"The president of the Immortals had done his sport with Tess"
"The president of the Immortals had done his sport with Tess"
In his novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles Thomas Hardy expresses his dissatisfaction, weariness, and an overwhelming sense of injustice at the cruelty of 'our' universal fate disappointment and disillusionment. Hardy puts out an argument that the hopes and desires of Men are cruelly saddened by a strong combination of fate, unwanted accidents, mistakes and many sad flaws. Although Tess is strong willed and is clearly educated emotionally and mentally she soon becomes a victim of 'fate'.
Many people would say that Tess was just unlucky, "Had a stroke of bad luck," others would prefer to differ and argue that she has fallen into fates hands. In order to decide whether her story is one of bad luck or bad judgement we need to look into closer detail at her account.
Tess is introduced to the readers as a pure and innocent young lady dressed all in white, which symbolizes virginity and purity, whilst her physical appearance suggests a form of innocence and naivety. Hardy proposes that maybe her innocence and purity comes from her lack of experience with people, love and danger. This can be seen when she is exposed to new and different environments and forces. Hardy also introduces class and status very early on, Tess comes from a lower class yet she can make herself seem in a higher status due to her education.
Tess's first encounter of bad luck is when she kills the family horse, Prince. Tess is with her brother Abraham in their wagon whilst discussing about the stars and how they are worlds just like Earth. Tess continues with saying that, "Most of them splendid and sound-a few blighted." Abraham and Tess come to the conclusion that they are the blighted ones. Tess blames herself for the killing of the horse and would say it was bad luck, but in all fairness it was her father's irresponsibility for letting Tess takes the wagon to deliver the beehives. Whilst on the other hand Abraham blames it on the blighted star. I would say that there is a sense of fate in this chapter with the discussions between Tess and Abraham with regard to the stars. Even though realistically the event is an accident, Thomas Hardy writes in such a way that we are lead to believe that it is a cruelty of fate rather than a, "direct sense of cause and effect". In the result to the death, Tess feels tremendously guilty; this will make her more susceptible to her fathers' wishes and doings.
Tess is a beautiful young girl who oozes sexuality; however in this novel her beauty does not do her any good. We can see examples of this in many chapters; in chapter eight we can see that Alec is driving at a reckless speed to perhaps appear more 'manly' in the company of Tess. Her natural instinct is to grasp Alec's arm. It seems to me that Alec's intention was to have some type of physical contact with Tess. However the arm holding was not enough for Alec so he asked her to grab his waist with the ...
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Tess is a beautiful young girl who oozes sexuality; however in this novel her beauty does not do her any good. We can see examples of this in many chapters; in chapter eight we can see that Alec is driving at a reckless speed to perhaps appear more 'manly' in the company of Tess. Her natural instinct is to grasp Alec's arm. It seems to me that Alec's intention was to have some type of physical contact with Tess. However the arm holding was not enough for Alec so he asked her to grab his waist with the excuse that he couldn't steer with her latching on. Alec uses Tess as a, 'sexual conquest'. If Tess wouldn't have killed Prince she wouldn't be exposed to such danger with Alec, in fact she wouldn't even be on the carriage with Alec as she wouldn't have needed to go to work on the poultry farm.
Also in chapter ten and eleven, her innocence and her beauty put her safety at risk. This is because in chapter ten after visiting the town Trantridge in the night where most danced the night away, excluding Tess, the group walk home. Whilst walking home Car Darch is carrying a wicker-basket containing all sorts of groceries on the top of her head, and a stream of treacle drips down her back. All the girls laugh including Tess but Car notices Tess laughing and starts to get frustrated and insults and fights with Tess. Alec comes and rescues Tess; Cars mother laughs and says, "Out of the frying pan and into the fire." Which is true as can be seen in the later events. In this chapter Tess is singled out by Car because she is threatened by her innocence and how much attention she gains. The reasons for the rescue of Tess by Alec may be seen on the surface as noble behaviour but there is a big chance that under the surface that his motives were to manipulate her. Cars mum realises that Tess is in greater danger with Alec than Car.
Chapter eleven looks in depth at Tess and Alec's relationship, Alec constantly tries to get physical with Tess who often pushes him away. Tess admits to Alec that she does not love him and is not interested into his advances; in fact his constant attention angers her. Alec is pleased to hear of this as he prefers her anger to her frigidity. This constant attention from Alec can be compared to someone chipping away at a rock - eventually Tess becomes so weary she falls asleep on Alec's shoulder. Alec immediately puts his arm around her waist on the pretence of supporting her which causes Tess to become very defensive. Alec asks her to trust him by letting him clasp her with his arm and eventually she submits to this. It's not long before the trust is shattered when he realises that he is delaying the journey home. Tess's weariness results in her falling asleep and the author talks of her being seduced by Alec. Hardy leaves the details of this seduction vague which allows the reader to fantasise what really happened. Were these events fate or caused by Tess naivety to the situation, because she is unaware of her beauty and sexuality. At this point in the novel Tess stills thinks of Alec as a hero having saved her from Car Darch. Alec's actions make Tess feel that she has to defend her right to not be physical with him rather than the fact that Alec's behaviour is inexcusable, therefore we can see that her seduction by Alec could be perceived as an error on the part of Tess. However Tess might see it as bad luck and in fact that she is to blame for Alec's actions, by not having the strength to refuse him more assertively.
Soon after staying at the farm, Tess has enough courage and walks home. However from the behaviour of Alec previously, Tess falls pregnant and has Alec's baby. Tess claims to hate the baby but soon comes to love her and wishes the best for her. This part of the novel reflects issues in 19th century society. For example, Sorrow, Tess's illegitimate son is used to show the attitudes of society on unmarried sex and illegitimacy. Tess truly believes that Sorrow's illness is the result of being an illegitimate child and knowing that he is going to die baptises himself so he does not go to hell and may be 'fit' to attend heaven. However she is not allowed to bury him in the church as he wasn't baptised properly. Sorrow is very symbolic, as Sorrow is only, 'born out of the cause of Tess's own sorrow.' The presentation of Alec is an arrogant, self-centred and an immoral rapist which reflects society's attitude toward women. Tess is the one blamed for this incident, although she is innocent, because of her gender Alec walks free, not a care in the world. This here is a true insight on how the Victorians worked and their real beliefs. We could see this incident as one of bad luck or fate as Tess did not seem able to fight off the advances of Alec.
Tess is often guided by her morals and by her unmistaken desire to do what is right. This is the reason she goes against her mother and tells Angel about her past and previous mistakes. Yet at this point he is very hypocritical. He had told Tess about his previous affair with an 'older woman' and she had forgiven him, however when she confesses to something that was not her fault and uncontrollable he does not forgive her. Tess had earlier slipped a note under Angel's door but, it must have gone under the carpet. Had Angel received the note before they were married, the course of the story may have gone differently, and another chance for fate to takes its toll in Tess's life?
Tess is left by herself whilst Angel leaves and tries to restore his mind, she is bewildered why her husband has not written or sent any letter or where he is. She leaves on the Sunday morning for Emminster, where she over hears people talking about Angel and herself. Tess leaves her boots as a sign of condiment, she feels as though she cannot return to the vicarage. She then travels to the village of Evershead where she recognises the voice of a fiery Christian man preaching, she realises it is Alec d'Urberville. It seems ironic that the re-emergence of Alec into Tess's life appears as a circle of fate. Originally, Alec was the one person who caused Tess the most amount of pain whilst the other characters that Tess encounters appear more conscientious and nicer people. However, when Alec is reintroduced into the story he has converted from an "unscrupulous hedonist" into a "fundamentalist teacher". Angel, on the other hand, has changed from a moral son of a minister into a successful businessman, which could be perceived as having fewer morals in order for him to be triumphant in this field. The author writes in such a way that the reader is not completely convinced of the change in Alec. It seems that the story could be seen as one of fate in that the departure of Angel culminates in the re-introduction of Alec. However, we also have to bear in mind that Tess has allowed Alec back into her life and therefore must take some of the blame.
As Tess feels so lost and alone in her life she decides to marry Alec, this may not be the best decision but it's all she can do to redeem herself. However Tess is unhappy and still hopes and dreams Angel will come back. When he finally does, Tess dismisses him in anger and hate. Secretly, deep down she still loves him with all her heart and she had been waiting for this day for a very long time. Angel walks to the first train station deeply saddened, and then suddenly he sees a woman running towards him. He realises its Tess, she tells him that she has killed Alec as he was taunting her and calling Angel foul names. Angel vows that he will never leave Tess, however he knows they will not be together for long. Hardy finally involves Tess to the d'Urberville tradition of murder. Again we are entwined in the theme of fate v choices, we are lead to believe that the d'Urberville heritage of murder is one of fate and yet we can clearly see Tess's action was one hundred percent her own choice. However for a woman of who feels continue abuse from her husband she may feel that the choice has been taken away from her and it is a case of survival.
Hardy has a strong sense of accidental, coincidental, fate and bad luck. However it is trying to decipher which events are what. For example there are hints that Tess preordained to be murderess, and early in the story, when Prince dies, "Her face was dry and pale, as though she regarded herself in the light of a murderess." I believe that many actions that took place in her life were not always bad luck were not always fate but just the path that she led. However her constant bad luck caused her to make bad judgements which then caused us the readers to believe it is fate. To conclude Tess's innocent and beauty proved to do her no good and she was also unaware of her sexuality. Her lack of common knowledge and wanting from her also made her susceptible to other men.
