Commentary on the Tess of the d'Urbervilles

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Commentary on the Tess of the d’Urbervilles

The extract from “Tess of the d’Urbervilles” by Thomas Hardy comprises of the character of Tess being drawn towards the music that an angel is playing on his harp. The atmosphere seems almost magical as it seems to encapsulate Tess to the extend that she becomes in a trance-like state. The setting of the passage is in the Tess’s garden at night-time, and the reader feels the sense that all of the animals and the plants around her our alive.  Hardy has used stylistic devices such as similes, dictions and the use of sounds, in an attempt to exemplify mystery throughout the piece.

Hardy conveys atmosphere using several techniques, but the most pronounced method he uses is with sounds. The passage begins with,

The soundlessness impressed her as a positive entity rather than a mere negation of noise. It was broken by the strumming of strings.”

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The silence implored at the beginning of the piece is effective in building up suspense and contrasting against the rest of the passage where a melody of music is constantly playing. The feeling of having no sound can also be seen as being special, even eerie, as silence is seldom heard since there is usually other noises happening, yet she still refers to it as a “typical summer evening.” The line implying that innate objects “seem endowed with two or three senses,” aswell promotes the magical atmosphere by implying that the rest of the garden is alive. Using the ...

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