Similarities Between Willy And Tess Of The D Urbervilles

Two of literature’s greatest tragedies, Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman follow the lives of two memorable characters. Hardy’s Tess Durbeyfield is a young, beautiful peasant. Miller’s Willy Loman is an old, worn-out salesman. Although on the surface it does not seem so, Tess and Willy’s stories follow similar formats. They both have singular moments that drive the rest of their lives. Tess’s being when she was raped and Willy’s his extramarital affair. Throughout both stories, these two characters navigate difficult relationships and struggle to find happiness. Although separated by time and location, these two tragic characters relate to each other in several regards.
The first comparison drawn …show more content…
Tess does not believe she deserves happiness, while Willy feels he is entitled to it. This stems from the differences in the cultures they exist in, and their aspirations for their lives. Tess experiences small bouts of happiness in her story, but constantly says she’s not worthy of it. Society has told Tess that she is sinful and dirty after she was raped. She struggles to accept Angel’s love, “I am not worthy of you- no, I am not!” (Hardy 156). Although she loves him as well, when he asks her to marry him several times, it’s only after much persistence that she accepts. Tess also wishes that Angel had picked one of the other three dairymaids as his wife. She explains how they were all worthier for him than she. “They had deserved better at the hands of Fate. She had deserved worse- yet she was the chosen one. It was wicked of her to take all without paying” (Hardy 179). Furthermore, Tess does not have great ambitions for her life. She is born into the lower class, and knows that, generally speaking, she’s stuck there. It is mentioned that Tess is intelligent and could go on to become a teacher, however, she does not. Tess essentially works solely to provide for her family. “As Tess grew older…she felt quite Malthusian towards her mother for thoughtlessly giving her so many little sisters and brothers when it was such a trouble to nurse and provide for them…However, Tess became …show more content…
Tess finally accepts Angel Clare’s proposal for marriage, and after much procrastination, they proceed with the wedding. However, their marriage very suddenly encounters problems. The night of the wedding, Tess discloses to Angel that she was raped, and he instantly rejects her. As Tess begs him for forgiveness, he responds, “Oh, Tess, forgiveness does not apply to this case! You were one person; now you are another. My God- how can forgiveness meet such a grotesque- prestidigitation as that!” (Hardy 183). He eventually decides to separate from Tess for about a year, and leaves her to go to Brazil. Willy, on the other hand, does not experience great repercussions with his spouse for his actions outside his marriage. He has an affair with a woman while traveling for work. His son, Biff, discovers his actions, but his wife does not. Biff walks in to the hotel room, and sees the woman, when Willy tries to explain himself, “Now look, Biff, when you grow up you’ll understand about these things. You musn’t- you musn’t overemphasize a thing like this…She’s nothing to me, Biff. I was lonely, I was terribly lonely” (Miller 120). His son, however, does get very upset upon finding out. He yells at his father, “Don’t touch me, you- liar!” (Miller 121), and then leaves, and holds a grudge against his father for years following the incident. Though the