The Rebellion Of Tess

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

He jingjing

A Thesis Submitted to Anhui University of Finance & Economics

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts

SID: 2009510006

CLASS: 2009(1)

SUPERVISOR: Zhang junmei

（中间空一行）

School of Foreign Languages

Anhui University of Finance & Economics

April 2013

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis would have not been completed without the assistance of my supervisor, profession Zhang Junmei..

On the completion of my thesis, I should like to express my deepest gratitude to all whose kindness and advice have made this work be written timely and successfully.

First of all, I am greatly indebted to my tutor Miss Zhang Junmei who gave me valuable instructions and guided me to write this thesis in the right direction. From the initial proposal to the final version of this thesis, she has kept on giving me invaluable comments, intellectual challenge, and rigorous feedback that helped me sharpen my thinking and improve my professional quality. She also kept paying attention on my writing process in order to urge me to keep pace with the time table. In my mind, she is not only a nice person, but also a qualified supervisor.

And then, I am so lucky to have a number of close friends who accompanied me during the long term thesis writing and many kind classmates who constantly encouraged me and cheered me up whenever I got frustrated with this thesis writing. I want to address my special appreciation to all of them.

My last thanks, have to be given to my family and parents, who didn’t give me up and kept on supporting me during such a long period of writing.

Especially, xxxxxxxxxxxx.

ABSTRACT

Hardy, the remarkable nineteenth-century novelist, is one of the representatives of English critical realism at the turn of the 19th century. Among his numerous works, Tess of the D' Urbervilles could be regarded as the summit of his realistic novels. The heroin Tess has strong rebellious spirit all through her life and her rebellion is progressive to a certain degree. In this thesis, the author tries to analyze the rebellion of Tess in two main aspects: reasons for the rebellion and characters of the rebellion. The former one is caused by human’s instinct and nature. The human instinct leads Tess to fight against her fate. Tess’s healthy desire simply to be happy is perhaps the source of her great courage and moral strength to revolt. The latter takes on the resolution and cowardliness of the rebellion, and the surface of the cowardliness of the rebellion is the awakening of consciousness and noble personality, which foils the novel’s theme and its value and further illustrates the injustice for female in Victorian England. So such a rebellion is impossible to be avoided.

Key Words: Rebellion; self-respect; resolution; women awakening; women consciousness

摘 要

著名小说家汤姆斯 哈代是19世纪英国批判现实主义作家的代表之一。在他的众多作品中，《德伯家的苔丝》达到了现实主义小说艺术成就的顶峰。女主角苔丝的医生都显示出了其极强的反叛精神，而且在一定程度上取得了成效。论文主要从两方面分析苔丝的反叛精神：苔丝反叛的原因以及其反叛精神的特点。在作者看来苔丝反叛的原因是人类的本性。苔丝强烈的想要获得幸福的愿望是她敢于反叛的力量源泉。同时文章分析了女主人公反叛的坚决性和软弱性，而表面的软弱性是为反叛意识的觉醒和高贵人格的体现作铺垫，从而反衬作品的主题思想和价值意义，进一步验证了维多利亚时代的英格兰对女性的不公平对待。因此，这样一个反叛是不可避免的。

关键词：反叛；自尊；坚决性；女性觉醒；女性意识

CONTENTS

Chapter 1 Introduction…………………………..……………….……………. 1

1.1 Rationale.………………….……………….……..………..………… 2

1.2 Literature Review.……..…………….…….…….……………..……………... 3

1.3 Organization of the Thesis..…………….…….……………………………………….. 4

Chapter 2 Reasons for the Rebellion of Tess ..………………………..………………………….9

2.1 Social Background

2.2 Characteristics of Tess

Chapter 3 Resolution and Cowardliness in Tess……………….…..…………....…….........................10

3.1 Resolution in Tess

3.2 Cowardliness in Tess

Chapter 4 Conclusion……………….…..…………...…….........................................10

Bibliography………….………….……….……………………..………..……..….11

Chapter One Introduction

1.1 Rationale

Thomas Hardy was born on June 2, 1840. He is one of the greatest writers in the history of English literature, and Tess of the D’Urbervilles is one of his most successful novels. As a traditional writer, he was determined to explode the conventions of nineteenth-century literature and built a new kind of novel in its place. In many respects, Hardy was trapped in the middle ground between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, between Victorian sensibilities and more modern ones, and between tradition and innovation. At that time ,the industrial revolution and the emergence of machinery impelled women to enter the workforce. This was a turning point for women’s social, political and cultural roals. Tess of the d’ Urbervilles was published in 1891. The publication of the novel causes a great disturbance the author Hardy is attacked fiercely by the upper-class at Victoria Times. In their opinion, Tess is such an impure woman. However Hardy represents and highly appraises her as a pure woman. This is absolutely treason and heresy at that time. In this thesis, the author will analyze the most successful tragic masterpiece of Thomas Hardy through the reason of Tess’ rebellion, how the rebellion is reflected in her whole life and the character of Tess’ rebellion. How Tess was fight against her fate and the shortcomings of her character. It is believed that this thesis can contribute to the understanding of Tess’s character and further research of the other tragedy character of Thomas Hardy .

1.2 Literature review

Hardy was noted for his pessimistic novels of rural life. Living at the turn of the century, Hardy is often regarded as a transitional writer, influenced by both the Victorian and the modern. Hardy criticized certain social constraints that hindered the lives of those living in the 19th century. Considered a Victorian Realist writer, Hardy was severely attracted for his "pessimism" and "immorality", especially in Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure. Hardy’s defiance against the status quo of the Victorian England is both fierce and unrelenting and that is why both the last two novels met with terrific accusations from the bourgeois authorities and their henchmen the critics.

Originally serialized in a paper The Graphic, Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles was first published as a book in 1891. This work was Hardy's second-to-the-last novel (Jude the Obscure being his final one). This novel, according to a 20th—century critic Arnold Kettle, "has the quality of a social document." Living in that special age, Tess’s rebellion and fighting against the society and her fate is impossible to be avoided.

As Qian Yanqiu（钱艳秋，2011） states in her thesis On the rebellion of Tess. "The heroin Tess has strong rebellious spirit and her rebellion is progressive. Although her rebellion is of nature, instinct and blindness at the beginning, develop from passive to active, from unconscious to rational. She challenges conventional moral, religious and social attitudes in her own way and grows into a mature and reasonable woman from an innocent girl of nature at last."

And Long Qiyu(龙奇玉，2010) analyzes the different reasons for Tess\'s rebellion in her paper. "Tess is actually a character with the spirit of rebellion all through her life and further illustrating the injustice for female in Victorian England".

Fu zhong(付忠，2009) points out "The tragedy of Tess was in consequence of the traditional

feudal moral concept.

Wei yafei(魏雅菲，2012)writes in her paper "Although Tess boasts a refined and elegant appearance which is assembly associated with a city girl, she is not so tender and weak as a lady would be due to the cultivation of nature."

Although so much research has been made, the author intends to present her own understanding of the figure. In order to achieve this target, this thesis endeavors to explore the reasons of Tess’s rebellion and the character of her rebellion.

1.3 Organization of the thesis

he thesis consists of four chapters. Chapter One is an introduction of the whole thesis, including rationale, literature review and organization of the paper. Chapter Two is the main part of the thesis, mainly delivering an analysis of the different reasons of Tess’s rebellion To give a comprehensive description, the author illustrate the reasons from two aspects; "social background and reasons of Tess’s own character weakness" Chapter Three focuses on exploring the characters of her rebellion, resolution and cowardliness of Tess’s rebellion. Chapter Four is a conclusion of the whole thesis, elaborating the author’s opinion and anticipating bringing readers some meaningful enlightenment.

Chapter Two Analysis of Scarlett’s Character

2.1 Reasons for The Rebellion of Tess

the reason of Tess’s rebellion can be concluded into two main reasons, social background and her characteristics. In Tess’s time, female are inferior to male and they do not have the right to decide anything, what they can do is just obey to their husband. The whole society has never treat women equally as men. Therefore the only way to control their life is fighting against their fate. And Tess is a woman with self-respect and great courage to pursue true love and the life that she wanted. Although her rebellion is not thorough, we can’t deny that to a certain degree, it is progressive.

2.1.1 Social Background

This story happened in the late of the British Victorian era. Tremendous changes took place in almost every aspects of the society. The industrial revolution continues to develop and the bourgeoisie controlled all rights and the law served them. Farmers are at the bottom of the society and they never had the equal rights with bourgeoisies. The emergence of locomotives throws Britain into a frenzy of railway building. Agriculture is further mechanized. Trade and commerce grow quickly. And all these changes drive more people of the lower-class such as peasants, hand spinners and weavers to the crowded factories of the smoky industrial cities. Thus England experiences great transformation from an agricultural country to an industrial country. Under the process of industrialism and the disintegration of peasantry, more and more farmers become impoverished and live a painful life. As a daughter of a poor rural tradesman and a wage-laborer later, it is impossible for Tess to live a better life together with her family. So she has to fight against her fate, against those people and convention that standing in the way of her happiness and true love.

2.1.2 Domination of Female

Our world is composed of male and female, so man and woman are supposed to be equal. However in Tess’s time, men are powerful, and woman is the slave and private property of husband. They are inferior to men and they cannot disobey their husbands. Male made all decisions and controlled everything. The convention requested women to be loyal and pure and chaste. Women should be nothing but the faithful companion of men.

In this story, Angel’s love for Tess seems to be pure and genuine and dominate Tess in an abnormal way. Angel established a perfect image of Tess’s country purity that he thinks she should be. .When Angle calls Tess names like "Daughter of Nature" and "Artemis", we feel that maybe he can’t accept what Tess really is in favor of a mental image that he prefers. Thus, her identity and experiences are suppressed. While as the other male character in the story, Alec is not only sensual, but also arrogant and egotistic. He tries to use his power to control Tess although he is quite hollow and superficial inside. Alec believes that the only way to conquer and possess a woman is using force and money but not affection or gentleness. And he thinks that Tess, a poor country girl, is inferior to him and never regards Tess as an equal human being like he is. Facing with the domination of male and the unequal position, Tess has to revolt against the unreasonable conventions.

2.1.3 Unequal Morality for Female

Sexual purity is the most important and valuable virtue of women of the Victorian Age. And adultery

is regarded as the worst of all possible sins. Women’s dress concealed their whole body only leaving their hands and faces outside. And revealing an ankle or a shoulder is considered to be ‘improper’. Sexual morals of the society are that woman must remain virgin before marriage, but men could have their fling. The unequal sexual morals are deeply rooted in people’s rational minds. So when men or women engaged in sexual issues, the former would be forgiven and the later would be condemned and punished for her misbehavior. "All women are considered serious offenders and the legal and social consequences of everything. For men are considered an honor, at best, but can appreciate the moral acceptance of small stain." It seems that Tess is so innocent and all at sea from the dialogue, "How could I be expected to know? I was a child when I left this house four months ago, why didn’t you tell me there was danger in men-folk? Why didn’t you warn me? Ladies know that…". But Tess wins no comfort and consolation; instead, she is puzzled by ‘a cloud of moral problems, which terrify her ‘without reasons". Then, having the same sexual experience, Angle is pardoned but she is abused for it. Is it right that any kind of sexual encounter would earn a young woman moral punishment and social condemnation, regardless of how terrible things the man involved done to the woman? furthermore, the whole society even her closest families condemn Tess, and without doubt made her life more miserable. In order to get rid of the miserable life and the unequal sexual morality, Tess decides to move on and get a job in a dairy farm and live a new life.

2.1.4 Social Injustice and Class Oppression

Speaking on the whole, Tess is more pretty and graceful than the other girls of the same class as her, but not that up to the level of the upper or middle class both socially and culturally. When Angel decides to marry Tess, his mother does not agree and does not think Tess is a suitable choice of her daughter-in-law. Because she believes that Tess will bring down the social statues of the whole family. In her eyes, what Tess can bring to the family is only bad things. In Angel’s mother’s mind, the perfect choice of daughter-in-law is someone who is well-bred and from the upper or middle class. From the point of her view, marriage has nothing to do with love, but is closely associated with social, financial, and religious position. What’s more, the old economic realities of Tess’s time make wealth much more important than people’s inner quality. The upper and middle classes remain firm in power and the newly rich people and families can spend money to buy respectable social status and great renowned titles for themselves and the latter generations. Take Alec for example, he uses his wealth and social position to take advantage of Tess’s innocence, inexperience, and poverty and control her in a second time at the end of the story.

In summary, the reason why Alec can impregnate and abandon Tess regardless of the consequence and expense is that the unfair class system controls the whole society. It is also the Victorian myth of the pure virginal bride that made Angle can’t accept Tess’s past and decides to leave her on the bridal night. These social injustices bring undeserved suffering to Tess. But Tess never gives up her hope on Angel and wait for him to come back with his forgiveness and love for her. And this is her silently rebellion.

2.2 Characteristics of Tess

Besides the social backgrounds of Tess’s time, Tess’s unique characters also lead to her rebellion. Tess has a strong responsibility for her family and her life. Unlike other woman of the Victorian age, Tess is self-respect and aggressive.

2.2.1 Her Responsibilities for Her Family and Herself

The other main reason that leads to Tess’s rebellion is her characteristics. Tess is a simple and poor country girl and she is the eldest child in her family, so she has a strong sense of responsibility for her family. Tess’s father is a lazy tradesman and her mother is just a country woman who wants her daughter marry a rich man. One day, her father is drunk, and the goods must be sent to the town at the scheduled time. So Tess goes to the town to do the trade. But the horse died on the way to the town. Tess thinks that it is her fault for this accident and she is full of guilt and should take the responsibility for the living of her family. She has to earn money to support the poor family. This guilt pushes her to visit the D’Urbervilles and then she is in a uncertain and dangerous situation. At the end of story, her father died, which certainly adds her family’s burden. And once again, Tess has to take the responsibility to raise the whole family. With no option, she chooses, sadly and unwillingly, to live with Alec again. If not for Tess, the family may be very badly off indeed, but Tess’s self-sacrifice gains nothing except a series of blame.

Tess is such a responsible girl that she choose to take the family’s burden. And in my eyes, Tess’s visit to the D’Urbervilles is a reflection of her rebellion against the poor living of the family. She hopes to earn some money in the D’Urbervilles. Unfortunately, she just chooses the wrong way.

2.2.2 Her Self-respect

Fate decides Tess’s decision at every turn point of her life. When faced with a difficult situation, Tess always makes her own decisions but those choices only makes her life more miserable. But in this novel, Tess is a woman with great self-respect. She wants to become a person with enough knowledge and ability to support herself and refuses to fall apart under great life pressure. She refuses Alec’s help and says to him: "I will not take anything from you!" "It’s true. I could lead a comfortable life. But I have enough honors not to tell that lie. If I loved you, I might have a very good reason to tell you so. But I don’t" Tess blames herself for her weakness which let herself become a victim and her tragedy is doomed. When Angle leaves her cruelly on their bridal night, she is too proud to ask his family for help and her life begins to fall apart completely.

Tess always has the feeling that she can bear all the torture and disaster, and she is indifferent to the cruel fate and hopes to wait Angel's forgiveness. This, definitely, is the reflection of her strong characters and her rebellion against the people and conventions that made her suffering. However, to some extent, her strong self-respect also leads her rebellion to failure and her life a tragedy.

2.2.3 Her Aggressive Character

.

As a matter of fact, Tess is also a woman with aggression. She looks her life in a unique perspective, and she does not bow to conventions. When the priest does not allow her baby to take a baptism, she says to him: "If God does not recognize such moves to not a formal test, it is not paradise for the children, such as whether their paradise, as children, you did not special." When Alec comes to her struggle, she dares to face and say ："I don’t like you at all! I hate and detest you! I’ll go back to mother, I will!" [1]. When Tess meets Angle in the dairy farm, she feels sinful and she shows her unselfishness when she knows that three other girls are also in love with Angel. She thinks that they are more suitable for him, and tries her best to help them to get Angle’s love, although she loves him deeply. When her mother asks her not to tell Angle about her past, Tess knows that she cannot follow the advice from the bottom of her heart. Her conscience is too strong to live with her secret, and she feels that she has to free herself of the burden. So that she can live comfortably and morally. She is so unselfish and kindhearted, but with an abandoned and dissatisfactory consequence.

Tess is not a religious believer. She aims to church "just to listen to music." Her understanding of religion from the majority is in the environment imperceptible influence. Therefore, religion does not dominate her fate. The British law clearly stipulates that no man can marry his wife's sister. But Tess tells Angel to marry her sister after her death.

As the victim of the ill-judged execution, Tess is noble and dignified. It is the unfair class system that allows a rich nobleman to impregnate and abandon a low-class girl without any consequence and sense of guilty. It is also the Victorian myth of the pure virginal bride that unfairly keeps Angle from accepting Tess as his wife, despite he had a sexual history with a strange woman before. These social injustices bring undeserved suffering to Tess.

Chapter Three Resolution and Cowardliness in Tess

Tess is a woman that different from the typical Victorian Age woman. She is strong, rebellion, and self-respect than them. It is the combination of resolution and cowardliness of her characteristic. Her unique characteristic is the main reason of her rebellion, but also leads to the failure of her rebellion and tragedy of her life.

3.1 Resolution in Tess

3.1.1 Never Yield to Pressure from the Society

.There are two men in Tess’s whole life, Alec D’Urbervilles and Angle Clare. Obviously they both change Tess’s life in different ways and make her fall into the misery life and hopeless dream. Tess is a pure woman tangled up to the tragedy web which is delineated by the imposed fate. That is too unfair to accept by anybody. But when we choose two words to describe the two men in Tess’s life, it must be god and devil. As the result, Tess’s rebellion is both presented resolution and cowardliness, which can also find in Tess’s character.

Alec is a manipulative, snaky young man who does everything he wants to do to seduce the inexperience and innocent Tess when she comes to work for his family. His vicious associations are very obvious when he seduces her as the serpent in Genesis seduced Eve. Additionally, like the famous depiction of Satan in Milton’s Paradise Lost, Alec does not try to hide his bad qualities. In fact, like Satan, he revels in them. He promises to provide for the family that brings Tess to "sell" herself to him at the beginning of the book. Owing to his wealth, Alec thinks that he was power with which he bullies Tess. Speaking on the whole, Alec ruins Tess’s virginity and destroys her happy life.

Alec puts on an air of arrogance regarding women always as inferior to men. Disregarding Tess’s revolution, Alec considers women as emotional objects rather than as equal human’s worthy of affection. Then, he believes he is different from the ancestors, since he has power over her while they do not but in fact he is just like them, using his power like a God although his is quite hollow. He promises empty advantages to her, like the wealth she eventually receives from him, which turns out never be more important than love.

3.1.2 Keeping Apartness to Alec and Killing Him Finally

When Tess meets Alec again almost four years later in the village of Ever Head, though Alec D’Urbervilles seems to have changed obviously from a jerk into a responsible and religious man, he casts away this posture so effortlessly and quickly that it seems to have been a superfluous charade—Alec’s attempts to contain his desire for Tess seem weak at best. Alec is a symbol of evil.. Tess continues to suffer as a poor woman in the lower class of society because Alec’s fault but not hers. yet the hypocritical Alec has the luxury to regret and even win acceptance as a preacher. Tess’s predicament as a woman thus appears incredibly unjust, stressing "The Woman Pays". So, Tess is observant and distrusting of Alec, and she thinks that Alec makes a plot to win her back. She has learnt her lesson about risking herself and her happiness for the sake of money. She is much stronger than before and she is more knowledgeable about conniving men, especially Alec. This strength deters Alec and makes him feel weaker and more vulnerable because his plot is not working.

When Tess refuses to marry Alec and she does not care about the social advantage that the marriage would give her, and refuses his offers of help because she does not love him. Her integrity and courage make her a hero. Thus, in the latter part of the story, as Angle returns with his forgiveness and love for Tess, it becomes apparent that Alec’s trick has broken down Tess now kills her lover in a murderous rage out of love for her husband. Whether intentional or not, Tess has fulfilled Angle’s proclamation that they cannot be together as long as Alec is alive. What she does may not save her; indeed, she gets her punishment for the murder in the end, presumably death by hanging, which snaps her neck just like she snaps the necks of those pheasants. Nevertheless, it may be preferable to her earlier passivity, providing her with a nobler way to face her fate.

In a word, Alec is the representatives of the bourgeoisie. He has a bourgeois state apparatus, law, and ethics, as a backup. Wealth can rely on the law and not easily bullied and on the playing Tess. Tess and his contradictions, it can also be said that the workers are oppressed and the specific performance of the entire capitalist social contradictions. In the beginning, Tess’s attitude for Alec is very clear, she publicly declares his obnoxious and hollow. Later, at a farm, she puts up a struggle to him. Finally, she curses him to ruin her life. She ignores the bourgeois legality and morality, on the feelings of great anger to kill him. Her reaction is a heavy attack to the dark society.

3.2 Cowardliness in Tess

3.2.1 Her Love for Angel

Unlike Alec, Angle wins Tess by his sweet words, kindness and his love for Tess, and he is an angle and a savior to the difficulties that haunt Tess. In fact, he is a more complicated person. It can be said that the Victorian bourgeois morality physically destroys her, but she eventually tenaciously climbs up. And now what Angel does is a fatal blow to her mental.

"Angel is a freethinking person in his family of a provincial parson and determined to set himself up as farmer instead of going to Cambridge like his conformist brother. Angle represents a rebellious force towards a personal vision of goodness. He is a secularist who yearns to work for the "honor and glory of man", rather than for the honor and glory of God in a more distant world. As a typical nineteenth century progressive representative, Angel rejects the values handed to him, and sets off in search of his own. His disdain for tradition which is an independent spirit contributes to his aura of charisma and general attractiveness."

What I want to point out is that Alec has not really jumped out of his area against the old moral values. He has not really get out of the class prejudices. He decides to stand for the bourgeois ideology and his inevitable departure from the selfish interests. Although he decides to go to the farmers to learn something on farming, but his real purpose is to prepare for his future. Although he says that he is a independent person and disagree with the conventions of the bourgeois society, once the thing is a very crucial stage, he is still upholding the decadent bourgeois social customs and moral hypocrisy. And all these lead to the cruel fact that he can’t accept what Tess really is and leave her on their wedding night.

Angel loves Tess and the main reason is that he thinks that Tess is pure and is as perfect as he thinks of. Tess’s denial of him shows that she is worried that her past may mean to her future. However, to Angle, her denial seems to indicate that Tess is even more virtuous than he thinks of. As he keeps going to seek Tess’s acceptance of his proposal, she feels nervous and entangled with this again and again. Tess thinks that a woman’s virginity is regarded as the most important thing by most of her society, and that Angle does not see her as anything but completely pure. Whether telling Angel of her family’s D’Urbervilles lineage or not is really a dilemma for her.

Everyone wants to live a happy life. So does Tess. In the end, Tess gladly marries Angel with a feeling of guilty and worries. She is so afraid of losing her husband that makes her life miserable again. Later, when she knows a similar error in Angel’s past "eight-and forty hours" dissipation with a stranger in London, she bravely makes her confession and hopes that Angel could understand and forgive her. As far as Tess’s concerned, the losing of her virginity does not mean losing of her purity of love. She believes that true love should to be natural, pure, and honest. It should not controlled by the common customs. Tess has thought although Angel didn’t find the letter under the carpet he can forgive her and then they will live a happy life together. But Angel finds himself is more judgmental and inflexible than his parent, and is blind by the injustice sexual moral and can’t accept Tess for who she really is. He takes Tess’s guilt as a personal attack on him, which makes him unable to see her clearly. The idealized, pure and perfect vision of Tess is destroyed.

Although Angel remains progressive, the pressure of English society together with his twisted view of his marriage troubles him. Even though he has decided to remove all the obstacles and choose a simple country girl,. Tess, as his wife, he still does not have enough courage to wipe off the old moral value thoroughly and get rid of the common customs. He values his family reputation and his dignity, and thinks that these are more important than his love for Tess and her happiness. Actually he juts can’t do things according to his enlightened thought. However, it is because of strong love, Tess regards Angel as intelligence rather than a man. She becomes frustrated and feels really down as she realizes the distance between him and herself. What’s worse is that she does not accept anything which is said as Angel’s disadvantages. Though suffering from the great pain, Tess never gives up her pursuit for true love and Angel’s forgiveness.

Angel has the same mistake as Tess’s, but he cannot forgive Tess as Tess forgives him. He can never see the woman he once loved and has married only hours ago. Because deep down in Angel’s heart, he thinks that women and men are not equal and is influenced by the injustice sexual moral. For him, the lover he loved has been transformed in his mind from the embodiment of purity into the tarnished reality of a fallen woman. He says to Tess, "the woman I have loving is not you," but "another woman in your shape" . Although Tess is sincere, Angel still "looked upon her as a species of impostor; a guilty woman, in the guise of an innocent". The most terrible is his blame "Don’t, Tess, don’t argue. Those are just country people’s ways… perhaps you were weak and could not refuse this man because your ancient noble blood has run thin, because….". In this sense, Angel is colder than Alec. Although Tess does not give into Alec’s violence, she is wrecked by Angel’s prejudice that leaves her in total darkness in her life. Tess is treated so unequal, but she never blames Angel for what he has done to her, she only criticizes and blames herself. She loses her strength and wishes to submit her husband: "I will obey you like your wretched slave, even if it is to lie down and die." Indeed, Tess is little more than a walking corpse.

3.2.2 Her Second Stay with Alec

When Tess suffers the abandoned life, she also has to struggles with Alec’s temptation, her need and miss for Angel, and she becomes more and more desperate and vulnerable. If Angel were to return to her and take his responsibility as her husband, her problems would be solved much easier. She writes to Angel and pleads that he not judges her on her irretrievable past. Tess’s situation thus makes her very vulnerable to Alec’s persuasions. She is obviously heartbroken and needs to be loved more than ever. She is not strong enough to bear all these difficulties and responsibilities. She is also misled by her family’s ever-worsening financial situation. Alec’s reasoning seems more valid to Tess than it has in the past. In a way, Tess and Alec are similar in that they have both fallen and ask for forgiveness for their indiscretions. After a long wait for Angel’s reply, but nothing, Tess begins to think that Alec may be her only hope for life. She gives up all hopes and becomes Alec’s mistress to save and support her family. And she falls into the trap of Alec again.

Tess’s love is not given the spirit of transcendence and physical beauty, but with the loss of self-emaciated blind and miserable, unrealistic to imagine that there is no hope with the chessboard, and all are attributable to the self-destiny of the fate and helplessness. Her life is not worthwhile to an attachment that her man and this is a profound tragedy. When she feels the opinions of all the sacrifices so insignificant, as all acts of levity, finally decides to angrily rebel. Of course, Tess once expressed her plainness angrily by the last letter to Angel under a completely disappointed condition.

 "O why have you treated me so monstrously, Angel!

       I do not deserve it. I have thought it all over carefully,

       And I can never, never forgive you! You know that

I did not intend to wrong you-why you so wronged me?

       You are cruel, cruel indeed! I will try to forget you.

       It is all injustice I have received at your hands." [1]

Even when Angel comes back with love and loyalty to ask for her forgiveness, she says to him: "Too late, too late!" "Don’t come close to me, Angel! No- you must not, keep away" .All of these are still not Tess’s real intentions from her posterior acts. When she stays with Angel while escaping to be arrested, she says: "I want you to go on loving me. I’m afraid you might reject me one day for what I’ve done. Then I would rather be dead I must have been mad to kill him! But I don’t want to be alive when you reject me for it"

3.2.3 Her Original Opinions and Fantasy

There is no doubt that deep down in Tess’s heart, she wants to be a pure and good woman. Tess’s original hope must to be a pure girl and a loyal wife. She attempts to get mercy and forgiveness from the society and understanding of Angel at first, she often dreams to have a happy marriage and life, but without success in the end. If Angel gives her a second chance, she must not rebel from beginning till end. So, it is fated the cowardliness of Tess’s rebellion.

Chapter Four Conclusion

As a simple and pure country girl, with a lot of misfortune, Tess still has the courage to revolt and hopes to possess happiness. Many people regard the purity of the pure innocence as the only criterion to judge women. Tess, only recognize that the losing of virginity does not mean anything. She still has the right to pursue her true love and happiness. In any case it is difficult to recognize Tess. In fact, the moral purity is the purity and integrity, which is beyond a specific image of the eternal purity. Because of individual values and attitudes, if we blindly stick to the original meaning of the expense of other values, it is unjustifiable. Tess is a pure source of the tragedy, as well as her commitment to the fundamental rebel cause. Even though Tess tries her best to resist, she can’t change her fate. In that age where the injustice sexual moral and inequality of male and female dominate the whole society, Tess’s tragic fate is doomed. In fact, through Tess of protest, we found the hardships of life, but the poverty does not overwhelmed Tess. The traditional Christian civilization, the public and secular concept of the spirit of persecution make she is fatal. This in itself is a tragedy, as Tess can not escape the tragic fate, the majority of poor farmers are unable to escape from the same community. Therefore, there can only be resistance from the ugly and welcoming for a new life, this is addressed to suffer the same misfortune as Tess of the people and encourage them to do so just as Tess brave resistance.

Tess is a misfortune person in the novel. However, she is not weak but powerful and has the spirit of rebellion. Confronting with the unfair and harsh society, she keeps resisting. Tess has shown a powerful women’s image to common people. Her noble emotion and brave resist will be rooted in people’s heart.

Hardy thinks that the distortions in the customs and laws of human nature, and sometimes even derange, cause mental depression. When a person's physical or mental needs to be restrained, they will use other means to let their emotions out. This is a fight for survival and rebellion Tess is the best example. Meanwhile, in Hardy’s time, the society also expresses strong dissatisfaction with the system and prejudices of the society. in the women's liberation, Hardy is not only in the forefront of this issue, but also beyond the era.

 

 

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