Throughout the years, the definition of tragedy has changed in the landscape of

literature. The definition we have today is a dramatic composition, often in verse,

dealing with a serious or somber theme, typically that of a great person destined
through a flaw of character or conflict with some overpowering force, as fate or
society, to downfall or destruction (tragedy). This definition serves as the foundation
that writers and playwrights create their characters in their works. The oldest example
of tragedy, Oedipus Rex, is when Sophocles used the notion of a tragic hero, an
admirable protagonist who suffers from hamartia and faces the consequences of his or
her actions before facing an inevitable end.
Decades after Oedipus, Thomas Hardy makes reference to the definition of
tragedy in his book Tess of the dUrbervilles, with a few minor differences. The
definition for tragedy that I found appropriate to Tess of the dUrbervilles is a
reference by Thomas Hardy when he stated that "A Plot, or Tragedy, should arise from
the gradual closing in of a situation that comes of ordinary human passions,
prejudices, and ambitions, by reason of the characters taking no trouble to ward off
the disastrous events produced by the said passions, prejudices, and ambitions"
(Overview). Not only does Hardy successfully fabricated a superb plot revolved
around the notion of tragedy, but he also creates a memorable tragic figure, Tess
dUrberville, who the readers can feel sympathy towards since she is affected by
undesired consequences and tragic events due to her inability to avoid them that
eventually leads to a catastrophic end.
Tess is an innocent young girl who has a lot of personality and a lot of passion
for a country girl in a conservative society. She is a worthy character of praise since
her identity exceeds the expectation of the role of women. According to Robert B.
Heilman not only is she physically attractive but she is a hard worker, responsible,

enduring, courageous and independent (Hardy xi), thus, making her the heroine of
the novel. We get the sense of her independent and outspoken nature when shes
disputing with her friends about her father Look here; I wont walk another inch with
you, if you say any jokes about him (Hardy 9)! As the protagonist, she faces many
challenges regarding her gender, her social status and her ideals. Having a standard
educational background than most of the country girls in her town, Tess uses her
education to create her own identity to achieve her goal of becoming a teacher to
provide for her family. In addition, her beliefs regarding Christianity and Paganism
attract the attention of many individuals, especially Angel, who views this as the
ache of modernism (Hardy 127). For a girl her age, she already surpasses the social
norm in the early Victorian era and makes her a worthy character for the readers to
feel sympathetic towards. However, Tess has hamartia. Her innocence makes her a
likely victim in the real world as she has no experience interacting with other men,
such as Alec. Other than that, she has a lot of pride and would often not rely on other
people to help with her plight and she often succumbs to her guilt, making her
vulnerable for other people to take advantage of her. She refuses to use the money
from Angels family to provide for her family while she is separated form Angel and
she wouldnt accept Alecs offer of charity due to their conflict in the past. With
these traits in Tess, she would fulfill her role as a tragic heroine in the novel.
As part of Tesss role as a tragic heroine, she has suffered through misfortunate
events that are unavoidable due to her hamartia. This inability would cause Tesss
plight and would eventually result in a tragic end. Right after Tesss father
immediately knew that he is descended from the noble dUrbervilles, Tesss life
spirals down into a life of hardship and unfortunate encounters. The death of Prince,
the Durbeyfields horse, causes the family to seek relations with other dUrbervilles

and to force Tess into marrying a noble man in order to provide for the family. Tess,
guilty of Princes death, reluctantly agrees, only to find herself harassed and raped by
the salacious Alec dUrberville. Although Tesss unique individuality is portrayed at
the start as she bravely eschews Alecs advances, but she is overwhelmed by her guilt
and pride in order to provide for her family by staying with Alec How could she face
her parentsand disconcert the whole scheme for the rehabilitation of her family on
such sentimental grounds (Hardy 54)? This decision not to leave Alec would later
bring a series of unfortunate events upon her.
She is raped by Alec and later is shunned by her town since she is a girl who is
more sinned against than sinning (Hardy 239). She bore a child that died months
after its birth and left her home town in order to escape the prejudice of the
community. Although she meets Angel, her lover, which serves as a turning point in
the novel to provide Tess some hope, she again is unable to prevent catastrophe due to
her succumbing to her feelings. She refuses to tell Angel of her past due to guilt and
withholds her sin until Angel and her were married, resulting in Angel abandoning her
out of rage and shock and Tess left on her own as a husbandless wife. Alec then
returns and continues to seduce Tess in her plight and successfully does so, but Tess,
with a hint of insanity and capriciousness, later murders Alec after she meets Angel
again. In consequences to her actions, she is branded as a murderer and accepts her
fate when shes captured by the local forces and executed. These events are resulted
from her hamartia that stopped her from making reasonable decisions regarding
herself, for Angel and her family. As a result, she fulfilled her role as a tragic heroine
completing the tragedy.
Tess is similar to Antigone, the daughter of Oedipus. Although both are from
different historical eras, they are admirable heroines that portrayed women as

passionate, independent and virtuous, but only to be defeated by their own hamartia
because they were misled by their emotions. In addition, Antigone and Tess both
accept death as the consequence of their actions and tragedy. This shows that after
dozens of generations and eras, the concept of tragedy and the tragic figure still
survives in literature and remains fresh to authors today. Tess of the dUrbervilles is a
tragedy that perfectly portrays a protagonist who had so much hope at the start of the
novel, only to be suffering physically and mentally because of her actions and
decisions that would later haunt her. The readers would be sympathetic to Tess and
feel her exasperations as she struggles to find hope and at the end of the novel the
readers feel as if its the end of the roller coaster, an emotional ride that has an
anticipating rising action, a superb climax and a soothing conclusion. As a result, the
readers have the urge to repeat the ride, to relive the sensation of catharsis. No matter
how different customs were in Victorian aged Trantridge and 500 B.C.E. Thebes, the
ideal tragic figures and the concept of tragedy would carve itself in the heart of
ancient and modern society as the basis for works of literature.