The Cau of Tess’s Tragedy
----- On Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles
崔樱花 3050511130 英语0506
ABSTRACT
Tess of d’Urbervilles is a tragedy and Tess is a tragic feature who is the protagonist of this novel. There may be veral reasons which caud the tragedy of Tess. This paper is devoted to the analysis of Tess’s tragedy in the book-Tess of d’Urbervilles. The reasons can mainly be divided into two aspects－the external and the internal reasons. The external reasons include the social environmental reason and the outside influences from Tess’s parents, Alec d’Urbervilles and Angel Clare. As to the social environmental reason, this paper traces back to the social background to find out the social factor of Tess’s tragedy. And the influences of Tess’s parents, Alec d’Urbervilles and Angel Clare make Tess’s traged
y from bad to wor. While the internal reasons－Tess’s character and her own fate help to create the tragedy. Bad on the analysis of Tess’s tragedy, a conclusion can be drawn that Tess not only is the victim of the society and the people involved in her tragedy but also suffers from her own character, fate. By studying this paper, you may get a comparatively vivid understanding of the cau of Tess’s tragedy.
KEY WORDS tragedy industrialization character fate
OUTLINE
Ⅰ. Introduction
A. introduction of Thomas Hardy
B. an introduction of the novel
Ⅱ. Analysis of the cau of Tess’s tragedy
A. the external reasons。
1．the social environmental reason
2．caud by Tess’s father
3．caud by Tess’s mother
4. caud by Alec d’Urbervilles
5. caud by Angel Clare
B. the internal reasons
1. Tess’s character
2. Tess’s fate
Ⅲ. Conclusion
INTRODUCTION
Thomas Hardy is a critic realistic novelist. He expresd his discontentedness to the reality and obrved the society with the critic and realistic views . He was brought up in Dort and his novels were largely bad on his knowledge of a rural society. Tess of the d'Urbervilles, published in 1891, is one of the Hardy's last and most significant works. In this novel, Hardy reached the height of his achievement as a novelist. The novel attracts and moves countless readers for its tragic fate of Tess.
Tess is the daughter of a poor villager .In her youth she is duced by Alec D’Urbervilles, the son of a rich merchant .Tess gives birth to an illegitimate child ,thus scandalizing the narrow-minded people around her .So ,she leaves home and works at a distant farm as a dairymaid .There she meets Angle Clare ,a clergyman’s son ,who has broken with the tradition of his family to ek the ideal in a quiet rural life .The young people fall in love and are engaged to each other .On their wedding night ,Tess confess to Angel the affair of Alec .Angle ,himlf a sinner who has had some affair with a bad woman ,casts her off .Soon he leaves for Brazil .Misfortune and hardship come upon poor Tess and her family .Now Alec has become a preacher ,still rich and still influential .Tess has made so
me pathetic appeals to her husband abroad but in vain, and Alec press his attention upon her .She is driven to accept his protection and lives with him .Clare ,returning from Brazil and repentant of his harshness to Tess ,finds her in such a situation .Clare leaves her again ,which deeply shocks her and makes her kill Alec .After hiding with Clare in a forest for a short time ,Tess falls into the claws of law .She is arrested ,tried and hanged .
Tess was a woman of integrity and pure in heart, yet she was driven to the hell. This paper aims at discussing the caus of Tess's tragedy.
ANALYSIS OF THE CAUSE OF TESS’S TRAGEDY
The external reasons
The social environmental influence is the most esntial reason of Tess’s tragedy. On one hand, during Tess’s time, the industrialization of the cities was diminishing the quality of life of the inhabitants of rural areas. “England entered an agricultural depression in 1870s, brought on in part by the completion of the first transcontinental railroad across th
e United States. This made it easier and cheaper for American goods to compete with British goods. ”1 Industrialization made rural life depresd. Besides the machines, like the steam threshing machine at Flintcomb-Ash, made agricultural workers less in demand. Many rural workers were unable to get job and throw them into poverty. On the other hand,“At the end of 19th century, capitalism prevailed in the whole England that made broad mass of peasant went bankrupt and then they had to live in poverty and grave situation.”2The capitalism brings a great harm to the rural and agricultural life of the place. The lf-supporting peasants are displaced. They are extremely poor and live a very mirable life. Born as a daughter of a peasant’s family, Tess also suffered very much from the industrialized and capitalist society. Family poverty put the heavy duty upon the shoulders of young Tess. The death of the hor destroyed the family’s livelihood which forced Tess to go to e their cousin and worked there as an employee of Alec. With no means to maintain their daily existence, Tess had to claim kin against her own will at the expen of her own pride and dignity. The employment by Alec is the beginning of Tess’s tragedy. If she had not been worked under Alec, she won’t be duce
d or raped by Alec, and there would not the conquent tragedy happened to Tess. Again, it is poverty which, when her father dies, drives Tess back to the arms of Alec, ruining her last chance of happiness. So the esntial reason of Tess’s tragedy is brought to her by the society. The poverty of Tess’s family to which the society brought is the inevitable cau of Tess’s tragedy.
The external reasons also related to four people who are involved in Tess’s tragedy tightly. They are Tess’s father and mother, Alec d’Urbervilles and Angel Clare.
Tess’s father Jack beyfild is lazy, ignorant, incapable and lfish who just think of himlf. Also he is a drinker. He could have supported the family by himlf if he had not been so proud about being descendants of the famous d’Urbervilles family. After Tess’s father learned that he was descendant of a noble family, he became indolent and sluggish. He had never done more work than was necessary to keep his family. Even though his family was very poor, he never took the responsibility to make his family live better life but was addicted to alcohol. So Tess, the oldest daughter of this family, was obliged to take the du
ty of supporting her family. Tess’s father’s irresponsibility forced Tess to go into the way towards tragedy.
