Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy, in his famous novel Tess of the d’Urbervilles , creates a phenomenon protagonist, Tess Durbeyfield. Hardy describes Tess as an untainted, pure beautiful woman. She becomes the first from her family to get educated and bears more responsibility to take care of the whole family. Undeterred by her good nature, Tess soon falls prey to be a victim of fate. A serious of misfortunes overcomes her and she becomes victimized by an unforgiving, corrupt Victorian society. As Tess undertakes these tragic events by herself, Hardy reveals Tess’s true innocent nature and goodness despite the criticisms of Victorian society. By the end of the novel, Tess becomes known as the enthralling woman heroine
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According to Howe, Tess comes from Hardy’s involvement “with and reaction against the Victorian cult of chastity” (Howe 408). In Victorian society, women had to be a virgin before marriage. Tess violates the first ideal when Alec takes away her virginity in The Chase. Hardy still sees her as chaste because Tess did not deliberately have intercourse with him. Howe supports Tess’s innocence by reflecting on the concluding passage, “where was the providence of her simple faith?” (Howe 412). Tess, being an innocent young country girl, should not have been in this situation but the misfortune of her accident with Prince, led her to work in the d’Urberville mansion and fall for the trap that Alec set for her. As Tess falls for the traps that her fate set out for her, one is able to see the true nature in Tess. Howe argues that Tess is not just an idea but a real woman character. She embodies energy, joy and life. She is a true exemplar of goodness. Even though she dies three times, twice with Alec and once with Angel, she still has love inside her. She has love for her family even though they take advantage of her in financial circumstances. She has love for Angel even though he abandoned her because she violates the Victorian ideal of chastity. Her life “stretched and racked” (Howe 421) but she did …show more content…
One example is the change Angel goes through when he goes to Brazil. When he works in the dairy farm, he is healthy and fit. When he goes to Brazil (an industrial place), he quickly gets sick and looks like “he is dying” (Hardy 388). Flintcomb Ash is also a place where machinery is used and Hardy describes it as looking like hell. It has a threshing machine, “which, whilst it was going, kept up a despotic demand upon the endurance” (Hardy 329) of the worker’s muscles and nerves. There is another worker that traveled from farm to farm and looked as if he “served fire and smoke” (Hardy 329). The new industrial machines and farms transforms the workers into machines as well. They work the whole day and that’s all they do. It is dehumanizing for them. Tess goes out and works with these machines and her life falls apart as well. Tess, however, has no direct connection with the industrial revolution. If Tess was a metaphor for the disintegrating agricultural society, Tess would not have been such a distinguishable character. Tess would have been similar to all the characters since they are all going through industrial phase. Tess is not a metaphor, rather she is character that represents female strength and perseverance through the unpredictable hardships of life. Tess is more than just a metaphor. She is the central figure
According to Howe, Tess comes from Hardy’s involvement “with and reaction against the Victorian cult of chastity” (Howe 408). In Victorian society, women had to be a virgin before marriage. Tess violates the first ideal when Alec takes away her virginity in The Chase. Hardy still sees her as chaste because Tess did not deliberately have intercourse with him. Howe supports Tess’s innocence by reflecting on the concluding passage, “where was the providence of her simple faith?” (Howe 412). Tess, being an innocent young country girl, should not have been in this situation but the misfortune of her accident with Prince, led her to work in the d’Urberville mansion and fall for the trap that Alec set for her. As Tess falls for the traps that her fate set out for her, one is able to see the true nature in Tess. Howe argues that Tess is not just an idea but a real woman character. She embodies energy, joy and life. She is a true exemplar of goodness. Even though she dies three times, twice with Alec and once with Angel, she still has love inside her. She has love for her family even though they take advantage of her in financial circumstances. She has love for Angel even though he abandoned her because she violates the Victorian ideal of chastity. Her life “stretched and racked” (Howe 421) but she did …show more content…
One example is the change Angel goes through when he goes to Brazil. When he works in the dairy farm, he is healthy and fit. When he goes to Brazil (an industrial place), he quickly gets sick and looks like “he is dying” (Hardy 388). Flintcomb Ash is also a place where machinery is used and Hardy describes it as looking like hell. It has a threshing machine, “which, whilst it was going, kept up a despotic demand upon the endurance” (Hardy 329) of the worker’s muscles and nerves. There is another worker that traveled from farm to farm and looked as if he “served fire and smoke” (Hardy 329). The new industrial machines and farms transforms the workers into machines as well. They work the whole day and that’s all they do. It is dehumanizing for them. Tess goes out and works with these machines and her life falls apart as well. Tess, however, has no direct connection with the industrial revolution. If Tess was a metaphor for the disintegrating agricultural society, Tess would not have been such a distinguishable character. Tess would have been similar to all the characters since they are all going through industrial phase. Tess is not a metaphor, rather she is character that represents female strength and perseverance through the unpredictable hardships of life. Tess is more than just a metaphor. She is the central figure