Proposal of the Causes for the Tragedy of Tess

1. Research Intention

Tess of the D’urbervilles, the greatest novel of British famous writer Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), describes the misfortune of a poor peasant girl Tess. In this novel, we can see Tess resist her unjust fate again and again, suffer setbacks again and again, till to be destroyed. We can not help but feel the intense emotions of pity and fear. At the same time we deeply feel that her tragedy is inevitable. The cause of her tragedy has always been the concern of people, such a beautiful, noble and pure woman as Tess should suffer inevitable ruin. What leads to her tragic destiny? What killed her? In this paper, I try to make a detailed analysis on the novel, to show the various causes of heroine’s tragedy.

2. Literary Review

From the later nineteenth century until now, Thomas Hardy and his works have been the important topics of the criticism for a long time. After the Second World War, with the development o modern literary criticism, different critics interpret Tess of the D’urbervilles and Thomas Hardy’s other novels from various perspectives. For instance, Professor Webster begins with a discussion of Hardy’s intentions in writing Tess. According to his views, Tess of the D’urbervilles is a contribution to Hardy’s war against man’s inhumanity. Arnold Kettle takes a different point of view. For him the subject of Tess of the D’urbervilles is not the tragedy of a “pure woman”, but rather the destruction of the English peasantry. Mr. Kettle sees it a complete as a social novel. In China, Prof. Zhang Zhongzai has published his own book on Hardy’s novel.

3. Research Process

This paper comprises three parts dealing respectively with several main factors that lead to Tess’s final tragedy, including the background, the social environment, two persons who are very closely related to Tess’s fate and finally the weakness of the central character’s personalities. Besides, Tess’s sufferings were the result of some mysterious and incidental factors. The following is the outline of the paper.

Part 1. Introduction

    This part is a brief introduction to the author and his masterpiece.

1.1Thomas Hardy and his works

1.2Tess of the D’urbervilles

Part 2. Causes for the tragedy of Tess

The cause of Tess’s tragedy has always been the concern of people, such a beautiful, noble and pure woman as Tess should suffer inevitable ruin. What leads to her tragic destiny? What killed her? In this paper, I try to make a detailed analysis on the novel, to show the various causes of heroine’s tragedy.

2.1 The impoverishment and decay of small farmers

This novel has for its setting the agricultural region of the southern countries of England. The writer truthfully depicts the impoverishment and decay of small farmers who become hired field hands and roam the country in search of seasonal job. These laborers are mercilessly exploited by the rich landowners. In this novel, we can see clearly that one of the real reasons that lead to her extermination is her impoverishment.

2.2Alec and Clare

In this novel, Hardy describes how Tess was killed by the times she lived in clearly. There are two persons who are very closely related to Tess’s fate. She, a daughter of poor peasants had been reduced to a wage laborer, so Alec--- the vicious capitalist power of the Victorian Times and Clare --- the representative of liberal bourgeoisie killed her cruelly and without mercy. It seemed that Alec was the prime culprit of Tess, but in fact, it was Clare who killed Tees more cruelly.

2.3 The weakness of her character

Apart from fierce Alec and hypocritical Clare, it is the weakness of her character that leads to her sad fate. Tess was able to fight against the unfairness of the society. She could face various difficulties in life bravely, yet she couldn’t extricate herself from traditional moral principles. She was aware that she was the victim of social violence and moral principles. On the other hand, though she dared to beat back the unjustness, she couldn’t break with traditional morality completely.

2.4 Some mysterious and incidental factors

The last but not the least, Tess’s sufferings were the result of some mysterious and incidental factors. Examples of the fateful incidents abound in the novel.

Part 3. Conclusion

It is the times she lived in and the weakness of her nature put her in such a poor situation. Cruel Alec and his peers are the direct reason for her death, but it is Angel who killed her indirectly but more cruelly. Facing such a serious situation, the weakness of her character became the accomplice. The tragic fate is not only that of Tess herself, but also the tragedy of the times she lived in.

4. Conclusion

Through studying the representative work Tess of the D’urbervilles, we will be able to have a better appreciation of the great achievements of Thomas Hardy. It seemed that if there were no unexpected happenings, she might have a happy life; maybe she would finish her life peacefully. It appeared there were unexpected factors in her every important life stage, those factors lead to her tragedy. But in fact, just as we infer from our previous discussion, it is the times she lived in and the weakness of her nature put her in such a poor situation. Cruel Alec and his peers are the direct reason for her death, but it is Angel who killed her indirectly but more cruelly. Facing such a serious situation, the weakness of her character became the accomplice. The tragic fate is not only that of Tess herself, but also the tragedy of the times she lived in.

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