted. To illustrate,

when he wanted to seduce Tess, he tried to hide his dark desires on her. He performed as a gentleman to get trust from her until one day when Tess trusted him, and he finally revealed his evil character; he raped Tess to fulfill his sexual desire. Moreover, he always showed out to offer Tess helps, but actually he wished to get something back in exchange for his helps, particularly Tesss body. Furthermore, to persuade Tess to agree to live with him, he told her that Angel would never come back for her while in fact he himself did not really know that.
2.

Manipulative: Remember my lady, if you are any mans wife, you are

mine! I will have you again! said Alec. Based on the above quote we can make an assumption that Alec was not willing to give Tess to other men; he wanted her to be his only one. He tried to do everything to control Tess. He gave Tesss family things and offered Tess helps whenever she was in troubles. He lied that Angel would never come back, wishing that Tess would agree to live with him. He did everything just only to get Tess and make her his. Moreover, the death of Alec can be a proof showing that he might have done so badly toward Tess, oppression maybe, that she could no longer resist living with him. He

5 |Page

might have controlled her, allowing her to do nothing, not to leave him. Thus, Tess killed him to free herself from him. IV. Themes:

After reading this story, I have learnt and gained a lot of new and interesting things. To share with you what I have learnt, I would love to raise three main themes I have found myself interested in, considering they are worth knowing.

1.

Industrial Revolution: This story was written in the 19th century when

industrial movement swept into England. This revolution caused many farmers and agriculture workers in troubles, losing their homes, lands and jobs. For instance, in the story, farmers, who used to be the only main workforce in the farm, were now replaced with machineries. Farmers were forced to do hard tasks and to work overtime, particularly, Tess, for example, in the corn field. Only women and children were hired to work in the farm, and the reasons behind this might have been that the businessmen thought that women and children were easily to be controlled and paid with low wages. The rich became richer and richer while the poor became poorer and poorer. This statement was used to criticize the negative impacts of industrial revolution. Local people were always the losers, and the businessmen were always the winners, the ones who benefitted from the revolution. Moreover, if we look deeper into the story, we can say that the writer might have used Tess as a character representing all the rural people who were exploited by the industrial revolution, businessmen who might have been represented by Alec. Tess, for instance, was raped by Alec. No justice was done for her, local people, however. Alec was not punished,
6 |Page

and he could live outside freely. Local people who used to live dependently on nature were vulnerable to fall into the cruelties of some urban people.

2. Male Predominance and Sexual Harassment: In the 19th Century, males

dominated society and expected females to do their bidding. Tesss resistances to the advances of Alec succeeded for several times, but he eventually entrapped her after continually harassing. He, however, was not punished for his crime. Furthermore, although Angel loved Tess so much, and unconditionally decided to marry her, he, still, abandoned her shortly after their wedding when he discovered what had happened between her and Alec. It did not matter to him that he himself had had an affair before the marriage. Men might stray with impunity, he believed. Women may not, however. Moreover, even Tess herself also had that similar perception to that of Angel as well as the society. To illustrate, she was hesitated to accept Angels request for marriage because she thought that she was not good enough for him, she was no longer pure. Plus, after Tesss father, John Durbeyfield, died, his wife and children were evicted from their home. It was only he, John Durbeyfield, the husband, who was privileged to hold the lease to their property, not his wife. We may infer that in English society at that time women might have not been allowed to own property; once they got married, all the property would have been transferred to as their husbands belongings. If the husband died or left home, the authority would have had the rights to seize all those properties, not letting the wife own them.

3. Religious Influences: After reading the story, I have found out that religion,

Christianity, played a vital role in England during the 19 th century, the time in the story. To clarity, as in the scene when Tesss baby was sick, she, Tess, though was not allowed by her
7 |Page

father to invite a parson who at that time was the only one who was privileged to baptize a baby, tried to baptize the baby herself. She considered baptism, a religious ceremony that makes someone a member of the Christianity church, very important. For instance, she felt calm after finishing baptizing and still remained calm even when her baby died. She believed that her baby, having been purified all his sin, original sin, would be able to go to heaven. Plus, during that time, only those who had been baptized could be buried in the church. In addition, most people in English society at that time wanted to be priests of the religion. They considered this job as a superior job, a job that most people desired. Angels brothers, for example, were sent to university to pursue their studies to become priests. Even more important, Alec, who was an evil and untrustworthy person from the very start of the story, the one who raped Tess, was changed to be a better person. He, unbelievably, became a parson after receiving the religious teaching from Mr. Clare, the priest, Angels father. With all the evidences specified above, religion, Christianity, could have played very important roles in shaping the way of living in English society.

V.

Related events in the contemporary world

This story, Tess of dUrbervilles, has genuinely pictured how English society looked like at that time. It showed the way of English people, the poor specially, living during the storm of industrial revolution which swept into English society during the 19th century. Industrial revolution was a major driving force that changed the way people lived in England. The economy of England switched from cattle-or-hand-based economy to machinery-based economy. Also, during the industrial revolution, the social structure of society changed dramatically. Before the Revolution most people lived in small villages, working in
8 |Page

agriculture. They lived and often worked as a family, doing everything by hand. Three quarters of Britain's population lived in the countryside, and farming was the predominant occupation they had. With the advent of industrialization, everything changed. The new enclosure laws requiring that all grazing grounds be fenced in at the owner's expenses had left many poor farmers bankrupt and unemployed, losing their farming lands, and machines which were capable of huge outputs made small hand weavers redundant. As a result, there were so many people who were forced to work at the new factories. For example, as in the story, Tess was forced to leave her home to earn money. She, along with many more local women and children, had to work over time in a farm owned by an urban businessman, receiving very little wages. If we look at our society, Cambodian society, we can also see this type of thing happening in the age of development, not industrial revolution, however. There have been many cases of land disputes. Local people, especially the poor, always come out claiming that their lands have been evicted by the businessmen or the government. Similar to English society during the industrial revolution, the poor have been, most of the times, negatively affected by the development while the rich would be the ones to profitably benefit from this change.

VI.

Personal Comment and Recommendations This is the most reading-addictive story which I have ever read before. It is the most

sensitive story on earth, I would say. I could not help putting it down after starting its very first page. This story comprises of all tastes of life, the real life. Ive learnt many new things about English society, particularly the life of rural people during the industrial revolution. Whats more interesting about this story is that the society depicted in the story, English society during the 19th century, was very similar to our contemporary society, even more
9 |Page

similar or the same to that of ours ten years ago. Sexual harassment, male predominance society, religious influences and the impact of industrial revolution or development are all the things that I can find happening in our society. However, that Tess died at the end of the story is what I do not likenot much comparing to that my heart lovesabout this story. I think the writer should have ended the story with happiness not with such a tragedy, the death of Tess, the protagonist of the story. Anyway, it is a wonderful story.

I strongly recommend everyone especially students spend sometimes reading this one. It is so interesting. Importantly, it has hidden a lot of educational, humane and historical value to learn. After reading this story, you, for sure, will gain these valuable knowledge, and some of which would be worthwhile for you to apply in your real life, for, as stated in the previous paragraph, the society depicted in the story was very similar to our contemporary society.

10 | P a g e