12.Tess of the D'Urbervilles ( 1891 )
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Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January
1928)
He is a novelist,
turned to poetry. Novelist, son of a mason and building contractor - His mother,
greatly encouraged his early interest in books, father in violin. Wrote around
900 poems. Wessex is frontier in his novels. Hardy's home town of
Dorchester is called
Casterbridge in his
books, notably in The Mayor of Casterbridge. “He began as a late
Victorian Romantic poet, he ended as a 20th century metaphysical
poet, fully abreast of the new generation”
Thomas Hardy &
AE Houseman are two great pessimistic poets of the Edwardian Era
Thomas Hardy was born June 2, 1840 in
the village of Upper Bockhampton, located in Southwestern England. His father
was a stone-mason and a violinist. His mother enjoyed reading and retelling
folk songs and legends popular in the region. From his family, Hardy gained the
interests that would influence his life and appear in his novels: architecture
and music, the lifestyles of the country folk, and literature itself.
Hardy attended Julia Martin's school
in Bockhampton between the ages of 8 and 16. However, most of his education
came from the books he found in Dorchester, the nearby town. He taught himself
French, German, and Latin. At sixteen, Hardy's father apprenticed his son to a
local architect, John Hicks. Under Hicks's tutelage, Hardy learned about
architectural drawing and the restoration of old houses and churches. Hardy
loved the apprenticeship because it allowed him to study the histories of the
houses and the families that lived there. Despite his work, Hardy did not
abandon his academics; in the evenings, Hardy would study with the Greek
scholar Horace Moule.
In 1862, Hardy was sent to London to
work with the architect Arthur Blomfield. During his five years in London,
Hardy immersed himself in the cultural scene by visiting museums and theaters,
and studying classic literature. He even began to write his own poetry.
Although he did not remain in London, choosing instead to return to Dorchester
as a church restorer, he maintained his newfound talent for writing.
From 1867, Hardy wrote poetry and
novels, though the first part of his career was devoted mostly to novels. At
first, he published anonymously, but after people became interested in his
work, he began to use his own name. Like the work of his contemporary Charles
Dickens, Hardy's novels were published serially in magazines, and they became
popular in both England and America. His first popular novel was Under the
Greenwood Tree, published in 1872. The next great novel, Far from the Madding
Crowd (1874), was so popular that the profits allowed Hardy to give up
architecture and marry Emma Gifford. Other popular novels followed in quick
succession: The Return of the Native (1878), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886),
The Woodlanders (1887), Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891), and Jude the Obscure
(1895). In addition to these long works, Hardy published three collections of
short stories and five shorter novels, all moderately successful. However,
despite the praise Hardy's fiction received, many critics were offended by
their violence and sexual content, especially in Tess of the D'Urbervilles and
Jude the Obscure. The outcry against Jude was so great that Hardy decided to
stop writing novels and return to his first great love, poetry.
Over the years, Hardy had divided his
time between his home, Max Gate in Dorchester, and his lodgings in London. In
his later years, he remained in Dorchester to focus completely on his poetry.
In 1898, his dream of becoming a poet was realized with the publication of
Wessex Poems. He then turned his attentions to an epic drama in verse, The
Dynasts; it was finally completed in 1908. Before his death, he had written
over 800 poems, many of which were published while he was in his eighties.
Hardy also found happiness late in his
personal life. His first wife, Emma, died in 1912. Although their marriage had
not been happy, Hardy grieved at her sudden death. In 1914, he married Florence
Dugdale, and she was extremely devoted to him. By the last two decades of
Hardy's life, he had achieved a level of fame equal to that of Dickens. In
1910, he was awarded the Order of Merit. New readers had also discovered his
novels though the publication of the Wessex Editions, definitive versions of
all Hardy's early works. As a result of this increased popularity, Max Gate
became a literary shrine and a tourist attraction.
After a long and highly successful
career, Thomas Hardy died on January 11, 1928, at the age of 87. His ashes were
buried in Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey. After his death, Florence
published Hardy's autobiography in two parts under her own name. Hardy
bequeathed many of his possessions to the nation, most notably his pens. Hardy
personally engraved each bone handle with the name of the text it was used to
write.
Although Hardy's novels were received
badly by critics when they were first published, Hardy has been consistently
recognized since his death as one of the great English novelists. He was an
important influence on Modernism, and many later writers, including Virginia
Woolf, D.H. Lawrence, and Robert Graves, named Hardy as influences. His poetry
has been similarly influential; in the twentieth century, several classical
composers, including Gustav Holst and Benjamin Britten, have set Hardy's poems
to music.
During his lifetime, Hardy was
frequently asked to allow his texts to be adapted for the emerging medium of
film. He was far-sighted enough to see film's promotional benefits, and the
attraction in widening his audience. However, early attempts at filming his
work were less than satisfactory, despite Hardy's involvement in the process -
most notably, The Mayor of Casterbridge in 1921. Pehaps as the depth of his
stories is so often exemplified by the brooding internal conflicts of his
strongest characters, it is almost impossible to truly capture the nuances of
his work in other media.
Works:
1.
The Poor Man and the Lady was the first novel
written by Thomas Hardy. It was written in 1867 and never published. After the
manuscript had been rejected by at least five publishers
2.
Desperate Remedies 1871 is the second novel
by Thomas Hardy, albeit the first to be published (anonymously). Story of a young
woman, Cytherea Graye, is forced by poverty to accept a post as lady's maid to
the eccentric Miss Aldclyffe, the woman whom her father had loved but had been
unable to marry.
3.
Under the Greenwood Tree: A Rural Painting of
the Dutch School (1872)- novel, drawn its title from Shakespeare’s song in As You Like It. second published
novel, and the first of what was to become his series of Wessex novels. The
novel follows the activities of a group of west gallery musicians, the Mellstock
parish choir, Love story of Dick Dewy (musician) with
Fancy Day (school mistress) and her rejection of
two other suitors. Hardy called this
book as “The Mellstock quire"
4.
A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873): It was Hardy's third published novel. Love
triangle of Blue eyed girl Elfride Swan Court and her two suitors
from very different backgrounds: Stephen Smith, a socially
inferior but ambitious young man who adores her and with whom she shares a
country background and Henry Knight, the respectable,
established, older man who represents London society. Elfride, out of
desperation, marries a third man, Lord Luxellian.
The conclusion
finds both suitors travelling together to Elfride, both intent on claiming her
hand, and neither knowing either that she already is married or that they are
accompanying her corpse and coffin as they travel.
5.
Far From Madding Crowd 1874: 4th novel- tragi-comedy set in Thomas
Hardy's Wessex in rural southwest England. originally appeared
anonymously as a monthly serial in Cornhill Magazine. It describes the
life and relationships of Bathsheba Everdene with her lonely neighbour William
Boldwood, the faithful shepherd Gabriel Oak, and the thriftless soldier
Sergeant Troy. Love of Gabriel Oak,
for woman farmer Bathsheba Everdence.
Title from Gray’s
"Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" (1751).
6.
The Hand of Ethelberta: A Comedy in Chapters
1876. It was
written, in serial form, for The Cornhill Magazine, which was edited by Leslie
Stephen, a friend and mentor of Hardy
7.
The Return of the Native 1878: sixth published
novel- first appeared in the magazine Belgravia, a publication known for its
sensationalism. set on Egdon Heath, a fictional barren moor in Wessex in
southwestern England. The native of the title is Clym Yeobright, who has
returned to the area to become a schoolmaster after a successful but, in his
opinion, shallow career as a jeweler in Paris. He and his cousin Thomasin
exemplify the traditional way of life, while Thomasin’s husband, Damon Wildeve,
and Clym’s wife, Eustacia Vye, long for the excitement of city life.
Disappointed that Clym is content to remain on the heath, Eustacia, willful and
passionate, rekindles her affair with the reckless Damon. After a series of
coincidences, Eustacia comes to believe that she is responsible for the death
of Clym’s mother. Convinced that fate has doomed her to cause others pain,
Eustacia flees and is drowned (by accident or intent). Damon drowns trying to
save her.
It has
alternative ending. In a later edition, to please his readers, Hardy made
additions to his novel. Thomasin marries Diggory Venn, a humble longtime
suitor, and Clym becomes an itinerant preacher.
8.
The
Trumpet-Major 1880- only historical
novel
9.
A Laodicean; or, The Castle of the De Stancys.
A Story of To-Day (1881)- a novel, with uncommon plot devices such as
falsified telegrams and faked photographs.
10.
Two on a Tower: A Romance (1882) - a novel, a minor
work. It is one of Hardy's Wessex novels, set in late Victorian Dorset.
11.
The Mayor of Casterbridge 1886: Subtitle: The life and death of a man of
Character. One of the
Wessex novels, set in a fictional rural England with Casterbridge standing in
for Dorchester in Dorset where the author spent his youth. Michael Henchard (21-year-old hay-trusser) drunk on rum,
auctions wife Susan off, along with their baby daughter Elizabeth-Jane, to
Richard Newson, a passing sailor, for five guineas. Sober and remorseful the
next day, he is too late to locate his family. He vows not to touch liquor
again for 21 years. Susan lives as
Newson's wife for 18 years. After Newson is lost at sea, Susan, lacking any
means of support, decides to seek out Henchard again. Susan discovers that
Henchard has become a very successful hay and grain merchant and Mayor of
Casterbridge, a man well respected but not
well liked. Susan falls
ill and dies shortly after the couple's remarriage, leaving Henchard a letter
to be opened on the day of Elizabeth-Jane's wedding. Henchard reads the letter,
and learns that Elizabeth-Jane is not in fact his daughter, but Newson's – his
Elizabeth-Jane having died as an infant.
Henchard's credit collapses and he goes bankrupt. Farfrae buys
Henchard's old business and tries to help Henchard by employing him as a
journeyman. Lucetta Templeman who has an affair with Henchard. (once she saved
him when he was ill); marries Donald Farfrae, who becomes Mayor of Casterbridge
after Henchard. When Joseph Jopp reads the love letters of Henchard- Lucetta in
public, Lucetta collapses, has a miscarriage, and dies. After 21 years,
Henchard starts drinking again. Elizabeth-Jane marries Farfrae. Henchard leaves
a letter his Elizabeth-Jane which reads: his dying wish is to be forgotten. Abel Whittle is a
character in it.
Final lines
of the novel: “Happiness was
but the occasional episode in a general drama of pain.”
12.
The Wood Landers 1887: serialized in Macmillan's
Magazine, life of
nature woodlanders in a woodland country. Set in a small woodland village
called Little Hintock, and concerns the
efforts of an honest woodsman, Giles Winterborne, to marry his childhood
sweetheart, Grace Melbury
13.
Tess of
the d'Urbervilles 1891: subtitle: ‘A Pure Woman
faithfully presented’. It was illustrated in the newspaper the Graphic 1891. The novel begins
with the discovery by Tess's father, John Durbeyfield, that they are
descendants of the ancient d'Urberville family. When Tess
accidentally causes the death of the family horse (named as Prince), she feels guilty
enough to go work for the d'Urbervilles. Tess is sent to work
for the wealthy Mrs. d'Urberville, where she encounters Alec d'Urberville, who
seduces her, which leads to her pregnancy and the birth of a son (named as Sorrow) who dies in
infancy. Tess takes a job as a milkmaid
at Talbothays Dairy, where she meets Angel Clare, a young man. Tess and Angel
fall deeply in love, but Tess hesitates to reveal her past to him. Eventually,
they marry, but on their wedding night, Tess confesses her history to Angel.
Angel says: “she was more sinned against than
sinning" and
abandoned her and moved to Brazil seek his fortune. Heartbroken and alone, Tess
is forced to reunite with Alec, who offers her financial security. When Angel
returns, her loyalty to Angel makes her to stab Alec. At the end, Tess was
arrested and hanged.
The Ruined maid: a ballad used in
Tess
Famous Lines:
“God's
not in his heaven: all's wrong with the world!”;
“The
president of immortals (god) has ended his play with Tess”( Famous Aschelian
phrase at the end of novel )
Note: “God’s in His heaven — All’s right with the world!”- Robert Browning-
Pippa Passes
Tess is more sinned than against than the
sinning.
The quote refers to
the protagonist, Tess, who is portrayed as a victim of the societal norms and
circumstances beyond her control rather than a willful sinner. Despite her own
flaws and mistakes, Tess is often depicted as a passive figure who is buffeted
by the harshness of the world around her. The quote has become synonymous with
the novel and has been widely discussed in literary criticism as a key theme of
the work.
14. Jude the Obscure 1895: Last novel, this
book was burnt and banished, so he stopped writing novels and turned to poetry.
story of Jude Fawley, a poor
country boy (stone mason who dreams of becoming a scholar) escapes from a
village to university. The novel is
concerned in particular with issues of class, education, religion and marriage.
First Jude is seduced by Arabella Donn, and she left him and migrated to
Australia. Eight months later she sends the baby to Jude. Jude named the baby
as Jude and nicknamed "Little Father Time" because of his
intense seriousness and lack of humor. Jude's cousin Sue Bride head - married
Mr Phillotson (Jude's former teacher) and left him and reached Jude. Jude and
Sue have two children.
Little Father Time kills two children of Sue and killed himself by
hanging. Sue and Phillotson remarried.
Jude and Arabella remarried Jude died. (Arabella fails to mourn Jude's
passing instead setting the stage to ensnare her next suitor)
15. The Well-Beloved: A Sketch of a Temperament
1897- novel
16. The Dynasts
(1904,1906,1908)- closet
drama- verse epic-drama in blank verse in 3 volumes, 19 acts and 130 scenes.
Not counting the fore scene and the after scene, the exact total number of
scenes (131). Hardy described it as epic drama of war with Napoleon. It is "the longest English drama in
existence"
Closet drama is intended
primarily for reading rather than performed
onstage. Examples:
John Milton’s Samson Agonistes (1671) and Thomas Hardy’s The Dynasts
(three parts, 1903–08).
17.
Wessex Poems and other verses (1898), Poems of
the Past and the Present (1901), Collected Poems (1919), and Winter Words in Various Moods and Metres
(1928) are his
major poetry works.
18.
Wessex Tales 1888; A Group of Noble Dames 1891
-collection
of short stories
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Background:
Tess of the d'Urbervilles, like the
other major works by Thomas Hardy, although technically a nineteenth century
work, anticipates the twentieth century in regard to the nature and treatment
of its subject matter. Tess of the d'Urbervilles was the twelfth novel
published by Thomas Hardy. He began the novel in 1889 and it was originally
serialized in the Graphic after being rejected by several other periodicals
from July to December in 1891. It was finally published as a novel in December
of 1891. The novel questions society's sexual mores by compassionately
portraying a heroine who is seduced by the son of her employer and who thus is
not considered a pure and chaste woman by the rest of society. Upon its
publication, Tess of the d'Urbervilles encountered brutally hostile reviews;
although it is now considered a major work of fiction, the poor reception of
Tess and Jude the Obscure precipitated Thomas Hardy's transition from writing
fiction to poetry. Nevertheless, the novel was commercially successful and
assured Hardy's financial security.
Tess of the d'Urbervilles deals with
several significant contemporary subjects for Hardy, including the struggles of
religious belief that occurred during Hardy's lifetime. Hardy was largely
influenced by the Oxford movement, a spiritual movement involving extremely
devout thinking and actions. Hardy's family members were primarily orthodox
Christians and Hardy himself considered entering the clergy, as did many of his
relatives. Yet Hardy eventually abandoned his devout faith in God based on the
scientific advances of his contemporaries, including most prominently Darwin's
On the Origin of Species. Hardy's own religious experiences can thus be seen in
the character of Angel Clare, who resists the conservative religious beliefs of
his parents to take a more religious and secular view of philosophy.
The novel also reflects Hardy's preoccupation
with social class that continues through his novels. Hardy had connections to
both the working and the upper class, but felt that he belonged to neither.
This is reflected in the pessimism contained in Tess of the d'Urbervilles
toward the chances for Tess to ascend in society and Angel's precarious
position as neither a member of the upper class nor a working person equivalent
to his fellow milkers at Talbothays. Again, like Angel Clare, Thomas Hardy
found himself torn between different social spheres with which he could not
fully align himself. Tess of the d'Urbervilles reflects that divide.
Plot/Narrative structure:
|
Volume |
Phase |
Title |
Chapters |
|
I |
First |
The Maiden |
1 - 11 |
|
Second |
Maiden No More |
12 - 15 |
|
|
Third |
The Rally |
16 - 24 |
|
|
II |
Fourth |
The Consequence |
25 - 34 |
|
Fifth |
The Woman Pays |
35 - 44 |
|
|
III |
Sixth |
The Convert |
45 - 52 |
|
Seventh |
Fulfilment |
53 - 59 |
Part/Phase wise narrative/plot
structure:
|
Part / Phase |
Plot Summary |
||
|
Phase
the First: The Maiden |
Tess
Durbeyfield, a poor country girl, is sent to claim kinship with the wealthy
d’Urbervilles. She meets Alec, who seduces/rapes her. Tess returns home,
shamed and pregnant. Her baby later dies. |
|
|
|
Phase
the Second: Maiden No More |
Tess
seeks a new life and finds work at a dairy farm, trying to forget her past. |
|
|
|
Phase
the Third: The Rally |
Tess
meets Angel Clare. They fall in love. Tess is happy again but hides her past.
Angel proposes. |
|
|
|
Phase
the Fourth: The Consequence |
On
their wedding night, Tess confesses her past. Angel rejects her, leaves for
Brazil. Tess struggles alone. |
|
|
|
Phase
the Fifth: The Woman Pays |
Tess
works at a harsh farm. Alec reappears as a preacher, then returns to his old
ways and seduces her again. |
|
|
|
Phase
the Sixth: The Convert |
Tess’s
father dies, the family is evicted. Desperate and broken, she becomes Alec’s
mistress. |
|
|
|
Phase
the Seventh: Fulfilment |
Angel
returns and finds Tess with Alec. She kills Alec and flees with Angel. They
spend a few days together before Tess is arrested and later executed. |
|
|
Opening line:
On an evening in the latter part
of May a middle-aged man was walking home ward from Shaston to the village of
Marlott, in the adjoining Vale of Blakemore or Blackmoor.
Closing line:
‘Justice’ was done, and the
President of the Immortals, in Aeschylean phrase, had ended his sport with
Tess. And the d’Urberville knights and dames slept on in their tombs unknowing.
The two speechless gazers bent themselves down to the earth, as if in prayer,
and remained thus a long time, absolutely motionless: the flag continued to
wave silently. As soon as they had strength they arose, joined hands again, and
went on
Summary
Thomas Hardy's Tess of the
d'Urbervilles begins with the chance meeting between Parson Tringham and John
Durbeyfield. The parson addresses the impoverished Durbeyfield as "Sir
John," and remarks that he has just learned that the Durbeyfields are
descended from the d'Urbervilles, a family once renowned in England. Although
Parson Tringham mentions this only to note how the mighty have fallen, John
Durbeyfield rejoices over the news. Durbeyfield arrives at home during the May
Day dance, in which his daughter Tess dances. During this celebration, Tess
happens to meet three brothers: Felix, Cuthbert and Angel Clare. Angel does not
dance with Tess, but takes note of her as the most striking of the girls. When
Tess arrives at home, she learns that her father is at the tavern celebrating
the news of his esteemed family connections. Since John must awake early to
deliver bees, Tess sends her mother to get her father, then her brother
Abraham, and finally goes to the tavern herself when none of them return.
At the tavern, John Durbeyfield
reveals that he has a grand plan to send his daughter to claim kinship with the
remaining d'Urbervilles, and thus make her eligible to marry a gentleman. The
next morning, John Durbeyfield is too ill to undertake his journey, thus Tess
and Abraham deliver the bees. During their travels, the carriage wrecks and
their horse is killed. Since the family has no source of income without their
horse, Tess agrees to go to the home of the Stoke-d'Urbervilles to claim
kinship. There she meets Alec d'Urberville, who shows her the estate and
prepares to kiss her. Tess returns home and later receives a letter from Mrs.
Stoke-d'Urberville, who offers Tess employment tending to her chickens. When
Alec comes to take Tess to the d'Urberville estate, Joan thinks that he may
marry Tess. On the way to the d'Urberville estate at Trantridge, Alec drives
the carriage recklessly and tells Tess to grasp him around the waist. He
persists, and when Tess refuses him she calls her an artful hussy and rather
sensitive for a cottage girl.
When Tess meets Mrs.
Stoke-d'Urberville, she learns that the blind woman has no knowledge that Tess
is a relative. Tess becomes more accustomed to Alec, despite his continual
propositions to her. She finds Alec hiding behind the curtains while Tess whistles
to the bullfinches in his mother's bedroom.
During a weekend visit to Chaseborough, Tess
travels with several other girls. Among these girls are Car and Nancy Darch,
nicknamed the Queen of Spades and the Queen of Diamonds. Car carries a wicker
basket with groceries on her head, and finds that a stream of treacle drips
from this basket down her back. While all of the girls laugh at Car, she only
notices that Tess is laughing and confronts her. Car appears ready to fight
Tess when Alec d'Urberville arrives and takes her away. As Alec whisks Tess off,
Car's mother remarks that Tess has "gotten out of the frying pan and into
the fire."
On the journey home, Alec asks Tess
why she dislikes when he kisses her, and she replies that she does not love him
and in fact is sometimes angered by him. When Tess learns that Alec has
prolonged the ride home, she decides to walk home herself. Alec asks her to
wait while he ascertains their precise location, and returns to find Tess, who
has fallen asleep. Alec has sex with Tess.
Several weeks later, Tess returns
home. Tess tells Alec that she hates herself for her weakness and will never
love him. While at home, Tess admits to her mother what happened and asks her
why she did not warn Tess about the danger that men pose. Rumors abound
concerning Tess's return to the village of Marlott. In fact Tess is pregnant
and has bears the child months later. However, the child becomes gravely ill
before she has had it baptized. Without the opportunity to call a minister,
Tess baptizes the baby herself with the name Sorrow before it dies. When Tess
meets the parson the next day, he agrees that the baby had been properly
baptized, but refuses to give Sorrow a Christian burial until she convinces him
otherwise.
Tess leaves Marlott once again to work
at Talbothays dairy, where she works for Richard Crick and finds that Angel
Clare, whom she vaguely remembers, now works at the dairy. The other milkmaids
(Izz Huett, Retty Priddle, Marian) tell Tess that Angel is there to learn
milking and that, since he is a parson's son, rarely notices the girls.
Although his brothers are each clergymen and he was expected to be as well,
Angel did not attend college because of philosophical and religious differences
with his father and established church doctrine. He works at Talbothays to
study the workings of a dairy in preparation for owning a farm himself one day.
Angel grows fond of Tess, and begins
arranging the cows so that she may milk the ones that are her favorites.
However, Tess learns from Dairyman Crick that Angel has scorn for members of
noble families, even those whose families have fallen from prominence. Tess
realizes that the three other milkmaids are attracted to Tess, but they know
that Angel prefers Tess. When Tess overhears the three milkmaids discussing
this, she feels jealousy at the others' attraction for Angel, and begins to
believe that, as a working woman, she is more suited to be a farmer's wife than
a woman of equal rank as Angel. Still, Tess retreats from Angel's affections
until he finally declares his love for her.
Angel visits his home in Emminster,
where he discusses the possibility of marriage with his parents. While visiting
his family, Angel realizes how life at Talbothays had changed him. Although his
parents suggest that Angel marry a local girl, Mercy Chant, Angel suggests that
he should marry a woman with practical talents. His parents only consent when
they feel certain that the woman is an unimpeachable Christian. When Angel
returns from Emminster, he proposes to Tess, who rejects him without giving him
a reason. Although he persists, she finally admits that she is a d'Urberville,
thus a member of the type of family that he despises. When Angel remains
unfazed by this news, she agrees to marry him.
Tess writes to her mother to ask
whether she should admit the entirety of her past to Angel, but her mother
assures her that she should not. Tess remains nervous concerning her impending
marriage, attempting to postpone the date and forgetting to make important
wedding plans. While in town with Angel, Tess sees a man who recognizes her
from Trantridge and remarks on her questionable reputation. Angel defends her
honor, but Tess realizes that she must tell him about her past with Alec
d'Urberville. Tess writes Angel a letter and slips it under his doorway. The
next morning Angel behaves normally. It is only on the day of her wedding that
Tess finds that the letter slid under the carpet and Angel thus never found it.
After Angel and Tess marry, they go to
Wellbridge for their honeymoon and remain at a home once owned by the
d'Urbervilles. Tess learns from Jonathan Kail, who delivers a wedding gift from
the Cricks, that the girls at Talbothays have suffered greatly since Angel and
Tess left. On their wedding night, Angel and Tess vow to tell one another their
faults. Angel admits that he had a short affair with a stranger in London,
while Tess admits about Alec d'Urberville.
After telling Angel her story, Tess
begs for forgiveness, but he claims that forgiveness is irrelevant, for she was
one person and is now another woman in the same shape. She vows to do anything
he asks and to die if he would so desire, but he claims that there is
discordance between her current self-sacrifice and past self-preservation.
Although he claims to forgive her, Angel still questions whether or not he
still loves her. Angel's obstinate nature blocks his acceptance of Tess's
faults on principle, and he remains with Tess only to avoid scandal until he
tells her that they should separate.
That night, Angel begins sleepwalking
and carries Tess out of their home and across the nearby river to the local
cemetery, where he places her in a coffin. She leads him back to bed without
waking him, and the next morning he seems to remember nothing of the event.
Angel tells Tess that he will go away from her and she should not come to him,
but may write if she is ill or needs anything.
Tess returns home, where her family
remains impoverished and Tess has no place to stay. When Tess receives a letter
from Angel telling her that he has gone to the north of England to look for a
farm, Tess uses this as an excuse to leave Marlott. Angel visits his parents
and tells them nothing about his separation, but they sense that some
difficulty has occurred in his marriage. Angel decides to go to Brazil to look
for a farm, although he realizes that he has treated Tess poorly. Before
leaving for Brazil, Angel sees Izz Huett and proposes that she accompany him to
Brazil. When he asks her whether she loves him as much as Tess does, Izz
replies that nobody could love him more than Tess does, because Tess would give
up her life for Angel. Angel realizes his foolishness and tells Izz that her
answer saved him from great folly.
Tess journeys to Flintcomb-Ash, where
she will join Marian at a different farm. On her way to the farm, Tess finds
the man from Trantridge who identified her when she was with Angel, and he
demands an apology for allowing Angel to wrongfully defend her honor. Tess
hides from him, and after she is propositioned by young men in a nearby inn the
next morning, she clips off her eyebrows to make herself less unattractive.
Tess works as a swede-hacker at
Flintcomb-Ash, a barren and rough place. Marian believes that Tess has been
abused and thinks Angel may be to blame, but Tess refuses to allow Marian to
mention Angel's name in such a derogatory manner. Izz Huett and Retty Priddle
join Marian and Tess at Flintcomb-Ash, and Tess learns that the man who
insulted her is the owner of the farm where she works. Car and Nancy Darch work
at this farm as well, although neither recognize Tess. Since the conditions at
Flintcomb-Ash are so arduous, Tess visits Emminster to ask the Clares for
assistance, but does not approach them when she overhears Felix and Cuthbert
Clare discussing how disreputable Angel's new wife must be. While returning to
Flintcomb-Ash, Tess learns that a noted preacher is nearby: Alec d'Urberville.
When Tess confronts Alec, he claims
that he has a newfound duty to save others and feels that he must save Tess.
Still, he seems to blame Tess for her tempting Alec to sin, and makes her swear
never to tempt him again. Alec begins to visit Tess frequently, despite her
overt suspicion and dislike for him, and even asks her to marry him and
accompany him to Africa where he plans to be a missionary. Tess refuses and
admits to Alec that she is already married, but Alec derides the idea that her
marriage is secure and attempts to refute Tess's (and Angel's) religious views.
Alec accuses Tess once more of tempting him, and blames her for his backsliding
from Christianity. Alec soon disavows his faith and loses the adornments of it,
returning to his more fashionable ways and giving up preaching. When Alec tells
Tess that she should leave her husband, she slaps him and then refuses to back
down when Alec appears ready to return her blow. She tells Alec that she will
not cry if he hits her, because she will always be his victim.
Alec soon tries a different tactic to
get Tess to submit to him; he attempts to dominate her by exerting financial
superiority. Alec offers to support her family, but only as a means to make
Tess and her family dependent. Tess returns home to Marlott when she learns
that her mother may be dying and her father is quite ill, but soon after her
return her father dies instead, while her mother recovers. After the death of
John Durbeyfield, the family loses their home and must find accommodations
elsewhere. They move to Kingsbere, where the d'Urberville family tomb is
located. Although Alec offers to support the Durbeyfields, Tess refuses, even
when he offers a guarantee in writing that he would continue to support them no
matter the relationship between Tess and himself. When the Durbeyfields reach
Kingsbere, they find no room at the inn where they were scheduled to stay, and
thus must remain in the church near the d'Urberville family vault.
Angel Clare returns home from Brazil,
weak and sickly, and finds the letter from Tess in which she claims that she
will try to forget him. Angel writes to her home at Marlott to search for her,
but only later finds out that the Durbeyfields are no longer at Marlott and
that Joan does not know where her daughter is. Angel decides to search for
Tess, and eventually finds her mother, who reluctantly admits to Angel that
Tess is at Sandbourne, a thriving village nearby.
Angel finds Tess at an inn at
Sandbourne, where she has been living a comfortable life with Alec
d'Urberville. Tess tells Angel that it is too late, and that Alec convinced her
that he would never return. Tess admits that she hates Alec now, for he lied to
her about Angel. After Angel leaves, Tess returns to her room and begins to
sob. Alec finds her, and after a heated argument Tess stabs Alec in the heart,
killing him.
As the dejected Angel leaves town, he
finds Tess following him. She admits that she has killed Alec, and the two
continue along together to escape. They remain at a deserted mansion before
continuing northward to find a boat out of England. They rest at Stonehenge;
there Tess, who realizes that she will inevitably be captured, asks Angel to
marry her sister, Liza-Lu, after she is gone. As Tess sleeps a party of men
surround Angel and Tess to capture her and arrest her for Alec's murder. Tess
is executed for her crime, while Angel does her bidding and presumably marries
Liza-Lu.
Character List
Tess Durbeyfield- The
young daughter of a rural working class family at the start of the novel, Tess
Durbeyfield is sent to claim kinship with the wealthier side of her family, the
d'Urbervilles, when her family faces imminent poverty. After being seduced by
Alec d'Urberville, she bears his child, which dies in infancy, and must leave
her home to start a new life elsewhere. Although Tess is dutiful and obedient
as the novel begins, she gains great strength and fortitude through her
suffering, but remains unwavering in her love for Angel Clare and is prepared
to do anything that Angel might wish.
Angel Clare- The
son of a parson and the youngest of three brothers, Angel did not enter college
as his siblings, despite his superior intellect, but rather diverged from the
career path his father intended for him, the ministry, to study agriculture so
that he might become a farmer. Despite holding more liberal opinions than his
father and brothers, Angel Clare is nevertheless equally dogmatic and
obstinate. He has a deeply theoretical mindset; it is this quality that causes
him to reject Tess when he learns information about her past that contradicts
his idealistic view of her.
Alec d'Urberville- The
sophisticated, urbane son of the elderly, blind Mrs. Stoke-d'Urberville, Alec
is rapacious and possessive, believing that his status in society and his
financial situation gives him power to possess and control Tess after he gives
her a job caring for his mother's chickens. After seducing Tess, Alec reforms
his hedonistic ways to become a fundamentalist preacher, but soon deviates from
his newfound spirituality once he sees Tess again.
Mrs. Brooks- She
is the householder at The Herons, the boarding establishment at Sandbourne
where Alec and Tess stay together. She discovers Alec after Tess stabs him in
the heart.
Mercy Chant- Reverend
Clare and his wife intend this young woman from Emminster to marry Angel,
despite his affection for Tess, for she holds proper religious views, according
to the Clares.
Reverend Clare- A
fundamentalist parson in the style that has nearly died out when the novel
begins, Reverend Clare does not send his son, Angel, to college because the two
disagree on religious philosophy. Reverend Clare is responsible for Alec
d'Urberville's conversion after he confronts Alec.
Cuthbert Clare- He is
one of Angel's older brothers.
Felix Clare- He is
one of Angel's older brothers.
Mrs. Clare- Angel's
mother is a conservative woman who dislikes the idea that Angel has married
Tess, believing her to be a simple country girl unsuitable for her more refined
son.
Richard Crick- The
dairyman and owner of Talbothays Dairy, he employs both Tess and Angel.
Dairyman Crick is a gregarious, jovial man who treats Tess well as an employer.
Abraham Durbeyfield- The
younger brother of Tess, Abraham accompanies his sister when she must deliver a
cart of bees in place of their father.
Joan Durbeyfield- Tess's
mother is a bawdy, irresponsible woman who views her daughter only in
exploitative terms, believing that she can send Tess to the d'Urbervilles
explicitly to marry a gentleman and thus raise the fortunes of her family. Tess
returns home when Joan is deathly ill, but she makes a sudden recovery just as
her husband's health worsens.
John Durbeyfield- A
jovial, irresponsible man, John Durbeyfield sets the plot of the novel in
motion when he learns that the Durbeyfield family is descended from the
renowned d'Urbervilles. John suffers from heart disease, and when he dies his
family is evicted from their home and forced to move to Kingsbere.
Liza-Lu Durbeyfield- Tess's
younger sister travels to Flintcomb-Ash to request that her sister return home
when her parents are ill. Before Tess is caught, she asks Angel to marry
Liza-Lu after Tess has died.
Car Darch- Nicknamed
the Queen of Spades, this woman nearly fights Tess when Tess laughs at Car when
she stains her dress with treacle. Tess is only saved from a brawl when Alec
saves her. Tess later meets Car again when the two work together at
Flintcomb-Ash.
Nancy Darch- Nicknamed
the Queen of Diamonds, Nancy is the sister of Car and accompanies her sister to
Flintcomb-Ash to work.
Farmer Groby- When
Angel and Tess are in town before their wedding, this former Trantridge Cross
resident identifies Tess as a woman of ill repute, causing Angel to defend her
honor. Later he nearly accosts Tess as she travels to Flintcomb-Ash, and
appears a third time as her employer at Flintcomb. Because of her early cold
treatment of him, Farmer Groby is a difficult taskmaster who treats Tess
poorly.
Izz Huett- One
of the dairymaids at Talbothays Dairy with whom Tess stays, Izz Huett is also
in love with Angel Clare, but after his separation from Tess when he invites
her to accompany him to Brazil, Izz refuses because of Tess's love for Angel.
Izz later works with Tess at Flintcomb-Ash and sends a letter to Angel telling
him to forgive Tess.
Jonathan Kail: A
servant at Talbothays' dairy, he delivers news of the other works to Tess and
Angel during their honeymoon.
Marian -One
of the dairymaids at Talbothays with whom Tess stays, Marian is also in love
with Angel Clare and becomes an alcoholic after Tess and Angel marry. Marian
invites Tess to come to Flintcomb-Ash where she works, and with Izz Huett sends
a letter to Angel telling him to forgive Tess.
Retty Priddle- One
of the dairymaids at Talbothays with whom Tess stays, Retty is also in love
with Angel Clare. After Tess and Angel marry, Retty attempts to drown herself,
but soon joins her former dairymaids at Flintcomb-Ash.
Mrs. Stoke-d'Urberville- An
elderly, blind woman and the mother of Alec, she employs Tess to look after her
chickens. She dies not long after Tess leaves Trantridge Cross.
Parson Tringham: This
clergyman in Marlott tells John Durbeyfield that his family is descended from
the noted d'Urberville family.
Phase wise/chapter wise
summary
Phase One: The Maiden (chapter
1-11)
Chapter One:
As he walks home to the village of
Marlott, John Durbeyfield, a middle-aged man, meets Parson Tringham, who greets
him as "Sir John." When Durbeyfield asks the parson why he
greets him in this manner, he answers that he recently learned that he is from
the d'Urberville lineage, descended from Sir Pagan d'Urberville who fought with
William the Conqueror. He tells Durbeyfield that if knighthood were hereditary,
he would be Sir John. The d'Urberville family is now extinct, and the parson
thinks of this only as demonstrating how the mighty have fallen.
Chapter Two:
Durbeyfield was returning home during
the May Day dance in which the younger women of Marlott walked
in procession in white gowns, holding willow wands and white flowers. Among the
girls is Tess Durbeyfield, the daughter of John. Tess is no more handsome than
the other girls, but has large, innocent eyes (adorned in white, she symbolizes
purity and virginity). She sees her father riding in a carriage singing that he
has a great family vault in Kingsbere and knighted forefathers. Tess reprimands
her friends for mocking her father. At this time Tess is a “A mere vessel
of emotion untinctured by experience.” She still has the local dialect,
but also can affect more educated speech. Three young onlookers of superior
class watch the women in the procession. The three are brothers (Angel, Felix,
and Cuthbert) and consider asking the women to dance. Angel does not dance with
Tess Durbeyfield, but among the girls he notices her the most and wishes that
he asked her to dance, for she was so modest and soft.
Chapter Three:
Tess remains with her comrades until dusk, thinking of the young man, Angel. When she arrives at home,
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