Tess

The Downfall of Tess in Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles Tess of the D'Urbervilles is considered to be a tragedy due to the catastrophic downfall of the protaganist Tess. From the early days in her life, her father John had begun to destroy her, which then led to Alex D'Urbervill and eventually finished with Angel Clare. Each dominant male figure in her life cocntributed to her tragic downfall which the reader encounters at the end of the novel. It is unfortunate how one woman can be ruined by the three most important and dominant people in her life. Tess's downfall began with her experiences with her father. She grew up with a father who drank excessively and did not give her any type of guidance or support. His…

advocate Maya Angelou once said, “I've learned that people will forget what you said, will forget what you did but people will never forget how you made them feel.” These words are the epitome of the psychological trauma that haunts Tess Durbeyfield’s entire life in Thomas Hardy's novel Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Unable to ever shake her past, Tess remains a prisoner of her past, a victim of her own mind. In Hardy’s eye-opening novel, he proves that trauma has the capability of completely…

despicable words of Alec Stoke-d’Urberville, the antagonist and villain of Tess of the d’Urbervilles, authored by Thomas Hardy. Within this Victorian Age novel, a blossoming young woman by the name of Tess Durbeyfield finds herself in a sinister relationship with a malicious and cunning young man by the name of Alec d’Urberville. Although he is mistaken to be her cousin, to which he has the surname of the Durbeyfield’s ancient relatives, the d’Urbervilles, Alec is, in fact, unrelated to Tess.…

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…

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,…

In ‘Tess of the D’Urbervilles’ Hardy presents the theme of innocence throughout the novel. This theme is directly linked to the character of Tess, and her loss of innocence, during the novel. Because of the pastoral genre, we expect as an audience for a loss of innocence to be a feature in the novel, which means Hardy presents this innocence as being dangerous and desirable. When we first see Tess, she is depicted as a girl of innocence, in her ‘white muslin’, as white has connotations of…

In the novel Tess of the d 'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman, Thomas Hardy presents a radical story of a young woman named Tess Durbeyfield. Rape, childbirth, loss of love, and death accompany sixteen year old Tess on her journey to maturing. Plagued by society’s influential ideals, she experiences the pain and hardship that surround growing up as a woman during this time. Tess’s misfortune is mainly attributed to society’s views especially the double standard set on women, which is exhibited through…

Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles is a tragic Victorian novel focusing on the condemned life of innocent Tess Durbeyfield. Tess plays a major role in the novel as she is not only the main character, but also the moral center of the novel. It is not until Tess reluctantly goes to claim kinship with the D’Urbervilles that she meets the catalyst to her downfall, Alec D’Urberville. Alec takes advantage of Tess which is an incident that continuously haunts her; especially as Tess begins to…

In Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy, the men in Tess Durbeyfield’s life objectify her, trying to make her into a woman who would benefit themselves. In doing so, they shape Tess into the woman that they want her to be, who commits murder and is put to death. Tess’ father objectifies Tess by trying to use their name and Tess’ looks to “claim kin” with the d’Urbervilles and eventually become rich. Alec d’Urberville, the man whom Tess’ parents expect her to marry, objectifies Tess by…

Even more than Tess, Angel Clare’s view of religion is heavily influenced by his upbringing and his attempt to break away from it. Angel’s father is a parson, and both of his brothers studied at Cambridge to become ordained. Just as Tess resents her family’s more ancient traditions, Angel tells his father he does not want to study to become ordained because the church, “refuses to liberate her mind from an untenable redemptive theolatry” (Hardy 91). Despite Angel’s desire to be different from…