Themes of tess of D uberville
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2. Themes of the “Tess of the D'Urbervilles” Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) Born:2 June 1840 Stinsford, Dorset, England Died:11 January 1928 (aged 87) Dorchester, Dorset, England Resting place:Stinsford parish church (heart) Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey (ashes) Occupation:Novelist, poet, and Short Story writer Alma mater:King's College London Literary movement:Naturalism, Victorian literature Notable works:Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Far from the Madding Crowd, Collected Poems Jude the Obscure Spouse:Emma Lavinia Gifford (1874–1912) Florence Dugdale (1914–28) JABIR M.K ROLL NO:47 jabirdarussalam@gmail.com
3. THEMES • FATE AND FREEWILL: The cruel hand of fate hangs over all the characters and actions of the novel, as Tess Durbeyfield's story is basically defined by the bad things that happen to her. Hardy presents a world in which circumstances beyond the control of Tess determine her destiny. Luck, chance, coincidence, and environmental forces continually work against Tess to entangle her in one casualty after another. Her social status, her accident with the horse, her row with Car Darch, the forest encounter with Alec and the resulting pregnancy, the death of her father, the eviction of her family, and so on all weave her into a web from which there is no escape. The narrator calls attention to this theme in Chapter 11 after Alec rapes–or seduces–Tess. JABIR M.K ROLL NO:47 jabirdarussalam@gmail.com
4. THEMES • MALE PREDOMINANCE AND SEXUAL HARASSMENT In the 19th Century, males dominated society and expected females to do their order. Tess’s resistance to the advances of Alec succeed for a time, but he eventually entraps her after continually harassing her. Although Angel loves Tess and marries her, he abandons her shortly after their wedding when he discovers what happened between her and Alec. It does not matter to him that he himself had an affair before he was married. Men may stray with impunity, he believes. Women may not. After Tess’s father, John Durbeyfield dies, his wife and children are evicted. It was he who was privileged to hold the lease to their property, not his wife. JABIR M.K ROLL NO:47 jabirdarussalam@gmail.com
5. THEMES • MODERNISM: Shortly after Tess becomes a mother she leaves her home to labor in the fields as part of the villager community that must bring in the communal grain for the winter. In the middle of this golden bucolic scene, Hardy places a bright red reaping- machine. These mechanic intruders enable the field workers to get much more work done in a shorter period of time. The work is done quickly, the workers must travel about from farm to farm trying to eke out a living, and onward then in time to cities like London and Manchester to work in factories as cogs in the machines of the Industrial Revolution. Hardy called this the “ache of modernism,” which separated man from Nature. JABIR M.K ROLL NO:47 jabirdarussalam@gmail.com
6. THEMES • KNOWLEDGE VERSUS IGNORANCE: Tess and Angel struggle with their parent's unwillingness to accept change and progress and, therefore , this causes a lot of friction between them. Tess, who has had formal schooling, is not only in possession of a greater intellect than her mother, but also has a much better sense of right and wrong. Angel is different, because, with the exception of himself, he is in a family of scholars. Angel has common sense, and is able to see that for all his family's "real" education, they are not always wise in their choices. Both Angel and Tess see their parent's as choosing to be ignorant, or at the very least, unwilling to move with the times, and their relationships suffer for it. JABIR M.K ROLL NO:47 jabirdarussalam@gmail.com
7. THEMES • PREJUDICE: This theme manifests itself in Chapter 2 when Angel Clare asks his brothers to attend the country May dance with him. Felix replies, “Dancing in public with a troop of country hoydens– suppose we should be seen!” In Chapter 40, Mercy Chant exhibits an anti-Catholic bias after she hears that Angel is going abroad. JABIR M.K ROLL NO:47 jabirdarussalam@gmail.com
8. THEMES • THE LURE OF MONEY: In the novel, Alec d'Urberville uses money to attempt to win Tess. He succeeds. Here is the scenario: After John Durbeyfield dies and his family is evicted, Alec offers to house the Durbeyfields if Tess will yield to him. Tess–ever concerned about the welfare of her family–accepts his proposition.
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