TessoftheDUrbervilles.docx

1、TessoftheDUrbervillesTess-of-the-DUrbervillesLt DTess of the dUrbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully PresentedAbout the authorThomas Hardy, (2 June 1840 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist, in the tradition of George Eliot, he was also influenced both in his novels a

2、nd poetry by Romanticism, especially by William Wordsworth. Charles Dickens is another important influence on Thomas Hardy. Like Dickens, he was also highly critical of much in Victorian society, though Hardy focused more on a declining rural society.Writing featuresHardys writing features lie in hi

3、s determinist stance on the nature of life and the cosmos, his sharp sense of the humorous and absurd and his love and observation of the natural world with strong symbolic effect. He deviates consciously from traditional Victorian realism that emphasizes plot more than characterization. It is defin

4、itely to his credit that he manages to bring back to fiction a high sense of tragedy, the Greek sense of fatality. Whats more, Hardy places emphasis on the deeper psychology of his characters. Hardys language possesses a silent power and charm. Tess of the DUrbervillesTess of the dUrbervilles: A Pur

5、e Woman Faithfully Presented, also known as Tess of the dUrbervilles: A Pure Woman, Tess of the dUrbervilles or just Tess, is a novel by Thomas Hardy, first published in 1891. It initially appeared in a censored and serialized version, published by the British illustrated newspaper, The Graphic. Tho

6、ugh now considered an important work of English literature, the book received mixed reviews when it first appeared, in part because it challenged the sexual mores of Hardys day. The original manuscript is on display at the British Library, showing that it was originally titled Daughter of the dUrber

7、villes. The story is about the tragic fate of Tess. Tess, sent by her parents to claim kindred with a more prosperous branch of the DUrbervilles family is cunningly seduced by Alec, whose parents bear the name of DUrbervilles, and has to return home in disgrace. Tess gives a birth to a child, which

8、dies after an improvised midnight baptism by its mother. Later, while working as a dairymaid in Talbothays in a beautiful summer, she becomes blissfully engaged to Angel Clare, a clergymans son. On their wedding night she confesses to him the seduction by Alec; and Angel although himself no innocent

9、, cruelly and hypocritically abandons her. Misfortunes come in battalions. Tesss father dies and her family is expelled from their cottage. To support her family, Tess is driven back to Alec, who has become an itinerant preacher, but his temporary religious conversion does not prevent him from persi

10、stently pursuing her. Clare, returning from Brazil and repenting of his harshness, finds her living with Alec. Maddened by his second wrong that has been done her by Alec, Tess stabs and kills him to liberate herself. After a brief halcyon period of concealment with Clare in the New Forest, Tess is

11、arrested at Stonehenge, tired, and hanged. ThemesAche of modernismHardys writing often illustrates the ache of modernism, and this theme is notable in Tess, which portrays the energy of traditional ways and the strength of the forces that are destroying them. Hardy describes modern farm machinery wi

12、th infernal imagery; also, at the dairy, he notes that the milk sent to the city must be watered down because the townspeople cannot stomach whole milk. Angels middle-class fastidiousness makes him reject Tess, a woman whom Hardy often portrays as a sort of Wessex Eve, in harmony with the natural wo

13、rld. When he parts from her and goes to Brazil, the handsome young man gets so ill that he is reduced to a mere yellow skeleton. All these instances are typically interpreted as indications of the negative consequences of mans separation from nature, both in the creation of destructive machinery and

14、 in the inability to rejoice in pure nature.The sexual double standardAnother important theme of the novel is the sexual double standard to which Tess falls victim; despite being, in Hardys view, a truly good woman, she is despised by society after losing her virginity before marriage. Hardy plays t

15、he role of Tesss only true friend and advocate, pointedly subtitling the book a pure woman faithfully presented and prefacing it with Shakespeares words from The Two Gentlemen of Verona: Poor wounded name! My bosom as a bed/ shall lodge thee. However, although Hardy clearly means to criticize Victor

16、ian notions of female purity, the double standard also makes the heroines tragedy possible, and thus serves as a mechanism of Tesss broader fate. Hardy variously hints that Tess must suffer either to atone for the misdeeds of her ancestors, or to provide temporary amusement for the gods, or because

17、she possesses some small but lethal character flaw inherited from the ancient clan.Human sacrifice SymbolismFrom numerous pagan and neo-Biblical references made about her, Tess has been viewed variously as an Earth goddess or as a sacrificial victim. Early in the novel, she participates in a festiva

18、l for Ceres, the goddess of the harvest, and when she performs a baptism she chooses a passage from Genesis, the book of creation, over more traditional New Testament verses. At the end, when Tess and Angel come to Stonehenge, commonly believed in Hardys time to be a pagan temple, she willingly lies

19、 down on an altar, thus fulfilling her destiny as a human sacrifice.This symbolism may help explain Tess as a personification of nature lovely, fecund, and exploitable while animal imagery throughout the novel strengthens the association. Examples are numerous: Tesss misfortunes begin when she falls

20、 asleep while driving Prince to market, thus causing the horses death; at Trantridge, she becomes a poultry-keeper; she and Angel falls in love amid cows in the fertile Froom valley; and on the road to Flintcombe-Ashe, she kills some wounded pheasants to end their suffering. In any event, Tess emerg

21、es as a character not because of this symbolism but because Hardys feelings for Tess were strong, perhaps stronger than for any of his other invented personages.My understanding The story reveals the spirit of determinist defeatism and enforces its shibboleth of predestination, and no amount of huma

22、n effort can alter its design of darkness. Tess is a paragon of innocence. What she asks for life is simple enough: to be loved and happy. But she does not get it because she is at the mercies of the odds against her. Two men must appear in her life to confuse and distract her. One is totally evil;

23、the other apparently good. The two both serve as the instruments of Chance. So many coincidences occur in Tess life that the hand of Chance is in evidence wherever she goes.I think the factors responsible for Tesss suffering are complex. On the one hand, the hypocritical morality of the bourgeois so

24、ciety caused Tesss tragic life. On the other hand Tess the weak character is also caused her tragic life.The novel ends with the death of the heroine. Thomas Hardy emphasizes the inevitability of death. Although Hardy try to explain them is fortune of his characters from the viewpoint of the unseen

25、but potential fate, his characterizationandtruth2ful representation of the lives of his characters reveal that their misfortune is evidently determined by the objective factors.Tess life is closely linked with the world about her. Tess pain, Hardy shows in many different way show her lifewasde2termi

26、nedonlypartlybyher own efforts, and how much it depends upon the pressure of things over which she had no control. To a larger extent, the bourgeois society should assume much more responsibility for Tess miserable death.Tess tragedy was as a result of action of other people or as a result of the so

27、cial convention and laws. Yet in the novel Tess herself could have changed the course of events. Her pride and submission was also added to her tragedy. In the sight of the world, she was condemned; she was a fallen woman and finally a murderer. And yet, allowing for the society in which she exits o

28、ne was never tempted to laugh at her or to censure her. As a matter of fact, the poor girl is ruined by the external forces, which should be responsible for her tragedy. Tess was a woman with good nature as suggested by the subtitle of the novel: A Pure woman. Her sweet- nature mind, innocence, simp

29、licity and diligence could not prevent her from being ruined in the circumstances of bourgeois society; she was the victim the hypocritical moral of the capitalist society, the doomed tragic figure, and the innocent lamb that must bleed for the supposed good of the useless sacrifice. All in all, Tes

30、s was the totally feminine victim caught in a wed of tragedy. The pressure of various kinds upon her was extremely powerful and had just been created by nature and tortured by the real world. The real responsible for her tragedy life, is the wicked nature, and hypocritical morality of the bourgeois

31、society. Tess really a victim of bourgeois morality and social injustice was destroyed by a society, which cannot be sufficient to allow a courageous and even heroic person to exist happily.This novel is a mirror for the spirit of the time. Hardy describes his critical attitude towards the unjust tr

32、eatment of women and his denunciation of the hypocrisy of the social structures and moral codes of Victorian England. References1 Thomas Hardy, Tess of The DURBERVILIES M Xian; xinjie Press, 20002 ChenJia, SELECTED READING IN ENGLISH LITERATURE (Volum2)M Beijing; The Commercial Press,2000 3 LiuBingshan, AHOORT HISTORYOF ENGLISH LITERATURE M Zhengzhou; Henan Peoples Publishing House