relationship with Angel Clare, when she tells him what happened. He thought
that she was pure and virginal, that is what he wanted to see when he looked
at her, but he didn`t look close enough to see her pain, so Tess is haunted
again by the evnts of her past. Alec tries it on again when Tess goes with him
after Angel leaves, but she has learned from the past to stop it from
happening, and she kills him, stabbing him in the torso once. She leaves,
terrified, and finds Angel on the wharf, waiting for her and tells him what
happened. He takes her back to an old house, where they stay until they are
discovered. They then take flight over the countryside, finally resting at
Stonehenge where the police finally catch up to them, and take Tess into the
dawn.
In relation to this, many women who have had an experiance of rape find it
hard to become accustomed to a genuine loving relationship without having
psychological flashbacks to the rape. It is at times like this when the
quotation " once a victim, always a victim, thats the law " comes into effect.
It always seems like they have done something wrong, but cannot explain
what because they did not do anything.
Also, in modern day society, people who have commited offences suchas
violence on the street or burglary are always brought in for a ' line up ' at the
police station, thus making them feel like they are being punished when they
have already served their sentence. This can tie in with Tess, as they know
they have commited wrongly in the past but they cannot help or erase thier
experiences, they just try to get on with their lives, but cannot because of
their past.
Tess`s experiences can teach us a lot about the era in which she lived, and
the social structures of the time. If a woman is raped, then she is seen as '
unclean ' and no longer virginal. This should not be allowed, because a
woman should remain a virgin until she has sex with her consent, and not be
forced into it by any man, or indeed woman.
The end part of the quotation " thats the law " has many meanings, but i
think that the main and most obvious one is that the police want to catch
anyone they can, regardless of whether they commited the offence, just going
on past records. The quotation applies to real life, and to Tess`s era in equal
measure.
