Characters:-

1- Tess durbeyfield: - The novels protagonist Tess is a beautiful, loyal young

women living with her family in the village of Marriott.
2- Angel Clare: - An intelligent young man who has decided to become a farmer to
preserve his intellectual freedom from the pressure of city life.
3- Alec DUrbervilles:- The hanclome, amoral, son of a wealthy merchant named
Simon stokes.
4- Mr John Durbeyfield: - Tesss father, a lazy peddler in Marriott.
5- Mrs. DUrbervilles:- Alecs mother and the widow of Simon stokes.
6- Marain, Izz and Retty Priddle: - Milkmaids whom Tess Be friends at the Talbot
hays dairy.
7- Reverend Clare: - Angels father and principled clergyman in the town of
emminster.
8- Mrs. Clare: - Angels mother but a snobbish women who places great stock in
social class.
9- Reverend Felix Clare: - Angels brother, a village curale.
10- Sorrow: - Tesss son with Alec DUrbervilles.
Themes:-
1- Injustice of existence: - injustice is the dominant theme in the novel and
dominate the lives of Tess and her family to such an extent that it begins to seem
like a general aspect of human existence in Tess of the DUrbervilles.
2- Changing ideas of social class in Victorian England: - Tess of the
DUrbervilles presents complex pictures of social class in nineteenth century
England and difficulty of defining class in any simple way.
3- Men dominating women: - One of the main themes of novel is the way in which
men can dominate women, exerting a power over them linked primarily to their
maleness.
Publication:-
Published in 1891.
Plot:-
The story takes place in Thomas Hardy's Wessex during the Victorian period.
Its events are set in motion when a clergyman, Parson Tringham, has a conversation
with a simple farmer, John Durbeyfield. Tringham is a local historian; in the course of his
research, he has discovered that the "Durbeyfields" are descended from the
d'Urbervilles, a noble family whose lineage extends to the time of William the
Conqueror. It is useless knowledge, as the family lost its land and prestige when the
male heirs died out. The parson thinks Durbeyfield might like to know his origins as a
passing historical curiosity.
Durbeyfield immediately becomes fixated upon the idea of regaining his lost nobility,
and using it to somehow better his family's fortunes. To this end, he sends his daughter
Tess to seek employment with a family named dUrbervilles living in a nearby manor
house. Alec dUrbervilles is delighted to meet his beautiful cousin, and he tries to
seduce her with strawberries and roses. But Alec is no relation to Tess; he has gotten
his illustrious name and coat of arms by purchasing them. Alec falls in love with Tess
and eventually rapes her.
She returns home pregnant, but the baby is born sickly and dies. Sometime later, Tess
goes to a dairy farm and begins work as a milkmaid. She meets her true love: Angel
Clare, an aspiring young farmer from a respectable family. He believes Tess to be an
unspoiled country girl, and completely innocent. They fall in love, but Tess does not
confess her previous relationship with Alec until their wedding night. Disillusioned, Angel
rejects her.
Deserted by her husband, Tess meets Alec dUrbervilles again. At first, she angrily
rebuffs his advances. But after her father's death, the Durbeyfield family falls upon
desperately hard times, facing starvation, eviction and homelessness. Tess is forced to
resume her relationship with Alec, becoming his mistress in order to support her mother
and siblings.
Shortly afterwards, Angel Clare returns from travelling abroad. A disastrous missionary
tour in Brazil has ruined his health. Humbled, and having had plenty of time to think, he
feels remorse for his treatment of Tess. He succeeds in tracking her down but leaves
heartbroken when he finds her living with Alec. Tess realizes that going back to Alec
has ruined her chances of happiness with Angel, and murders Alec.
Running away to find Angel, Tess is reconciled with him; he can finally accept and
embrace her as his wife without passing moral judgment on her actions. They
consummate their marriage, spending two nights of happiness together on the run from
the law before Tess is captured sleeping at Stonehenge. An ending summary tells that
she is convicted and hanged for murder.