DIPLOMSKI RAD

Tess of the D’Urbervilles as a Wessex Novel

Chapter I Introduction Page 3

Chapter II Heroine of Wessex country Page 7

Chapter III A portrait of nature in Wessex Page 11

Chapter IV Tess of the D’Urbervilles as a Wessex novel Page 14

Chapter V Conclusion Page 23

Chapter VI Bibliography Page 26

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 Chapter 1
Introduction

Hardy, Thomas (1840-1928), English novelist and poet of the

naturalist movement, who powerfully delineated characters, portrayed in his
native Dorset, struggling helplessly against their passions and external
circumstances.

Hardy was born in Higher Bockhampton, Dorsetshire, June 2, 1840,

and educated in local schools and later privately . His father, a stonemason,
apprenticed him earty to a local architect engaged in restoring old churches.
From 1862 to 1867 Hardy worked for an architect in London and later
continued to practice architecture, despite ill health, in Dorset. Meanwhile,
he was writing poetry with little success1874 he was able to support himself
by writing. This is also the year that Hardy married his first wife, Emma
Gifford. Their marriage lasted until her death in 1912, which prompted Hardy
to write his collection of poems called Veteris Vestigiae. He then turned to
novels as more salable, and by Flammae (Vestiges of an Old Flame). These
poems are some of Hardy's finest and describe their meeting and his
subsequent loss. In 1914 Florence Dugdale became Hardy's second wife and
she wrote his biography after he died in Dorchester, on January 11, 1928.

Hardy anonymously published two early novels. Desperate Remedies

(1871) and Under the Greenwood Tree (1872). The next two, A Pair of Blue
Eyes (1873) and Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), in his own name, were
well received. Far from the Madding Crowd was adapted for the screen in
1967. In the latter he portrayed Dorsetshire as the imaginary country of
Wessex. The novel is, however, not invested with the tragic gloom of his later

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novels. Some lesser works followed, including The Woodfanders (1887) and
two volumes of short stories, Wessex Tales (1888) and Life's Little Ironies
(1894).

Along with Far from the Madding Crowd, Hardy's best novels are The
Return of the Native (1878), which is his most closely knit narrative; The
Mayor of Casterbridge (1886); Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891), made into a
movie called Tess in 1979; and Jude the Obscure (1895). All are pervaded by
a belief in a universe dominated by the determinism of the biology of
Charles Darwin and the physics of the 17th-century philosopher and
mathematician Sir Isaac Newton. Occasionally the determined fate of the
individual is altered by chance, but the human will loses when it challenges
necessity. Through intense, vivid descriptions of the heath, the fields, the
seasons, and the weather, Wessex attains a physical presence in the novels
and acts as a mirror of the psychological conditions and the fortunes of the
characters. These fortunes Hardy views with irony and sadness. In Victorian
England, Hardy did indeed seem a blasphemer, particularly in Jude, which
treated sexual attraction as a natural force unopposable by human will.
Criticism of Jude was so harsh that Hardy announced he was "cured" of
writing novels.

At the age of 55 Hardy returned to writing poetry, a form he had

previously abandoned. Wessex Poems (1898) and Poems of the Past and
Present (1901) contained poems he had written earlier. In The Dynasts,
written between 1903 and 1908, Hardy created what some consider his most
successful poetry. An unstageable epic drama in 19 acts and 130 scenes,
deals with the role of England during the Napoleonic Wars. Hardy's vision is
the same in his novels: History and the actors, who are racked by feeling, are

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nevertheless dominated by necessity. Hardy's short poems, both lyric and
visionary, were published as Time's Laughing Stocks (1909), Satires of
Circumstances (1914), Moments of Vision (1917), Late Lyrics and Earlier
(1922), Human Shows, Far Fantasies (1925), and Winter Words (1928).
Hardy's techniques of rhythm and his diction are especially noteworthy.
Among his most successful shorter poems are "Channel Firing, April
1914/nWessex Heights,""!!! Tenebris, I,"Godfs Funeral," and "Nature's
Questioning."

Thomas Hardy died in Dorset on January 11, 1928." His heart was buried
in the Wessex countryside in the parish churchyard at Stinsford; his ashes
were placed next to those of Charles Dickens in the Poets' Corner of
Westminster Abbey.

Etched against the background of a dying rural society, Tess of the

d'Urbervilles was Thomas Hardy's 'bestseller/ and Tess Durbeyfield
remains his most striking and tragic heroine. Of all the characters he
created, she meant the most to him. Hopelessly torn between two men—
Alec d'Urberville, a wealthy, dissolute young man who seduces her in a
lonely wood, and Angel Clare, her provincial, moralistic, and unforgiving
husband— Tess escapes from her vise of passion through a horrible,
desperate act.

“Like the greatest characters in literature, Tess liyes beyond the final
pages of the book as a permanent citizen of the imagination,'. 'In Tess he
stakes everything on his sensuous apprehension of a young woman's life, a
girl who is at once a simple milkmaid and an archetype of feminine

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strength. . . . Tess is that rare creature in literature: goodness made
interesting.”

Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891) is generally regarded as Hardy's finest

novel. A brilliant tale of seduction betrayal, and murder, Tess of the d'Ubervilles
yields to narrative convention by punishing Tess's sin, exposes this standard
denouement of unforgiving morality as cruelly unjust. Throughout, Hardy's me
and atmospheric language frames his shattering narrative.

The novel centers around a young woman who struggles to find her place
in society. When it is discovered the low-class Durbeyfield family is in reality
the d'Urbeivilles, the last of a famous bloodline that da hundreds of years, the
mother sends her eldest daughter, Tess, to beg money from relations with the
desire that Tess wed the rich Mr. d'Urberville, Thus begins a tale of woe in
which a wealthy man "i mistreats a poor girl. Tess is taken advantage of by
Mr. d'Urberville and leaves his house, returning she has their child, who
subsequently dies. Throughout the rest of this fascinating novel, Tess is tormer
at the thought of her impurity and vows to never marry. She is tested when
she meets Angel, the clever priest, and falls in love with him. After days of
pleading, Tess gives in to Angel and consents to marry Angel deserts Tess
when he finds the innocent country girl he fell in love whith is not so pure.

Tess of the d'Urbervilles, like the other major works by Thomas Hardy,
although technically a nineteenth century work, anticipates the twentieth
century in regard to the nature and treatment of its subject matter. Tess of
the d'Urbervilles was the twelfth novel published by Thomas Hardy. He
began the novel in 1889 and it was originally serialized in the Graphic after
being rejected by several other periodicals from July to December in 1891. It

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was finally published as a novel in December of 1891. The novel questions
society's sexual mores by compassionately portraying a heroine who is
seduced by the son of her employer and who thus is not considered a pure
and chaste woman by the rest of society. Upon its publication, Tess of the
d'Urbervilles encountered brutally hostile reviews; although it is now
considered a major work of fiction, the poor reception of Tess and Jude the
Obscure precipitated Thomas Hardy's transition from writing fiction to
poetry. Nevertheless, the novel was commercially successful and assured
Hardy's financial security.

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REFERENCE: Millgate, Michael, Thomas Harday;
His carreer as a novelist (London, 1971)
Chapter 2
Heroine of Wessex country

In the Vale of Blackmoor in rural Wessex lives a teenage girl, Tess

Durbeyfield.

The novel is about Tess- her personality, trials, growth, and

development. While many novels concern the interaction of characters, Tess
of the D'Urbervilles concentrates almost single-mindedly on the life of its

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heroine. The other characters are important only insofar as they affect Tess'
fate. Some readers see Tess as a detailed story of the psychology of an
unchaste woman- how she deals with her own morality.

Few novels concentrate as completely on one character as does Tess

of the D'Urbervilles. Hardy traces Tess' life from the age of sixteen until she
dies in her early twenties.

Tess is an unusual girl, full of contradictory emotions and actions. On

the one hand she's feisty and independent; on the other she's shy and easily
victimized. It's helpful to see her as a character caught between the old and
new social orders, independence and dependence, spirituality and passion.

“Most readers are divided into two camps on Tess- they see her either
as a victim (of fate, society, or her own sexuality) or as a heroic martyr,
responsible for her own tragic fate. The best way to deal with such a
complicated character is to try to see her in various lights.”

In his portrayal of Tess, Hardy begins with the melodramatic Victorian

stereotype of the "innocent seduced"- a girl whose life is ruined by those less
sensitive than herself. But Hardy takes his heroine beyond this popular
Victorian type, by beginning rather than ending the book with her "fall" and
dealing with her will to survive. Instead of committing suicide, Tess tries to
go on living and loving, staying true to her intentions and feelings.

Tess is overburdened with responsibilities for her family and her loved
ones. Though very resilient, she blames herself harshly for innocent
mistakes.

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 She's affectionate, sensual, and bright, though poorly educated. Tess
wants to better herself, not socially but as an individual. This is what attracts
her to Angel Clare.

She has many fears, probably because of her superstitious

background. Although she tries to live an orderly, modern, life, she finds
herself reverting to beliefs in fate and omens. When we compare her to
Angel and Alec, she seems fresher, less inhibited, and even wiser. Unlike
these men, she tries to combine thought and feeling. She is a daughter of
the earth rather than of the intellect.

Tess' character is a combination of her mother's fatalistic peasant

beliefs and her father's ancient aristocratic heritage. From the d'Urbervilles
she gets her socially rebellious, proud, and temperamental nature. Hardy
credits Tess' peasant side for her ability to survive. Her worn-out aristocratic
side seems to encourage lethargy and passivity. Sometimes Tess lets people
victimize her; as her mother says, she's easy to manipulate.

“Tess is often described as a hunted animal. She's very beautiful and

men are always pursuing her, either for purely sexual reasons or because
she represents an excitingly unformed life waiting to be molded. People are
always judging, pursuing, or rejecting her. Tess doesn't try to change
people; she respects their dignity and lets them make their own choices,
though she's there to help them in times of need.”

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 Gatrell Simon, Hardy and the proper study of Mankind, London, 1993.
2

Tess' relationships with Angel and Alec are major focal points in the

novel. Alec reflects her sensuality but she rejects his love because he has

few aspirations and doesn't seem to care sincerely for people. Angel, her

true love, is forever striving after the highest and best in life. However, he's

too steeped in traditional values and philosophical abstractions to translate

his dreams into reality.

Angel calls Tess a heathen, and Alec treats her like one. Tess is

religious, though not in a conventional way. She believes in being good and

charitable but refuses to believe that God- if there is one- would care more

about the letter than the spirit of the Bible. She takes tender care of the

wounded animals left in her charge.

Many readers ask whether Tess is the pure woman that Hardy insists

she is. Although you'll have to decide that for yourself, you are given one

unwavering picture of her- that of a lone woman trying, or at least willing, to

do good regardless of the horrors and temptations thrust in her way.

“Tess also has an irrational, violent side that Hardy attributes to her

ancient d'Urberville warrior heritage. It's this part of Tess that lashes out

against Alec and eventually drives her to murder him. While Hardy blames

her noble blood, we can see her fiery temper also as a primitive survival

tool.”

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 Her subservient attitude with Angel is the complete opposite of her

fury with Alec. Angel brings out not only her giving, sweet nature but also

her lethargic, self-denigrating tendencies. Perhaps one of Tess' big mistakes

is to let Angel's disappointment in her affect her so deeply; it nearly drives

her insane. Why do you think she puts so much faith in a man who could

turn on her so quickly? Tess is a tragic heroine; she's a lofty soul who is

destined to suffer and die. From the start of the novel we sense that she's

playing a losing game, though we can't help but hope for her each time she

picks herself up from despair and moves bravely on.

Most important, Tess is herself. She never tries to be more than she is.

Tess always reminds Angel and Alec that she is a poor, simple dairymaid.

She's not trying to become a grand lady. Tess' goals are to be happy and to

make those she loves happy, to try to live a good and giving life in a difficult

world. Do you think she succeeds?

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Bullen, J.B., The expressive Eye: Fiction and Perception in the work of Thomas Hardy, Oxford, 1986.
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Gregor, Ian, The Great web: Hardy’s major Fiction, London, 1974
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Chapter III
A portrait of nature in Wessex

Tess takes place in rural southern England in an area called Wessex

that roughly corresponds to present-day Dorset county. Wessex includes a
variety of landscapes, from fertile valleys to arid limestone beds, bordered
by heaths, sands, and the sea.

The countryside is almost a character in Tess. Much of the time the

settings reflect what's happening to Tess and the characters who influence
her life. Marlott, her hometown, is as secure as a mother's womb.
Talbothays, where she meets Angel, is fertile and expansive- the perfect
place for growth and romance. Flintcomb-Ash, where she waits hopelessly
for her husband to return, is an abject wasteland. Each station or place
where Tess stops is a testing place for her soul. Hardy's Wessex is so varied
that it can be seen as a microcosm of the world. Notice, however, that the
novel excludes large urban centers, though their influence can certainly be
seen in the market towns and railroad trains buzzing through the
countryside.

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 Tess abounds in natural imagery. Few books are as lush with
descriptions of natural life. To Hardy nature, like sexuality and society, has
its good and bad points. Nature can be wonderful, as it is at Talbothays
Dairy, where the land is fertile and life-renewing. It can also be harsh and
grueling, as it is at Flintcomb-Ash Farm, where the soil is thoroughly
inhospitable to growth.

Notice how nature also reflects the characters' emotions and fortunes.
For example, when Tess is happy, the sky is blue and birds sing. When
events turn out badly the earth appears harsh and coldly indifferent to her
agony. Nature is also depicted in the many journeys that take place in Tess.
Both traveling and the rhythms of nature are seen as causing fatigue. You'll
notice that as Tess nears the end of her life she doesn't want to move at all.
At the same time the natural rhythms of growth and seasonal change are
vital to earthly continuity.

Hardy's belief in the constant movement of human feeling between

pain and pleasure is also reflected in the seasonal nature of life. As you read
Tess be aware that Tess' life begins and ends in the spring, that she falls in
love during the fecund summer months, and that she marries, ominously, in
the dead of winter. Even her story is divided into seven phases. Rather than
calling these sections of the novel parts, Hardy uses the word phases to
emphasize that Tess' life is part of a cycle that includes all of nature.

Hardy's primary stance on nature is that it is the core of our existence;

regardless of individual fates it can and must strive forward.

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 "...Most of the things that make Hardy's novel fascinating get sugared
over in Karen Louise Hebden's adaptation and production; in particular the
ever-present sense of nature and of Tess as a trapped animal.”

Usually, we can look at the setting of a novel as a small portion of a

work. With Tess, however, nature is a close second only to the main
characters. Therefore, the reader is obligated to examine Hardy’s use of
setting and environment in Tess. Tess of the d’Urbervilles takes place in
Wessex, a region encompassing the southern English county of Dorset and
neighboring counties Hampshire, Wiltshire, Somerset, and Devon. The
setting consists of more than the location, however, particularly in this
novel. Nature, as a part of the setting, is an essential element in
understanding the novel. In addition, the countryside and the folk who
inhabit the area provide more than a mere backdrop upon which Hardy tells
his tale. They are, in fact, unnamed characters in the novel.

In Tess of the d’Urbervilles, the characters and setting mirror each

other. Tess moves from a world that begins in the beautiful regions around
Marlott. She goes to The Slopes to “claim kin” and the environment is lovely
and formal, but also contrived (consider the new house where she expected
to find an old one). The setting at Talbothays, where Tess experiences her
greatest happiness, is lush, green, and fertile. Flintcomb-Ash, on the other
hand, is a barren region, reflecting the harshness of the work and the
desolation of Tess’ life. The story ends in the equally mysterious Stonehenge
region.

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Grundy, Isabel, Hardy and the sister arts, London, 1979.
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Chapter IV
Tess od the D’Urbervilles as a Wessex novel

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 With his Wessex novels (Tess, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Far From
the Maddening Crowd, and Jude the Obscure), Hardy documented a way of
life, a pattern of speech, and a pattern of thought that serves as a historical
account of life in southern England at the end of the 1800s. As Simon Gatrell
notes in Kramer’s The Cambridge Companion to Thomas Hardy, “He had
begun to understand that he was the historian of a Wessex now passed, the
recorder of a series of unique micro-environments, ways of life and speech,
which together had formed a cultural whole.” This element makes Hardy’s
notation about Wessex life timeless. Also, we see a type of existence that
dated back several hundred years, possibly back to ancient times. Thus,
Tess, even though it is set within a specific timeframe, has an ethereal
quality that seems to transcend time.

The two main farms, Talbothays and Flintcomb-Ash, represent the best
and worst of farm life. The farm is the only world that Tess knows. She
never travels more than 50 miles from her place of birth. The whole of the
work is rurally set, and with the level of detail, we can see Hardy’s intimate
knowledge of the inner workings of a nineteenth-century farm.

Little evidence of machinery invades the novel and the main form of
transportation is either the horse or the horse cart. Draft animals are
necessary for survival and prosperity; we see evidence of Prince’s death and
the effect his passing has on the Durbeyfields. A new horse is very important
to the existence of the family. The entire series of chapters that follow
Prince’s death, with Tess going to The Slopes, is based on the economic
need for a horse. Only twice do we see “modern” machines in the novel, the
train delivering the Talbothays milk to London and the threshing machine

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used at Flintcomb-Ash. Otherwise, modern farming equipment is not a key
component of farming techniques practiced in Wessex.

A further comparison is the setting of the two farms. Talbothays is

portrayed as a beautiful place, in a rich agricultural region of southern
England—“the valley in which milk and butter grew to rankness, and were
produced more profusely, if less delicately, than at her home—the verdant
plain so well watered by the river Var or Froom.” We cannot help but be
charmed by the life of the dairy, with milking, churning butter, and making
cheeses. Furthermore, only positive things happen to Tess while she is
there. Flintcomb-Ash, on the other hand, with part of the name being “ash,”
is mired in mud, rocks, poor conditions, and near starvation. Marian,
formerly of Talbothays, has come to Flintcomb for work and calls the new
farm “a starve-acre place. Corn and swedes [rutabagas] are all they grow.”
Alec reappears at the farm to begin his renewed “courtship” of Tess. Farmer
Groby’s treatment of his hired hands is not as sympathetic as Dairyman
Crick’s as he tells Tess, “But we’ll see which is master here.”

Taken as a whole, the villages of Marlott, Emminster, and Trantridge

are small towns easily managed by visitors and townsfolk alike. The vast
countryside of the novel, the rich farmland or the poorer farm areas, outline
an important part of nineteenth-century English agriculture, one where the
newly founded Industrial Revolution has yet to take hold. It is upon this
framework that Hardy writes one of his best novels.

Some writers draw little from their birthplace. For Thomas Hardy,
however, the Dorset region of England (known in his novels as Wessex)
where he was born, raised, and lived nearly all his life, was the vital

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wellspring and setting of most of his novels. Born in 1840, he spent his
childhood in a fertile rural region, full of old folk superstitions, ballads, and
fatalistic beliefs. At the same time, modern industrial life was creeping into
Dorset and its old-style agrarianism (farming life) was fast fading. In many
ways, Thomas Hardy lived between the old world and the new, trying to
fashion a truce between the two in his fictional creations.

The Victorian Age in which Hardy lived was alive with contradictions
and conflicts. While people were supposed to live in accordance with the
Bible and its ethics, they all too often took the sacred words in a harsh,
literal sense rather than with a spirit of mercy and compassion. At the same
time many of these social and religious dogmas did more to keep the poor
serving the new wealthy middle classes than to promote the good of
humanity. We’ll see how unjustly Tess is treated by a society that obeys the
letter rather than the spirit of the law. We’ll also see in Hardy’s novel how
money and power can cause people to compromise human dignity and
liberty.Like the fictional d’Urbervilles, Hardy’s family had been prominent in
the past, with a number of philanthropists, famous generals, and barons.
But by the time Tommy, as his parents called him, was born, his family, like
Tess’, had lost its wealth, power, and prominence. Hardy’s father, a mason
and house-builder, was a craftsman. His mother’s family members, once
part of the landed gentry, were now poor servants. From his mother, Hardy
inherited a fascination for old, extinct families, a love of classical books, and
a certain plainfolk fatalism in which “what will be, will be.” His father was a
boisterous man who loved playing the fiddle with Tommy at church affairs
and local folk festivities, like the ones we’ll see in Tess. Hardy’s love for
music is obvious in the melodic, ballad-like quality of his finest works. The

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story of Tess is very much like the oldtime ballads Hardy heard as a Dorset
boy. These traditional songs abound with fair young maids murdering their
seducers and star-crossed lovers lying dead- but still embracing- under
greenwood trees.The Hardys were avid churchgoers, and the Bible was
probably Tommy’s first reader. You’ll notice when you read Tess that Hardy
quotes the Bible extensively. Like Angel Clare, a major character in Tess,
Hardy was originally bound for the clergy, but his family’s economic needs,
as well as his own religious doubts, caused him to become an architect
instead. He loved Shakespeare and followed with interest all the newest
evolutionary creeds, as well as the determinist philosophies of his times.

You’ll see all these influences in Tess. Hardy was always a shy,
reclusive individual who loved the solitary, naturefilled life of the Dorset
countryside. He never felt at home in cities. He became seriously ill and
depressed during both his extended stays in London. Even as a boy he was
fascinated by the grotesque, which figures largely in the ancient forests and
d’Urberville crypts of Tess. He observed two hangings in his childhood. He
viewed one hanging avidly from the top of a hill with a telescope. This
hanging is memorialized in Tess. Roman and Druidic ruins were all around
Hardy in Dorset, and their rough majesty and wild paganism sent his vivid
imagination soaring, as we’ll see in the Stonehenge sequence of Tess.

Primitive edifices turn up throughout Tess, forcing us to see Hardy’s

characters within an historic and universal framework. Hardy took great
pride in restoring old churches, in which 500 years of varying architectural
styles might be present in one building. His work on such churches may
have taught him how to combine and intermix several eras in his literary
works. Throughout Tess, history ties everything together. The characters are

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forever floating back and forth between daily humdrum existence and noble
pasts.

Hardy’s job as an architect entailed meeting many colorful local folk

who spoke the rich and rough Dorset dialect. Hardy uses this dialect in Tess
to represent the common folk and lend a special, lyrical rhythm to the novel.
Tess herself, like Thomas Hardy, spoke the dialect as well as the Standard
English that was just beginning to be taught in the schools. Like Angel,
Hardy was emotionally tied to rural England, but was too well educated to
feel he completely belonged there.

Everyone, after reading Tess, has to wonder if there was a real-life

model for its fascinating heroine. No one knows for sure, but there is some
well-founded conjecture that Tess is based on Hardy’s beautiful, mysterious
cousin, Tryphenia Sparks. Hardy may have once been in love with
Tryphenia, who died just months before Hardy began writing Tess. After her
death, Hardy wrote impassioned poems to her on the theme that “absence
makes the heart grow fonder.” Angel Clare expresses similar sentiments in
Tess.

Many readers see Tess as a social novel in which the heroine

represents the old agrarian order battling against the new industrial order.
These readers focus on her relationship and irreconcilable conflict with Alec,
who represents the new middle-class rulers of Britain. Men like Alec have
much money and power, but unlike the old rulers (such as Tess' d'Urberville
ancestors), their power comes not from the land but from industry. As a
symbol of the new order Alec is depicted as estranged from nature,

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irresponsible, unfocused, and insensitive to those he rules. Tess, as a
representative of the old agrarian order, is seen as warm, charitable, in
harmony with the land, but also exhausted.

We often see Tess at the mercy of machines, particularly the thresher

at Flintcomb-Ash with its ghoulish engineer. Hardy actually traps his heroine
between serving the incessantly moving thresher and falling off into Alec
d'Urberville's waiting arms. When Tess and her family are driven from
Marlott, they encounter hoards of other transient farm families forced to live
a nomadic life under the new factory-like agricultural system. Uprooted from
their stable lives they lose their sense of individuality and community
tradition; they are treated worse than machines. As you read Tess try to
decide if Hardy thinks that the new system is completely bad, or that the old
one is completely good. You'll probably find that he's trying to honestly
examine both systems to discover the best in both, in order to develop, as
Angel Clare desires, a more ideal new system.

The narrative technique of an author in any novel is crucial to the

readers understanding of the narrative. The way in which a novel is written
influences the way in which the reader interprets the events which occur
throughout the novel and allows the author to convey the feeling of time,
place, and people in the society in which the author is attempting to impart
to his or her readers. In Tess of the D'Urbervilles, author Thomas Hardy uses
a variety of narrative techniques in order to convey his own impressions of
the society in which both he and his character Tess lived. Hardy's use of a
third person omniscient narrator who is all knowing adds to the vulnerability
of Tess by the reader's knowledge of what other characters say and do,
whilst simultaneously detaching himself from the tragedy of Tess. The use of

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extensive description of setting by Hardy allows the reader to interpret the
action, reactions, and moods of the characters in relation to the specific
atmosphere in which they exist at the time and the influence which such a
setting has on the character's feelings and emotions. Hardy's use of religious
and mythological allusions and metaphysical symbols allow the reader to
reflect on the religious and sociocultural environments in which the narrative
is set so as to allow the reader to better understand and interpret the
actions and emotions of the characters due to the reader's knowledge of
their environmental influences. An effective narrative technique used by
Hardy is the provision of a more direct means of communication between his
characters and the reader. This is achieved through the use of dialogue,
letter writing, and songs and poetry. Dialogue between characters allows
Hardy to present his characters to his readers in a more direct way. It
permits Hardy to allow his readers to interpret the characters in a way which
is less influenced by his own narration and by which the readers are able to
judge for themselves the characters by how they speak and communicate
with others as well as the content of their converse. Letter writing and songs
and poetry allow the reader to be directly informed of the actions and their
rationale as well as the feelings of a specific character by which the reader is
able to interpret these being influenced by the specific character rather than
Hardy himself, and also allows the reader an insight into the social and
cultural backgrounds of the society as reasoning for the characters
behaviour and emotions. The way we read, interpret, and reflect on a novel
is greatly influenced by the author and his or her use of narrative techniques
in order to appropriately convey the characters and their society.

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 Setting in this case refers to the specific surrounding environment and
it's atmosphere in which a character exists at a specific point in time. The
particular setting in which a character exists reflects the character's moods,
actions, reactions, and their rationale for these, whilst the setting also
influences how a character behaves. Hardy's comprehensive description of
these settings also conveys to the reader the insignificance of individual
characters in relation to the social atmosphere in which they live as a whole.
Upon the commencement of chapter two, Hardy describes the county of
Marlott and the surrounding Vale of Blackmoor in terms of its rural beauty
and cultural atmosphere whereby a May Day dance is being held. This
description of setting reflects the peaceful atmosphere of the county at that
time, much like that of Tess and her family, creating suspense for the events
to come. Prior to Alec's violation of Tess, Hardy describes the setting of
Chaseborough as "a decayed market town" (Chapter 10) where Alec, Tess,
and their companions have chosen to spend their evening drinking. An
atmosphere of chaos and disorder has thus been set with Tess's intoxicated
and unruly companions turning into "satyrs clasping nymphs" (Chapter 10).
This creation of a embroiled and uncomfortable environment for Tess alerts
the reader to advancing events. Hardy makes note of the fog in the woods
which is regarded as a metaphorical representation of entrapment. It is
during this tumult that Alec takes advantage of the sleeping Tess. In the
second phase of the novel, Tess is seen making her way back to Marlott at
which point she is overtaken by Alec. Tess refuses converse with him and
leaves him to go down the "crooked lane" (chapter 12). It is here where we
realise that Hardy's created topography of Wessex represents the moral
condition of the characters. Two distinct setting placed in stark contrast to
each other are Tess's journey to The Slopes where Alec lives and Tess's

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journey to Talbothay's dairy. Upon departing for The Slopes, Tess is
reluctant and indisposed to her impending situation. She does not enjoy the
journey in the least, feeling that her excursion will result in unwanted
consequences. However travelling to Talbothays Tess's ride is swift and
pleasant. Tess feels a sense of purpose in beginning a fresh new chapter of
her life, and considers the journey more of a "pilgrimage" (chapter 16).
Upon arriving at the dairy, Tess observes that this a place of good spirits
where "she appeared to feel that she really had laid a new foundation for her
future" (chapter 16). Hardy juxtaposes the residences of both Alec and
Angel, contrasting Alec's estate on The Slopes and Angel's elevated dwelling.
This contrast in setting reflects Tess's respective relationships between
herself and both Alec and Angel. In the midst of the blossoming relationship
between Tess and Angel at the dairy, Hardy describes the setting as "oozing
fatness and warm ferments... the hiss of fertilisation...

Hardy's characters are greatly influenced by the religious and social

environments in which they live. Religious and mythological allusions enable
Hardy to convey these aspects of his society to his readers. In the opening
of the novel, the first character the readers are introduced to is Parson
Tringham. No physical description is given and his dialogue is limited,
creating an alluding and mysterious figure. The parson represents the
religiosity of Hardy's society and communicates to the readers that this is a
religious society, whilst also setting the scene for Tess's introduction to the
readers and for the events to come. At the commencement of the second
phase of the novel "maiden no more", Tess is seen burdened with a heavy
basket and a large bundle. This can be regarded as the metaphysical symbol
of oppression and hardship. Some time later as Tess and Angel depart from

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the dairy after their wedding ceremony, a cock is heard crowing. Such is an
omen of bad luck, and according to biblical references, the cock crowing
three times as it had done intensifies the omen even more. This religious
allusion represents the religious implications and consequences for Tess's
decision not to inform Angel of her past, whilst also creating suspense for
the reader as to the events to come.

An effective narrative technique used by Hardy is dialogue between

characters. How a character speaks and what they say allow a greater
insight into the nature of their individuality. It permits the reader to judge
the characters on the basis of their own communication with other
characters rather than on Hardy's own interpretation of their converse.
Dialogue also informs the reader of a specific character's thoughts and
feelings as well as their intentions and rationale for previous actions.

Hardy's use of an omniscient narrator, descriptive setting, allusion and

metaphysical symbols, and letter writing and songs in Tess of the
D'Urbervilles enables Hardy to influence the way his readers understand an
interpret the events of the novel. These narrative techniques are highly
effective in establishing a relationship between the characters and the reader
and also in conveying to the readers the various aspects of Hardy's society.
An understanding of these religious, social, and cultural aspects allows the
reader to rationalise the actions and emotions of the characters in relation to
the society in which these characters live. It is crucial for the readers to
comprehend the background and aspects of Hardy's society in order that
they be able to realistically explicate the plot of the novel in relation to the
environment in which the characters exist.

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 Chapter V
Conclusion

Tess is also one of the few tragic novels in the Victorian fictional
tradition. A tragic novel is one in which a noble character is pitted against
unfavorable fates and fights for her ideals against a world that is primarily
beyond her control.

The most unusual thing about the structure of Tess is the way in which
Hardy uses many narrative techniques. He uses balladry and folk tales one
moment, and realism the next, sprinkling in weepy melodrama, poetry,
dogmatic philosophizing, and classical Greek tragedy. As you read Tess,
notice how sharply these different approaches collide. One moment Hardy
brings us a close-up shot of insects and plants to teach us a parallel lesson

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on humankind and nature; the next moment he gives us a panoramic view
of how a dairy farm operates. Yet we never feel that Tess is a hodgepodge of
styles and sensations; it is a richly interwoven story of all humanity and the
miraculous enormity of life.

Tess is written from an omniscient (all-knowing) narrator's point of

view. Sometimes the narrator reflects what the characters- particularly
Angel and Tess- are thinking, feeling, or experiencing. Other times the
narrator shows us aspects of their personalities or situations of which they
aren't yet fully aware.

Many times Hardy takes us away from the immediate story of the
novel in order to make philosophical comments on how his characters'
situations illustrate far-reaching problems affecting society, religion, nature,
or the universe. The tone of these philosophical sections is very different
from that of the rest of the book, where poetry and storytelling share a
visual beauty. Many readers have found Hardy's asides interruptive and
distracting from the meat of the novel- as if he were afraid that the story
couldn't be trusted to make his moral points for him. Other readers find
these philosophical tracts necessary to take the novel beyond the confines of
melodrama or balladry in which a pure woman falls from virtue and is
condemned. They feel that Hardy's asides force the reader to deal with far-
reaching social and cosmological considerations.

Hardy's poetic voice is his most enchanting and hypnotic. He describes

landscapes as if they were metaphors for human experience. This poetic
voice pulls us away from the story just as Hardy's philosophizing does, but it
also makes us feel rather than think about all the pleasure and pain of life.

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 Violated by one man, forsaken by another, Tess Durbeyfield is the
magnificent and spirited heroine of Thomas Hardy's immortal work. Of all
the great English novelists, no one writes more eloquently of tragic destiny
than Hardy. With the innocent and powerless victim, Tess, he creates
profound sympathy for human frailty, while passionately indicting the
injustices of Victorian society. Scorned upon its publication in 1891 by
outraged readers, Tess of the d'Urbervilles is today one of the enduring
classics of nineteenth-century literature.

Tess of the D'urbervilles is an incredibly well written novel that uses so

many allusions, symbolism, and allegory that each idea presented is
expressed in the most artistic way.

Tess of the D’Ubervilles is a tragedy that relies on abnormal behavior

in order to make the novel work. In it hardy wanted to show the faultiness of
the belief that women who have premarital sex are impure, and he also
wanted to show the unfairness of the double standard between men and
women.

Hardy’s intentions are noble. He tries to show the reasons for giving
more could freedom to everyone, females in particular, but compromises
their characters in the process. The novel would benefit by far if there was a
more spontaneous atmosphere and the characters were allowed free reign to
develop unhindered, but the novels could result in the loss of such powerful
moral messages. So, changing the characters could endanger tle novel’s
importance in history, but would definitely improve the overall reading
experience.

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 The beauty of the novel lies in the language and style of the novelist.
This novel is such a warming piece of literature envoking real emotions in
human beings. Tess of D'Urbevilles is indeed a great work & no doubt the
best of Hardy. The novel is not only a tragic masterpiece but has its beautiful
moments. Overall Tess of D'Urbervilles is a novel that once read can never
be forgotten.

Chapter VI
Bibliography

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- Bullen, J.B., The Expressive Eye,: Fiction and Perception in the Work of
Thomas Hardy (Oxford, 1986.).

- Hardy, F.E., The Early Years of Thomas Hardy

1840 – 1891 (London, 1928.).

- Hardy, F.E., The Later Years of Thomas Hardy

1892 – 1928 (London, 1930.).

- Gatrell Simon, Hardy and the Proper Study of Mankind

(London, 1993.).

- Gregor, Ian, The Great Web: Hardy’s Major Fiction

(London, 1974.).

- Grundy, Isabel, Hardy and the Sister Arts

(London, 1979.).

- Millgate, Michael, Thomas Hardy: His Career as a Novelist

(London, 1971.).

- Purdy, Richard Little and Millgate, Michael (eds), The Collected Letters
of Thomas Hardy, 7 vols (Oxford, 1978 – 1988).
Hardy’s Literary Notebooks have been edited by Lennart A. Bjork, 2
vols (London, 1985).

- www.literature-web.net/hardy/tess_urbervilles

- www.encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/refaticle.aspy?
refid=761570473

- www.google.com

- www.yahoo.com

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