To what extent is Tess a tragic heroine? Thomas Hardy - Tess of the d'Urbervilles

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Harriet E.H. Earle – 10K                                                                               Eng. Lit. JWa                                                  

To what extent is Tess a tragic heroine?

‘I have not been able to put on paper all that she is, or was, to me,’ wrote Thomas Hardy of Tess. ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles’ was published in 1891, amid a whirlwind of controversy, under its subtitle ‘A Pure Woman’. ‘Tess’ was Hardy’s 14th novel and deals with the life of Tess Durbeyfield, a country-born girl and the ordeals she faces throughout her life. The novel deals with such issues as family status, morality, religion, illegitimacy and, eventually, justice. Earlier in his life, Thomas Hardy witnessed the public execution of a woman found guilty of murdering her husband. This event had a huge impact on Hardy for it made him realise just how unfair his society was in matters of gender and social status. Victorian society believed that women were ‘inferior’ and incapable of strong emotion and passion. Through Tess, Hardy shows women as rounded, 3-dimensional characters, giving us a perfect overview of their psyche, emotions and opinions.

The works of Thomas Hardy are noted for their tragic content. Throughout the course of history, tragedy has infiltrated all areas of the arts and literature. Tragic theatre was popular in ancient Greece, which is where the word itself comes from (literally meaning ‘goat-song’). Such famous Greek tragedies include ‘Oedipus’ and ‘Antigone’. Since then, tragedy has appeared in all areas, including opera (almost all operas in fact!), theatre (of which some the most famous are credited to William Shakespeare) and, of course, literature. The nature of tragedy in a fictional work can be created by two separate influencing factors. One is the weaknesses and eventual downfall of a character, as is the case in ‘Othello’, for example. Othello’s consuming jealousy leads to the death of his wife and his own death by suicide.  The other is the creating of scenarios by outside forces and circumstance. Some may refer to this as fate. In the case of Tess, we are dealing with the latter. Another key element in tragedy is an overall sense of completion, signifying the end of a ‘dynasty’. For instance, in Hamlet, Hamlet dies with the words ‘the rest is silence’ and then Fortinbras walks in to claim his new position.  In Tess, her execution marks the end her dynasty and the joining of Angel and Liza-Lu is the beginning of another. However, in the previous chapter we see that Tess is found at Stonehenge. Angel presses her to escape, even though he knows how futile that would be. Tess does not fight back against the policemen, but simply says ‘I am ready’ before being taken away. This act alone tells us that Tess is not the one that should be punished and in punishing her we create her as victim of an immoral society.  

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In classing Tess as a tragic heroine, we must elaborate on the reasons for our classification. In tragedy, the tragic elements are not necessarily tragic on their own but the nature and direction of said event leads us the class it as tragic. An example found in the novel would be Alec’s ‘violation’ of Tess. On its own, sex would not be classed as a ‘bad deed’. However, as this was not given consent, the act is classed as rape. The fact that Tess is a righteous and pure young lady makes her appear more of a victim. ...

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