Tess of the D’Urbervilles is written by Thomas Hardy who is a famous British novelist and poet. He carried forward and developed the literary traditions of the Victorian Age and is also considered as “Shakespeare of British novels”. This book initially appeared in a censored and serialized version, published by the British illustrated newspaper The Graphic in 1891. Last summer vacation, I watched the film Tess starred by Nastassja Kinski with my friends. At that time I was deeply impressed by the plot and Tess’s tragic fate. So I would like to read the original book---- Tess of the D’Urbervilles.
The story is about the tragic life of Tess D’Urbervilles, the daughter of a poor family. Tess was a peasant girl. She is sent by her mother to claim kindred with a more prosperous branch of the D’Urbervilles family because she has to support her poor family. Tess is seduced by Alec, the son of the family which she serves for, and then gives birth to a child. However, the child dies in infancy, which makes her very depressed. After that, she goes to work on a dairy farm, and then she is engaged to Angel Clare, the son of a clergyman. On their wedding night, they tell each other about their past, hoping to be forgiven by each other. However, Clare leaves her after that because he can’t accept the truth. Then Tess becomes a labor again. She is insulted and ill-treated by her master. What’s worse, her father’s death and the poor condition of her family drives her to seek help from Alec who is a preacher now, and she can do nothing but to abbey him. Angel Clare comes back and wants to be reconciled to Tess, but the fact that Tess’ living with Alec hinders her from coming back to Clare. At last, Tess kills Alec in despair and she is soon arrested and hanged.
Hardy’s novels greatly carried forward and developed the traditions of English realism. In terms of Tess, its plot is concentrative and highly structured. The writer describes the mental world of characters and details in story smoothly. This novel has a wonderful portrayal of the natural scenery. For example” He mounted and sped on his way; while Tess stood and waited. The atmosphere turned pale. The birds shook themselves in the hedges, arose, and twittered; the lane showed all its white features, and Tess showed hers, till whiter. The huge pool of blood in front of her was already assuming the iridescence of coagulation; and when the sun rose a hundred prismatic hues were reflected from it.” Also, contrast is widely used in this novel which has made great contributions to highlight the theme. For instance, the contrast between the D’Urbervilles and the Durbeyfield is obvious. The former is poor while the latter is rich. Clare and Alex is another contrast. The former is kind while the latter is promiscuous. What’s more, the writer adds some mystery plots. For instance, the horrible legend of the wagon, Clare’s sleepwalking to put Tess into the sarcophagus. All these descriptions are the skills taken by the writer to highlight Tess’s tragic fate.
Hardy’s works reflected the changes of social economy, political, moral and tradition when the hypocritical bourgeoisie invaded the countries in England, especially exposed women’s tragic life and hypocrisy of bourgeoisie morals, legal and religious. His works not only inherit the great tradition of England realism, but also pioneer the way for 20th century British literature. The story in this novel happened in the late of Victorian era. At this time, Capitalist class controlled the society, and the law serviced for them. Farmers were at the bottle of the society, they had no equal right as the capitalist class. Tess as a woman in the Victorian era，she cannot avoid the “Hegemony” father right consciousness to “woman” nature understanding and severe social etiquette. And the patriarchal social system made women lost their independent status. The misfortune of Tess is caused by the social economy, politics and class status as well as the stable view of women chastity in the society which male is centre. Tess is different from other peasant girls at that time in that she dares to fight against the corrupt customs and its effects. She leaves home the second time , falls in love with Clare, goes through a lot of things , finally kills Alex and is caught and killed. This progress shows her rebellion against the bad customs. But her fighting spirit is not radical. She has the idea that her misfortune is unchangeable. Whenever she is confronted with any adversity, she will accept it with the attitude of endurance and self-sacrifice. Innocent as she thinks she is, she still feels guilty in face of his husband.
After finishing this novel, I am moved by Tess for her bravery and courage to pursue love but also sympathize with her for her incapability to change her fate since she is in that kind of social environment. In conclusion, this book reflects the real society at that time and the writer Hardy successfully portrayed the image of heroine Tess and revealed the hypocritical ethics and morals of bourgeois society.
