Tess of the d'Urbervilles

Tess of the d’Urbervilles  is a tragic novel written by Thomas Hardy and published in the late nineteenth century. The majority of the novel takes place in the West Country, where Hardy grew up, and the protagonist Tess is a virtuous milkmaid from a simple family. The novel starts with Tess' father, John Durbeyfield, discovering he is decsendent from a long line of wealthy landowners named the d'Urbervilles (notice the similarity between the two surnames) who were believed to have died out long ago. The story is about the drama and tradegy that follow this discovery.

The character of Tess Durbeyfield is highly amiable, and throughout the novel she is portrayed as a good person who suffers from bad luck, highlighting one of the themes of the novel; fate. Many of the rural characters in the novel dismiss mishappenings as events of fate, and Tess is the same until she is influenced to consider her beliefs by her love Angel Clare. Tess' change in view may also have been a result of the pain she suffers as a result of preventable misfortune.

Angel Clare is from a privaleged family; his father is a devoted theologian and he is the youngest of two brothers, both of whom attend Cambridge. However Clare decides to abandon the opportunities a wealthy family gives him and instead pursues a life alongside nature as a farmer. In doing so Clare goes against the social norm and consequently meets Tess. Perhaps Hardy is criticising traditional Victorian values- which were highly patriarchal, prejudice and rigid.  

One of the things I found most interesing in a novel which intrigued me to the very end was Hardy's use of small, incidental characters and the role they played in foreshadowing the plot structure. For example, immediately following the marriage of Clare and Tess, when they are leaving the dairy where their courtship took place, a crow is heard. Upon this Hardy writes that "two men were standing by the yard gate, holding it open. 'That's bad.' one murmered to the other, not thinking that the words could be heard by the group at the door-wicket." Hearing a crow upon matrimony is an old superstition meaning bad luck, and the two men appear briefly to inform the reader of this.

The language of the novel is undoubtably beautiful, meaningful and deepy philosophical. The most powerful language is used when describing the feeling of divine love between the two young lovers: "Her affection for him was now the breath and life of Tess’s being; it enveloped her as a photosphere, irradiated her into forgetfulness of her past sorrows, keeping back the gloomy spectres that would persist in their attempts to touch her- doubt, fear, moodiness, care, shame." Furthermore Tess is described early on as the "merest stray phenomenon to Angel Clare as yet- a rosy warm apparition which had only just acquired the attribute of persistence in his consciousness." Once grasped, the dialogue and description created by Hardy are highly rewarding, and enrich a novel which makes a great contribution to my course Love through the Ages.