An Analysis of Tess of the D’Urbervilles from the Tragedy of Tess

Abstract

Thomas Hardy was a very famous and the last important novelist of the Victorian age in England, his novels and poems have a great influence in the literature in 20 century. Tess of the D’Urbervilles is the most influential one among his works. This novel describes a miserable and hard life of one beautiful and pure girl named Tess after being seduced. The article reveals the society environment, the peasant poverty family, the inequality of gender and the false moral value at that time by describing Tess’ life. Tess’ tragic life is caused by many factors and it’s the result of the burden of society. Except this, her own weakness in character cannot be separated from her tragedy, because she obviously has the dual nature — resistance and compromise, which seems like the nature of many women. As a poor peasant girl, Tess once tried to fight with destiny, but she failed. In the end, she turned out to be a murderer and also the victim of society like all other things which disobey the rules at that time. Eventually, she was separated from her lover and hanged. A beautiful and pure girl came to such a miserable life and tragic ending.