Theme Of Control In Tess Of The D Urbervilles

For centuries, men were viewed as the superior sex. Both men and women accepted the status which came with the masculine gender, doing little to change what had been set as the norm. Women’s lack of control and rights can be seen in several works of literature, such as Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles, which gives audiences a glimpse into a young woman’s life in the late nineteenth century. Tess Durbeyfield is a simple country girl of the lower class whose life takes a different turn when her family discovers they are descendants of the d’Urbervilles, a once wealthy and noble family. From then on, fate took control of innocent Tess and led her to a guilt-filled life. Hardy utilizes Tess’s lack of control and guilt to convey a woman’s …show more content…
As Tess returned home, she met a man who was painting Bible verses. Her guilt began to creep up as she asked him, “‘suppose your sin was not of your own seeking?’” (Hardy 62). Tess never wanted to have sex with Alec and lose her virginity before marriage. He had forcibly taken away something precious and valuable from her. Her limited control enabled Alec to overpower her. The effects of his doings followed Tess as shown by her community’s behavior towards her: “The people who had turned their heads turned them again…observing her they whispered to each other. She knew what their whispers were about, grew sick at heart, and felt that she could come to church no more” (Hardy 66). Tess was shamed for what happened to her even though she never intended for it to happen. To society, Tess was the sinner, and the man was not. Unmarried women who had lost their virginity were ostracized so much that they could not attend church. They could not plead for forgiveness even if they were raped. Men, on the other hand, did not get the same treatment. Society had decided that only men were capable of expressing their sexuality while women were taught to neglect theirs. It was Tess who the village whispered about, her reputation that was stained. The societal views on women and their purity vastly affected Tess to the point she decided to leave her hometown, but she could not …show more content…
Wanting to move away from her past, Tess, “full of zest for life,” sought work at a dairy farm in Talbothays (Hardy 82). The atmosphere of Talbothays came with a sense of hope and new beginnings since very few had heard of her relations with Alec d’Urberville. Here, she wouldn’t be gossiped about or judged; Tess had the chance to start anew. At the dairy farm, Tess began to grow close with Angel Clare who greatly from Alec as he was kinder and gentler with Tess. Time went on, and Angel’s endearment for her was clear, but Tess pushed aside any feelings for him and tried to persuade Angel into noticing the other milkmaids. Angel was unable to accept her rejections since he viewed her as a pure woman and “chaste as a vestal” (Hardy 128). Due to his religious upbringings, Tess portrayed the type of woman he ought to seek and marry. But Tess believed the milkmaids deserved Angel’s love more than her, for they were truly purer than her. In society’s eyes, a pure woman was favored, and Tess was not one because she was tainted by Alec. Rather than accepting Angel’s love and receiving a chance at happiness, Tess’s guilt from her past prevented her from doing so. Tess was unable to fully give herself to Angel because Alec had become her “husband in Nature” (Hardy 190). He took her purity therefore he owned her. In this era when the church had