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In 1892, Thomas Hardy wrote in his notebook, “The best tragedy-the highest tragedy in short- is that one of the worthy encompassed by inveritable. The tragedies of immoral and worthless people are not the best”. “Tess of the D’Urbervilles” can be considered to be such a remarkable tragedy as its author defines. It is a novel first published in 1981. It initially appeared in a censored and serialized version, published by the British illustrated newspaper, The Graphic .Then it was published complete in three volumes.
And it is structured in seven phases:
Thomas Hardy as a pioneer of realistic literature of 20th century in the British , the most familiar Tess of The D’Urbervilles is a symbol of his most significant realistic writing at the end 19th century. Hardy created a classic female protagonist in the Tess of the D’Urbervilles, which was very typical in his environment and characters novels.
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Tess was a beautiful, pyre, brave, deligent, innocent and poor girl living in countryside. She hoped to make money by her work, dared to change stereotypes, but destiny was not fair to her and she was hanged at last after suffering too much. Though Tess lost her virginity and committed a crime of murder, Hardy debated for her and considered Tess as a real pure woman. Although she was seduced by Alec, but it was not her own will and she was still more pure than last hypocritical people.
About the subtitle “A pure woman” Thomas Hardy wrote that he had added the subtitle “ at the last moment, after reading the final proofs, as being estimate left in a candid mind of the heroin’s character- an estimate nobody would be likely to dispute. It was more disputed than anything else in the book” (Thomas Hardy) In defending his controversial subtitle in the preface of the novel, Hardy suggests connotations of the word ‘pure’ that critics had missed. He says, “ They ignore the meaning of the word in nature, together with all aesthetic claims upon it, not to mention the spiritual interpretation afforded by the finest side of their own Christianity” ( studies)
Tess’ tragedy starts her poverty and vain family. Her father is a hawker but he is not diligent but lazy and bibulous. Family burden is too heavy for the eldest girl of the children. Her parents hope the family situation can change by clinging to wealthy relatives. Then she comes to Alec’s home. And the tragedy begins. At first, she was seduced by Alec. Then she returns to home but found she was pregnant. Later her illegitimate son died and the pastor isn’t willing to pray for the poor child. And the second suffering is when she picks up off ground again and falls in love with Angel Claire. But at the first night of their marriage, after Angel knows her loss of virginity, he leaves her without hesitation. Tess was hit heavily again. Then under the torment of labor work and heavy heart trauma, her family is also in extreme financial difficulties.
At this time Alec wins her back to him again. This is her third suffering. There was almost no hope for her. However, the fate always plays jokes with her. In despair, Claire went back from Brazil, his return gives Tess a critical strike, and Tess killed Alec with the mixed emotion of angry, despair and regret. Her love with Angel and hate for Alec makes her become a murder. This is her final tragedy and the God ends his sport with Tess. Tess was so pure that he don’t know how to protect herself well from the complex world, she never uses tears to earn sympathy. But the environment in that time is incompatible with such a pure girl. Tess never stops resisting, but she can never win the trend of the times, the mainstream value. She is destined to be a victim.
Society Causes Her Tragedy
In Victorian Times, the capitalism is thriving. And the traditional agriculture was shocked by the new industry. With the great social change, many social contradiction turns up. In Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Hardy described many complex social contradictions. Tess’ tragedy was the consequence of the social conflicts. The economic situation is the foundation of all other things. In Victorian Times, the United Kingdom rapidly transformed into a capitalist industrial country. However, the social change hasn’t brought benefits to the normal people. The free competition leads many farmers into workers, but the wages and environment for farmers are not favorable. And the massive machine production also squeezes the market of small-business owners. Many women and children have to be workers to make money for their family.
For example, Tess’ father is a hawker, they don’t have lands for their own, and the horse-princess is their only property, when the horse dies, there is only desperation left for them, which leads Tess to go to Alec’s home and be seduced by Alec. And Tess also turns from a farmer into a worker, she is forced to be a woman raising chicken in Alec’ house, a milker in a milk farm. But the living environment and working environment are not stable and standard. In Alec’s home, because she is a worker, her status is inferior to him, so she is in danger. And the work of being a milker is seasonal work, so she can’t always make money by it. So it’s because the social change make farmers turns into workers and lead then in poverty. The unequal legal system is another accomplice of Tess tragedy. Secular prejudice is another social cause that leads to Tess tragedy.
Family Causes Her Tragedy
Family poverty is the main financial cause of Tess tragedy. Her father is a hawker which is disrespected by the farmers also the wealthy people. But the family burden is very heavy, and the poor couple has seven children. It’s because the family poverty that urges Tess goes to Alec’s home, and leads Tess in danger of being seduced. After her father died, her family was homeless, which leads to Alec find the right time to control her again. It’s easy to find that family poverty is the root economic cause of her sufferings. The parents’ ignorance is another important cause of Tess tragedy. Their ignorance was first manifested in the hope that they could change their living conditions with helpless ancestors, and decided that Tess, who had no knowledge of the world, would go to strange unprotected places to find wealthy relatives to help them, leading her to fall into the evil clutches.
Secondly, after Tess was harmed, her mother thought that Tess should marry Alec to ensure her future life without considering Tess own willing. Finally, after Tess’ child’s death, her father refused to allow the priest to enter the house to baptize the child. Tess can only baptize the illegitimate child herself with her young sisters and brothers. In fact, the child has no fault. Her father’s attitude towards her child hurts her too much. The attitudes of the people around them and the thoughts of their parents forced Tess to suffer both physical and mental torture. Kind and responsible Tess could not refuse parental pressure, but her parents were so ignorant that indirectly led her to death.
Love between Her and Angel Causes Her Tragedy
Love is an indispensable theme in human history, and it is also a shining part of literary creation. In human history and many literary works, it is not difficult to see that women have sacrifice and dedication in the face of love. Shakespeare once said that fragile, your name is a woman. In fact, women are very resilient organisms. In front of their loved ones, they can be delicate, but under the pressure of life, they can be tough and unyielding.
The Tragedy “Tess of the D’Urbervilles”. (2022, Feb 09). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/the-tragedy-tess-of-the-d-urbervilles-essay
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