“ ,”
she says it in a motorized tone as though her mind belonged to Alec. This shows to me that if Tess felt like Alec forced the kiss upon her and she had to take it, he might have had the same affect on her that night, so I think Tess’s spirit and intentions were pure.
At the beginning of the book Hardy describes Tess as being “fine handsome girl” with “large innocent eyes,” this suggests that she is a nice normal girl, possibly just as the others are, but then Hardy adds that Tess is wearing a red ribbon. Red is associated with lust, passion and danger, I think hardy was trying to show that there was more personality and depth beneath Tess’s surface and “fine” appearance. We may see the ribbon as an attempt to stand out as she is wearing a white dress, the same as her peers are, white shows and emphasizes innocence and pureness, and then, unlike her peers, a red ribbon (symbolizing lust, passion and danger) is added to the outfit, this suggests that maybe because she stands out from the beginning she is the one who will be the main character and because white symbolizes purity the passionate and dangerous color of red contrasts the white, this leaves Tess looking innocent and pure but with an edge that makes her different.
some people may say that Tess was responsible for her sexual relationship with Alec. However I believe that, that as well as previous reasons that if she possibly did just let him have his way with her, and did not try to stop him it was because he was responsible for her downfall in heart and mind previous to the event. Tess only allowed Alec to come near her or allowed him to speak in a conversation with her when he started to use her family to manipulate her, he used emotional blackmail and because she felt so alone she was moved by his intentions, she would always comment on how he was kind etc. however she always seemed to be weary of these gestures and insisted he not do it again. But as she always felt moved this became her weakness, and as soon as the weakness deepened he seduced her.
I also believe that Tess wore a mask of innocence, and this is the mask Alec saw. I think he only saw her in a physical way he did not see the woman inside that she needed to be. Maybe she felt he would see the woman she was inside if she let him seduce her.
