Later on Tess and Alec go for a walk around Trantridge estate, where Tess is working, and they pick some strawberries. Alec offers Tess a strawberry by trying to feed them to her. "...he stood up and held it by the stem to her mouth." Tess's reply to this is "No-no!" However Alec makes her take it from his hand. For someone she has only just met he is extremely forward and outgoing. We can tell from the book that Tess is very uncomfortable with this. "...and in a slight distress she parted her lips and took it in."
As Tess works at Trantridge Alec becomes more and more attracted to her. He is constantly touching her and making suggestive comments. After a while Tess starts getting used to Alec and his character. But we know that she is still not completely comfortable with it all. "...took out her hankerchieft and wiped the spot on her cheek that had been touched by his lips." This is what Tess does after Alec kisses her. He gets angry. "You are mighty sensitive for a cottage girl!" Alec doesn't understand why Tess is like this, and he does not treat her with much respect. It is almost as though she is just an object, not a human being. This is an indication of the attitude of upper class men to poor working class women at that time. He would not treat someone of his own class this way. He is taking advantage of his position as a man.
Throughout this time whilst Tess is working at Trantridge, Alec becomes more and more attracted to her; until one day when he is driving her home, he stops at a wood and rapes her. The way Hardy describes the rape is very clever, and easy to miss. "...immeasurable social chasm was to divide our heroine's personality thereafter from that previous self of hers who stepped from her mother's door to try her fortune at Trantridge poultry-farm." Hardy had to describe the rape very subtly, otherwise the book would not have been published. You have to really pay attention to this part of the book to understand exactly what has happened.
After the rape Tess's whole life changes. She feels very guilty about the rape, and is extremely conscious of this. In addition to this, the rape results in her becoming pregnant, a shocking thing to happen to any girl outside marriage at the time. She tries not to look too nice, because she is afraid another man might take advantage of her. She mistrusts men and does not feel comfortable in their company. Tess cannot cope working at Trantridge farm, and goes home to her family. At this stage Tess feels desperately guilty and is changed. The purity and innocence of youth have been taken from her. Tess has her baby, who is born illegitimate; the baby becomes ill and dies soon afterwards.
A year passes, and Tess finds a new job at Talbothay's Dairy. Her optimism rises and things start to look up. However Tess still has the feelings of guilt and self consciousness, that haunt her. She meets Angel at Talbothay's Dairy, and their relationship develops. This has a massive impact on both Tess's and Angel's lives and without a doubt has a huge influence on the situation Tess finds herself in later in the book.
As soon as Tess arrives Angle notices her, just like Alec did. "What a fresh and virginal daughter of nature that milkmaid is!" is Angel's first observation of Tess. He assumes she is a virgin, as she is so young and "innocent", thus making it harder for Angel to believe she was raped. However this is the very beginning of their relationship, the truth about Tess comes out later, when things get more serious. Tess feels unable to speak about her previous experience with Alec as she knows it would be unacceptable.
We know that Angel is very different from Alec in character. He is much more respectful and more of a gentleman. He is obviously very attracted to Tess, but is decent and polite; he thinks of her as a Goddess. This is a good thing for Tess, as she is treated kindly and with respect by Angel, but is harmful in the future and contributes towards her desperate position at the end of the novel.
Tess and Angel marry but clearly Tess feels unhappy about not being honest with Angel about her previous experience with Alec. Angel has to ask Tess to marry him three times before she finally agrees, showing how anxious she feels about her situation. "O Mr. Clare - I cannot be your wife - I cannot be!" This is Tess's first response on being asked to be Angel's wife. The night before the wedding, Tess writes a letter to Angel confessing all her 'sins'. However, Angel never receives this letter as it slides under the carpet when Tess puts it under the door. This illustrates Hardy's 'fate and coincidence' brilliantly. Tess is relieved on the morning the day before the marriage because she thinks that Angel has forgiven her everything and is happy to marry her despite the past. Of course, Angel has no idea of what has happened and herein lies a big problem for Tess. On the morning of the marriage, Tess finds her letter and realises that Angel has not received it. She tries to confess the contents of it to him before the ceremony. "I want to confess all my faults and blunders." Angel says that Tess can do so after the ceremony and that he will also confess his. Tess has tried to tell Angel about her past already, but he has not let her. He has always put it off until later.
Eventually, Angel confesses his previous 'affair' with another woman and on hearing this, Tess feels able to confess her past as well. She has wanted to tell Angel for a while but her parents discouraged her from doing so. This says much about attitudes at the time. Her parents feel it may break up the marriage between them.
Angel feels very protective towards Tess and Hardy emphasises his love for her and his wanting to be close and tender now they are married. Angel is now responsible for Tess and gives her diamonds. Tess feels more and more anxious that Angel does not know her misdemeanours from the past. "...bad omens" cause Tess to be resolved to tell the truth but Angel wants to confess his past first. This he does and Tess forgives him and then confesses her 'sins'. "...'tis just the same! I will tell you now." Angel's reaction is not what Tess had hoped for. "You were one person now you are another." he responds. "He looked on her as a species of imposter; a guilty woman in the guise of an innocent one." Perhaps Tess accepts the conditions because she feels unworth.
Angel decides that he can no longer remain with Tess and asks that they part company. He says this because Alec is her "husband in nature". although, "If he were dead it might be different." This is important and must influence Tess in her later decision to murder Alec.
Tess needs money and decides to go to see Angel's parents to ask for help. She sees Angel's two brothers at the church when she arrives at the village and overhears them talking about her and the situation with Angel. This discourages Tess from asking Angel's parents for help and she leaves empty-handed. Again, this is an example of the fate and coincidence theme that Hardy develops throughout the book.
Clearly, Tess feels guilty about all that has happened and on later meeting Alec again realises that she is unable to escape her past. "...a physical sense of and implacable past which still engirdled her."
Alec meets Tess whilst she is working as a farm labourer and persists in trying to persuade her to live with him. Tess tries to resist Alec's approaches towards her (at one point she strikes him in the face and draws blood). In this way, Hardy demonstrates Tess's love for Angel despite everything. Eventually, through desperation and poverty, Tess accepts and agrees to live with Alec.
Such is Tess's guilt that she cannot bear to live with Alec and so she makes the decision to kill him. Her decision at this point was infuenced by many factors already mentioned; the fact that Alec was a constant reminder of what had happened and her sincere love for Angel and desire to erase her past for him. Conincidentally, Angel arrives back from Brazil at this time and is searching for Tess. He has mellowed whilst being away and realises that he was wrong to send Tess away and that he loves her. Again, Hardy's fate and conicidence theme plays a part here - Angel arrives just too late to save Tess. She already has blood on her hands.
Tess's ultimate fate is due to a combination of twists and turns throughout the novel. Her poverty has a large infuence on her situation, but also her desire to be 'good' and her guilt at what has happened which affects her decisions. The two men in her life, Alec and Angel contribute hugely to her fate and have important roles to play. Tess is a victim of society certainly, but also a victim of her own human nature and that of the people she has relationships with. The Victorian idea of 'fate' is also a big factor and one which Hardy emphasises throughout the book. It is almost as though Tess were fated to end up the way she did from the very beginning.
