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Tess of the D’Urbervilles

Thomas Hardy

Start date: February 1, 2014

Finish date: February 28, 2014

Discussion: February 2014 - Tess

Why we're reading this: Tess of the d’Urbervilles and other novels, Hardy demonstrates his deep sense of moral sympathy for Engla…more
[close] Tess of the d’Urbervilles and other novels, Hardy demonstrates his deep sense of moral sympathy for England’s lower classes, particularly for rural women. He became famous for his compassionate, often controversial portrayal of young women victimized by the self-righteous rigidity of English social morality. Perhaps his most famous depiction of such a young woman is in Tess of the d’Urbervilles. This novel and the one that followed it, Jude the Obscure (1895), engendered widespread public scandal with their comparatively frank look at the sexual hypocrisy of English society. (Taken from http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/tess/co...)

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February 2014 - Tess

Angel vs. Alec
By Lindsey · 6 posts · 111 views

last updated Feb 26, 2016 02:27AM

Movie/TV Adaptations
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last updated Oct 21, 2015 10:49AM

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Oct 11, 2015 Yun Yi rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. (spoilers)

Just finished reading Tess of the d'Urbervilles, the first Thomas Hardy I've ever read, will not be the last for sure. I wonder what made me to neglect this literature classic for so long. I watched movie "Tess" when I was a teenager, it somehow didn't strike me as hard as "Jane Eyre" or some other films adapted from literature masterpieces. Recently, for some obscure reasons I picked up the original book, found myself immediately drawn into the story.

There's not much I could say about (spoilers)

Just finished reading Tess of the d'Urbervilles, the first Thomas Hardy I've ever read, will not be the last for sure. I wonder what made me to neglect this literature classic for so long. I watched movie "Tess" when I was a teenager, it somehow didn't strike me as hard as "Jane Eyre" or some other films adapted from literature masterpieces. Recently, for some obscure reasons I picked up the original book, found myself immediately drawn into the story.

There's not much I could say about this book that is not been already said by others. Tess - an astonishingly beautiful peasant girl, a "fine creature", yet unbelievably selfless even downtrodden, tries relentlessly to make a better life for her family and herself, ends up being hanged. Not even that, none of the miserable happenings befall her is her fault, but she endures them all nonetheless. The tragedy is simply beyond anyone can bare. Her ultimate sacrifice seems avoidable, as I myself already "designed" a dozen of different endings, however, I have to admit, what she does at the end - murdering Alec d'Urbervilles is completely understandable under the context. Basically, Thomas Hardy just created a flawless tragedy, let his readers continue to moan for her heroine for centuries.

Yes, it's still valid to argue, that Tess doesn't have to kill Alec. But thinking through all her life, it would be too much for her to be rational at that mind-blown moment. She has suffered too much for too long. She puts all those burdens on her slim shoulder since she was still a child, takes charge of things that her parents are responsible for. And she is raped, taken advantage by a man she doesn't love simply because she wants to help her family! And at the end, she gives herself up again to her rapist only for save her family. The painful fact is, despite her complete altruism, Tess herself thinks she is responsible for all of her troubles, and her not being "pure" is (more or less) her own fault! That's why at the end, when Angel comes back to her, she feels she loses all hope because she has been sleeping with Alec again!

In my life I found, that if one is used to give, one would always give; and those who surround him/her would be so used to "take" and they would always do. It seems from certain perspectives, human population can be simple divided into two categories: those who give and whose who take. Tess falls in to the first category, but by an extreme measure. More tragically, at the moment she finally gets her love - Angel Clare, he turns out to be a victim - or "slave", by Hardy's word - of moral tradition, cannot forgive Tess's "stained" past. All these suffering, disappointment and despair, inevitably lead Tess to her final explosion, channels all her anger into the one who she believes responsible for all her misery.

Who is culprit? It can be Alec d'Urbervilles, or her husband Angel Clare. If we go a little deeper, it can be her destitute family, her parents - her alcoholic father and her somewhat selfish mother. Yet if we make one step farther, it's doubtlessly the social ideology, the double stance on sexual relationship. Or, ultimately, that "President of the Immortal", the fate, who "played" this brutal life game against beautiful, pure, hapless yet tenacious Tess d'Urbervilles.

It's a real tragedy: a possibly most beautiful creature ever being created then being destroyed, so unnecessary yet so UNAVOIDABLY.

Hardy was not only a master of flawless plot, but also a poet. The pastoral landscape under his pen is so amazingly alive, so humane and sometime even propitious, that in the contrast to Tess's fate, it confuses us, goes beyond our comprehension.

What a sad yet thrilling reading experience! But, I am glad I finally discovered Hardy. Looking forward for more of his masterpieces!
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Aug 12, 2012 Mochaspresso rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

What a sad and tragic story! It says so much about the plight of women in Victorian England and how one act can ruin a life forever. Although, to be honest, I don't place all of the blame for Tess' plight on Alec taking advantage of her. She and her foolish pride were her own worst enemies. Thomas Hardy seems to have a penchant for unnecessarily long winded descriptions of details that I don't find important to the story, but otherwise, I loved it....even with it's sad ending.
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