tess themes
TRANSCRIPT
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Men Dominating
Women
One of the
recurrentthemes of the
novel is the wayin which men
can dominate women,exerting
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a power overthem linkedprimarily to
their maleness.Sometimes this
commandis purposeful, in
the man’s fullknowledge of his
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exploitation, as when Alecacknowledges
how bad he isfor seducing
Tess for his ownmomentary
pleasure. Alec’sact of abuse, the
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mostlife altering event thatTess experiences
in the novel, isclearly the most
serious instanceofmale
domination overa female. ut
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there are other,less blatantexamples of
women’s passivity toward
dominant men.!hen, after Angel
reveals that heprefers Tess,
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Tess’sfriend"ettyattempts suicide
and her friend#arian becomes
an alcoholic, which makes
theirearlierschoolgirl
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type crusheson Angel seemdisturbing. This
devotion is notmerely fanciful
love, butunhealthy
obsession. Thesegirls appear
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utterlydominated by adesire for a man
who, weare toldexplicitly, does
not even reali$ethat they are
interested inhim. This sort
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ofunconsciousmaledomination of
women isperhaps even
more unsettlingthan Alec’s
outwardandself conscious
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cruelty.%ven Angel’s love forTess, as pure
and gentle as itseems,
dominates her inan
unhealthyway. Angel
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substitutes anideali$edpicture of Tess’s
country purityfor the real life
womanthat hecontinually
refuses to get toknow. !hen
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Angel calls Tessnames like&'aughter
of (ature) and&Artemis,) we
feel that he may be denying her
true self in favorof a
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mentalimagethat he prefers.Thus, her
identity andexperiences are
suppressed,albeit
unknowingly.This pattern of
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maledomination isfinally reversed
with Tess’smurder of Alec,
in which, forthefirst time in the
novel, a womantakes active
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steps against aman. Of course,this act
onlyleads toeven greater
suppression of a woman by men,
when the crowdof male police
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officersarrestTess atStonehenge. (
evertheless, for*ust a moment,
the acceptedpattern of
submissivewomen bowing to
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dominant men isinterrupted, andTess’s act seems
heroic.Love
+ove is aprominent
theme in Tess ofthe '’rbervilles,
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whether it is apersistentsuitor,unre uit
ed love, pitiedlove, or family
love. There isalso, at a few
times, the themeof purelove
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which one cansee from Angel’sthoughts when
he goes to tellhis parents
about Tess.!hatis odd about the
uotation isthat he
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completely turnshis back on Tess
when he
findsout abouther past. &-t was
for herself thathe loved Tess
her soul, herheart, her
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substance /notfor her skill inthe dairy, her
aptness as hisscholar and
certainly not forher simple,
formalfaith professions.)
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01ardy, phasethe fourth, 23456rom this
passage we seethat Angel
lovesTess for herinnocence and
then canunderstand why
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he turns his back on her when she
tellshim abouther past. +ove
comes in manydifferent forms
in this novelfriends love,
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familylove andintimate love. -nthe end, it is the
intimate lovethat prevails and
is shown inthis passage.
Man/Woman vsNatural world
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1ardy7s veryinterested in therelationship of
women tonature, in
particular. -n
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Tess of
the D'Urbervilles, women are
more in touch with the earth
than men are,and are able to
melt intothelandscape and
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become one withthe land in a way that men
cannot. eingable to stay
intouch with thenatural rhythms
of the earth isobviously
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something that1ardy values inthisnovel.8art of
the tragedy ofthis novel is that
Angel ideali$esTess, and thinks
of her as a kindof9every
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woman,9 insteadof as a uni ue,individual
woman. -n hismind, she
representssomekind of
eternal,universal
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6emininity. -nthe world of
Tess of the
D'Urbervilles, women haveauni ue
relationship to
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nature, and tothe land, thatmen cannot
share. !omen aremore intouch
with theoutdoors, and
men are more intune with
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modernity andindustriali$ation.
Changing Ideas
of Social Class inVictorian
England
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Tess of the d’rbervillespresents
complexpictures of both
the importanceof social class
innineteenth century %ngland
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and thedifficulty ofdefining class in
any simple way.:ertainlythe
'urbeyfields area powerful
emblem of the way in which
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class is nolonger evaluatedin;ictorian
times as it wouldhave been in the
#iddle Ages<that is, by
blood alone, with noattention
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paid to fortuneor worldlysuccess.
-ndubitably the'urbeyfields
have purityof blood, yet for
the parson andnearly everyone
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else in the novel,this factamounts to
nothingmorethan a piece of
genealogicaltrivia. -n the
;ictoriancontext, cash
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matters morethanlineage,
which explains
how SimonStokes, Alec’s
father, wassmoothly able to
use hislargefortune to
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purchase alustrous familyname and
transform hisclan into the
Stoke d’rbervilles. The
d’rbervillespass for what
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the 'urbeyfieldstrulyare<authentic
nobility <simply because
definitions ofclass have
changed. Theissue of class
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confusion evenaffectsthe :lareclan, whose
most promisingson, Angel, is
intent on becoming a
farmerandmarrying a
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milkmaid, thus bypassing thetraditional
privileges of a:ambridge
education andaparsonage. 1is
willingness to work side by
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side with thefarm laborershelps endear
him toTess, andtheir
ac uaintance would not have
been possible ifhe were a more
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traditionalandelitistaristocrat. Thus,
the three maincharacters in the
Angel Tess Al ec triangle are
allstronglymarked by
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confusionregarding theirrespective social
classes, an issuethat is one ofthe
main concernsof the novel.
Variant Names
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renaming, or variant naming,in the novel. (
ames matter inthis novel.
Tessknows andaccepts that she
is a lowly'urbeyfield, but
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part of her still believes, as herparentsalso
believe, that heraristocratic
original nameshould be
restored. =ohn'urbeyfield goes
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astep furtherthan Tess, andactually renames
himself Sir =ohn, as his
tombstoneepitaph
shows.Anothercharacter who
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renames himself is Simon Stokes,
Alec’s father,
who purchasedafamily tree and
made himselfSimon
Stoke d’rberville. The
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uestion raised by all thesecasesof name
changing, whether
successful ormerely
imagined, is theextent to which
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analtered name brings with it analtered identity.
Alec actsnotoriously
ungentlemanlythroughout the
novel, but by theend, when he
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appears at thed’rbervillefamily vault,
hislordly andcommanding
bearing makehim seem
almostdeserving of the
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name his fatherhas bought, likea spoiled
medievalnobleman.
1ardy’s interestin name changes
makes reality
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itself seemchangeableaccording to
whims of humanperspective. The
village of lakemore,as we
are remindedtwice in
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:hapters -and --, is alsoknown as
lackmoor, andindeed
1ardyfamouslyrenames the
southern%nglish
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countryside as&!essex.) 1eimposes a
fictional mapona real place, with
names alteredcorrespondingly.
"eality may not be as solid as the
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names peopleconfer upon it.
irds
-mages of birdsrecur
throughout thenovel, evoking
or contradictingtheir traditional
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spiritualassociation with a higherrealm of
transcendence. oth the :hristian
dove of peaceand
the"omanticsongbirds of
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>eats andShelley, whichsymboli$e
sublime heights,lead us to
expectthat birds will have
positivemeaning in this
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novel. Tessoccasionallyhears birdcalls
on herfre uenthikes across the
countrysidetheir free
expressivenessstands in stark
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contrast toTess’ssilent andconstrained
existence as a wronged and
disgraced girl.!hen Tess goes
towork for #rs.d’rberville, she
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is surprised tofind that the old
woman’s pet
finchesarefre uently
released to flyfree throughout
the room. These birds offer
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images of hopeandliberation.
et there is
irony attached to birds as well,
making us doubt whether these
imagesof hopeand freedom are
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illusory. #rs. d’rberville’s birdsleave little white
spots ontheupholstery,
whichpresumably
someservant<perhaps
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Tess herself<willhave to clean.-tmay be that
freedom for onecreature entails
hardship foranother, *ust as
Alec’sfreeen*oyment
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of Tess’s bodyleads her to alifetime of
suffering. -n theend, when
Tessencountersthe pheasants
maimed byhunters and
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lying in agony, birds no longerseem free, but
rather oppressedand submissive.
These pheasantsare no "omantic
songbirdshovering
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farabove the%arth<they are
victims of
earthly violence,condemned to
suffer down below andnever
fly again.
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Time and saceTess of the '7rbervilles takesplace in the late2?th century
0a.k.a., the;ictorian period,
orduring the
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reign of @ueen;ictorian,234 2?B25,
in an area of%ngland to the
southwestof+ondon.
Almost all of1ardy7s novels
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take place in thissame generalarea. The towns
hementions inTess might
appear in othernovels, but
they7re allfictionali$ed
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versions ofthatreal regionof %ngland.
1ardy called hisfictionali$ed
version of thisarea 9!essex,9 so
hisnovels thattake place there
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are sometimesreferred to asthe 9!essex
novels.9Tess7schildhood home
of #arlott 0alsoin the county of
!essex5 is inthe 9;ale of
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lakemoreor lackmoor9 0C.25/ 1ardy
repeatedly refersto it by both
versions of itsname. !hy
mightthat beD-t7s a fictional
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valley, anyway / why does hemake up two
versions of itsname,
andcontinuallyremind us that
there are twoaccepted
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pronunciationsD!ell, 9lakemore9is the older
version of 9lackmoor9 09
lake9 is #iddle%nglish for9
lack,9 and 9#ore9is the old
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spelling of 9#oor95. -t could
be like the 9'7
rberville9E9'urbeyfield9
connection.#aybe 1ardy
wants to remindus how much
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history there isin this place / it
was a beautiful
valley long before the
;ictorian periodor Tess7s time.
So giving usthetwo names for
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the valley could*ust be a subtle
way of
reminding usthat the valley,
likeindividualfamilies, has its
own history andits own origins.
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Characteristi
cs of
Victorian
Literature
The literature ofthe Victorian age(1837 –
1901, named for
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the reign ofQueenVictoria)entered in a new
period after theromantic re i al
The literature ofthi!era e"pre!!ed
the fu!ion of pureromance to gro!!
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reali!m Though,the Victorian#geproduced great
poet!, the age i!al!o remar$a%le
for thee"cellence of
it!pro!e Thedi!co erie! of
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!cience ha eparticular effect!upon the
literature of theage&f ou !tud
all the greatwriter! of thi!
period, ou willmar$ four
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generalcharacter i!tic! 1 'iteratureof thi! age tend!
to come clo!er todail life which
reflect!it!practical
pro%lem! andintere!t! &t
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%ecome! apowerfulin!trument
forhumanprogre!! ociall
economicall , &ndu!triali!m wa!
on the ri!eand ariou!
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reformmo ement! li$eemancipation,
child la%or,women!
right!,ande olutioni!
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one in which social
reform tendedto contribute more to the
incorporation of the
merchantclass into thegovernance of the
country than to the
improvement of thequality of life of the
working classMany
groups in society were
confused by this change,
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notably those ones
which did not benefitostensibly from
therewards of the new
economy, those whowere not what Gaskell
called the "masters" of
the merchant class.Thoseamong the less
inclined t o deal easily
with the transition
included the working
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class, who suffered
immensely inthefactories, and the old
aristocratic ruling class.
There was, at least inthis context, a source of
rapport between theold
ruling class andthe working class, much
of the latter group being
one generation
descended from the farm
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laborstock of before
!. This common area became factor in the
relationships that would
evolve betweenthe oldguard and their
servants, as both
struggled to define theirroles while resisting the
undermining impulse to
cling toeach other as
familiar comforts of a
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yearned for era of safety
and comprehension ofthe environment.
* +oral urpo!e The Victorianliterature !eem!
to de iate fromart forart! !a
$e and a!!ert!
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it! moral purpo!eTenn !on,
rowning,-arl le,.u!$in /all were the
teacher! ofngland with the
faith in theirmoralme!!age to
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in!truct theworld3&deali!m &t i!oftencon!idered a! an
age of dou%t andpe!!imi!m
Theinfluence of!cience i! felt
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here The wholeage !eem! to %ecaught in
theconception ofman in relation to
the uni er!e withthe idea of
e olution Though, the age
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i! characteri eda! practical andmateriali!tic,
mo!t of thewriter!e"alt a purel
ideal life &t i! anideali!tic age
where the greatideal! li
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$etruth, u!tice,lo e,%rotherhood are
empha!i ed % poet!, e!!a i!t!
and no eli!t!ofthe age