Introduction
Tess of the D'Urberville is Hardy's tragic masterpiece, first completed in 1891 and rejected by two publishers because, according to them, this novel was sexually explicit (Ù†ُمایاں). Tess of the D'Urberville is the story of an innocent country-girl, Tess Durbyfield whose change in family from Anglo-Saxon Durbyfield to the ancient French D'Urberville paved her ways to her tragedy. Hardy subtitles her as a pure woman because he thinks her suffering is inflicted by a series of misfortunes: she is not responsible for her tragedy.
Tess' Encounter with Alec D'Urberville
Tess' father, Jack Durbeyfield is informed by a parson about his royal lineage of being descended from the family of knights, D'Urberville. Which is illogical as knighthood is not an inheritable skill or position, it is attained through a series of special training. Jack believes in his D'Urberville identity and he celebrates this in his go-to destination, a pub by drinking. (Well, why you are talking about Jack? We want the answer for Tess' purity. Well, hang up buddies. ) Jack sends Tess to one of his old but able pupils to lend some money (because they can hardly eat two-times meal at that point). The particular pupil turns out to be no other than the actual D'Urbervilles and Alec connects with Tess as her cousin.
This is how tragedy takes its baby steps. Alec is not a morally stabilized person and he takes liberties with Tess, in simple terms, he rapes Tess because she is "heavenly" beautiful. Tess tries her best to repel but she ends up in begetting a child which dies earlier. She is virgin no more, according to Victorian tradition, she is unable to marry another person because she has demoralized herself and her family. Her The Chase encounter pretty much sets the initial phase of her tragedy. This incident makes Angel send Tess away whose "face was loveable to him. " This accident makes Tess furious and she "regains" her innocence by murdering "pious" clergyman Alec.
Fate or Free Will?
Hardy suggests that Tess was not responsible for what she had done, she was rather foiled by her fate. Her fate set her inked history. Her inked history stained her relationship of love with Angel Clare. Her purity was, no doubt, stained by the clutches of fate but to regain her purity through the murder of Alec was her own accomplishment. She gains what is sowed by the seeds of fate. We, as readers think if Jack would not have gloated over his shiny lineage, Tess' purity would have been preserved.
Tess' Purity
The only problem with Angel in accepting Tess is she is not pure, she is not a virgin. But Tess really thinks herself as an unpure lady? No, she considers herself pure. She renders Alec responsible for her impurity as she did not even know what sex was before her illicit relation with Alec. Early critics regard Tess as an immoral, impure character and criticized Thomas Hardy for interpreting her character in such an open way. But modern critics consider her heroin, says Rowland, a renowned critic, "Tess has a stature that makes her own sufferings touching and personal to the reader".
Tess and the Victorian Society
The subtitle of the novel and Victorian morality contradict to each other. Hardy satirizes the Victorian society through Tess where women are termed pure on the basis of their past, not of their present (instinct). The Victorian laws favoured man. That is why Tess was unable to resort to the courts because there were no laws for women. Hardy wants to assert the fact that women are also equal to men. If Tess can forgive Angel for his stained history, he should have forgiven Tess.
Conclusion
Tess might not be physically pure, she is unalloyed spiritually. Her attempt to reaccess physical purity clears her way to tragedy.
References and Citation
- https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/tess-of-the-durbervilles/tess-durbeyfield
- http://www.cssforum.com.pk/css-optional-subjects/group-v/english-literature/101400-tess-durbervilles-tess-pure-woman.html
- Essays, UK. (November 2018). Analyze The Character Of Tess As A Pure Woman Or A Fallen Woman. Retrieved from https://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-literature/analyze-the-character-of-tess-as-a-pure-woman-literature-essay.php?vref=1
Very good!
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