Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'urbervilles

Tess of the D'urbervilles is a book written by Thomas Hardy who used intricate details throughout his book to convey a greater message. One of the most significant details he provided were the numerous contrasting settings. Harding used the differences that the settings provided throughout the novel in order to tell a story about the life of a young girl named Tess D'urberville. It was also through these contrasting places that Harding was able to help the readers have a better understanding of what Tess D'urbervilles character entailed.

He started his story in a place named Marlott. Marlott was where Tess was born and where she grew up. It was a place that represented innocence and naivety. Soon however after her family planning to send her away to “claim kin” and work for nearby D'urbervilles Tess is shipped off to the mansion of the Slopes. On the way however she couldn't help but look back at the place she grew up and feel sad that she was leaving everything behind.

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It is at the Slopes that Tess feels hopeless and cannot get away from the incessant character Alec D'urberville, which in the end leads to her being violated and then raped in The Chase, the woods along the outskirts of the Slopes.

So, in turn, Harding created the Slopes and The Chase to be places that sparked sadness and fear among readers. He used this new found place as a way to represent the negative things that come to innocent people that happen due to unfair fate.

It is also at the Slopes that Tess becomes pregnant due to the rape and had to go back to Marlott ashamed and gave birth to a son who she named Sorrow. Tragically her baby Sorrow died after living for such a short time and she buried him in a Churchyard. It was through this last event that Harding was able to ensure that the Slopes and The Chase contributed to the storyline by leaving the readers with a dark and sinister tone towards the place.

Harding then continued his story by having Tess leave the Slopes and go to Talbothays Dairy. It was there that Tess had hoped to move on from the death of her child and forget about Alec and losing her once innocent and naive self. Talbothays Dairy was created to be a place where Tess could find hope and create a new beginning for herself. It is also at the Dairy that Tess fell in love with a man named Angel. Not long after Tess and Angel get married on December 31.

However, it was after the marriage took place and at the old D'urberville mansion that Angel confessed to her his discretion with another woman in London, which goes to show that he too is not the perfect man and that Tess understood people made mistakes and she was able to forgive him. So overall London was a place that represented Angel’s past mistakes and helped show a part of Tess’s forgiving nature. It was also at that time and place that Tess was finally able to confess her past to Angel. However, sadly, Angel could not look past the fact that she was no longer what he had envisioned. After some time, however, he did end up believing that he could try to forgive her for her past but that it would take time and he then decided to send her home and said not to come to seek him out, that he would come to get her when he had come to fully forgive her. So in a sense, the old D'urberville mansion was supposed to be a place of happiness due to her getting to be with someone she loved deeply, yet it turned into a place of misery due to her husband's inability to see past the terrible things she went through in the past. Not only that but it represents a place of lost hope since she arrived there thinking she would spend the rest of her life happily married to Angel only to have him tell her to go home and to know that she had lost that momentary glance of happiness.

Angel then tried to start up a farm in Brazil but failed. So, in a way, Brazil is the place that Angel was trying to seek emotional refuge and think of something other than what he would do about Tess. All in all, Brazil signifies new hopes and dreams that do not come true. As this was happening Tess decided to go to Flintcomb Ash and her friend Mirian helped her find work there. It is there that Tess met Alec D'urberville again after stumbling upon him preaching. After running from Alec he finally reached her and made her swear to never tempt him again at a stone monument called the Cross-in-Hand, which sadly after asking what the monument signifies she finds out that it was a bad omen. Which sadly leads to be true because a few days later Alec went to Tess and asked her to marry him, which was something she had hoped she would be able to steer clear from.

She declined all of his offers and after the tragic news of her father's death, she and her family went to move to a place called Kingsbere, which was something that was thought of as a new beginning for her family but turned sour when they arrived due to all of the rooms being rented out already. This is yet again another place that built up Tess’s hopes to then take it away upon arrival which helped the story to fully implement the idea into the reader's heads that nothing can go Tess’s way. However, after many more offers from Alec of marriage and no other better options, along with a family who is financially unprotected, Tess agreed to marry him and be under his financial protection.

The newly married couple then went on to Sandborne, specifically an expensive lodging place called The Herons. This new place was meant to represent yet another idea of a new beginning just in a different way. The author changed the setting to Sandbourne to give the readers yet another spark of hope that maybe this time at this new place something good will be able to turn up for Tess. But, as has happened throughout the entire book, this idea is soon squished when Angel comes back for Tess professing his love and that he had forgiven her, only to find that she was no longer available. This event contributes to the storyline by emotionally engaging the readers further by having a “so close but still so far” moment between the characters.

This led to a big emotional moment in the story when Tess then had to decide whether to stay with Alec or go after the man she had loved and had been waiting to come for her. After a confrontation with Alec, her decision was made and she stabbed him in their room at The Heron lodge and ran after Angel. The room they shared at The Heron, in turn, represented the end to her despair and suffering throughout the years. It was the place that allowed her to break free of the misery that had been following her for many years and finally be free. To finally be able to go after the man she had loved and fought for. The pair then went on to a place called Stonehenge to try and hide from the people searching for Tess and there she expressed to Angel her wishes for after she was dead. Soon the search had come to an end and Angel had given one last request to the men, that they please wait until she had woken up before they execute her.

Tess soon after woke up and saw that the men had come for her, however, she was not afraid rather she was relieved. Later Angel and Tess’s sister Liza Lu were at Wintoncester when a black flag was raised, signifying that Tess had been executed. All in all, it was at Stonehenge where Tess finally could rest in peace. It represented the final end to her misfortunes and the tragic end to a love that had not yet had enough time to flourish. In the end, it can be seen that Harding used these intricate settings throughout the novel to help guide the readers to a better understanding of Tess and her character as a whole as well as allow the readers to fully grasp the meaning of the novel as a whole.