Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
"Tess of the D'Urbervilles" is a novel by Thomas Hardy that explores the tragic life of Tess Durbeyfield, a young woman from a poor family who learns of her noble ancestry. Set in rural England, the story begins when Tess's father discovers their connection to the once-great D'Urberville family, prompting Tess's mother to push her to seek a better life through a potential marriage to a wealthy man. However, Tess’s encounters with Alec D’Urberville lead to a series of misfortunes, including an assault that changes her life forever.
After bearing the consequences of her trauma and the societal stigma attached, Tess finds solace at a dairy farm, where she meets Angel Clare, a man of higher social standing who falls in love with her. Despite her feelings for him, Tess struggles with her past and her perceived unworthiness. Their marriage is strained by secrets that ultimately lead to separation. As Tess grapples with her hardships and the relentless pursuit of Alec, she is forced to make dire choices that culminate in tragedy. The novel addresses themes of fate, social class, and the moral complexities surrounding love and forgiveness, inviting readers to reflect on the injustices faced by women in Victorian society.
Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
First published: 1891
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Philosophical realism
Time of plot: Late nineteenth century
Locale: England
Principal Characters
Jack Durbeyfield , a poor workerTess , his daughterAlec D’Urberville , her betrayerAngel Clare , her husband
The Story
It is a proud day when Jack Durbeyfield learns that he is descended from the famous D’Urberville family. Durbeyfield never does more work than necessary to keep his family supplied with meager food and himself with beer, but from that day on, he ceases doing even that small amount of work. His wife joins him in thinking that such a high family should live better with less effort, and she persuades their oldest daughter, Tess, to visit the Stoke-D’Urbervilles, a wealthy family who assumed the D’Urberville name because no one else claimed it. It is her mother’s hope that Tess would make a good impression on the rich D’Urbervilles and perhaps a good marriage with one of the sons.
When Tess meets her supposed relatives, however, she finds only a blind mother and a dapper son who makes Tess uncomfortable by his improper remarks to her. The son, Alec, tricks the innocent young Tess into working as a poultry maid; he does not let her know that his mother is unaware of Tess’s identity. After a short time, Tess decides to avoid Alec and look for work elsewhere to support her parents and her brothers and sisters. Alec, however, manages at last to get her alone and then rapes her.
When Tess returns to her home and tells her mother of her terrible experience, her mother’s only worry is that Alec is not going to marry Tess. She works in the fields, facing the slander of her associates bravely. Her trouble is made worse by the fact that Alec follows her from place to place. By traveling to different farms during the harvest season, Tess manages to elude Alec long enough to give birth to her baby without his knowledge. The baby does not live long, however, and a few months after its death, Tess goes to a dairy farm far to the south to be a dairymaid.
At the dairy farm, Tess is liked and well treated. Angel Clare, a pastor’s son who rejected the ministry to study farming, is also at the farm. It is his wish to own a farm someday, and he is working on different kinds of farms so that he can learn something of the many kinds of work required of a general farmer. Although all the dairymaids are attracted to Angel, Tess interests him the most. He thinks her a beautiful and innocent young maiden. Tess feels that she is wicked, however, and rejects the attentions Angel pays to her. She urges him to turn to one of the other girls for companionship. It is unthinkable that the son of a minister would marry a dairymaid, but Angel does not care much about family tradition. Despite her pleas, he continues to pay court to Tess. At last, against the wishes of his parents, Angel asks Tess to be his wife. He loves her, and he realizes that a farm girl will be a help to him on his own land. Although Tess is in love with Angel by this time, the memory of her night with Alec causes her to refuse Angel again and again. At last, his insistence, coupled with the written pleas of her parents to marry someone who can help the family financially, wins her over, and she agrees to marry him.
On the night before the wedding, which Tess postpones many times because she feels unworthy, she writes Angel a letter, revealing everything about herself and Alec. She slips the letter under his door; she is sure that when he reads it, he will renounce her forever. In the morning, however, Angel acts as tenderly as before, and Tess loves him more than ever for his forgiving nature. When she realizes that Angel did not find the letter, she attempts to tell him about her past. Angel only teases her about wanting to confess, thinking that such a pure girl could have no black sins in her history. They are married without Angel learning about Alec and her dead baby.
On their wedding night, Angel tells Tess about an evening of debauchery in his own past. Tess forgives him and then tells about her affair with Alec, thinking that he will forgive her as she did him; but such is not the case. Angel is at first stunned and then so hurt that he cannot even speak to Tess. Finally, he tells her that she is not the woman he loves, the one he married, but a stranger with whom he cannot live, at least for the present. He takes her to her home and leaves her there. Then he goes to his own home and on to Brazil, where he plans to buy a farm. At first, neither Tess nor Angel tells their parents the reason for their separation. When Tess finally tells her mother, the ignorant woman blames Tess for losing her husband by confessing something he need never to know.
Angel leaves Tess some money and some jewels that were given to him by his godmother. Tess puts the jewels in a bank; she spends the money on her parents. When it is gone, her family goes hungry once more, for her father still thinks himself too highborn to work for a living. Again, Tess goes from farm to farm, performing hard labor in the fields to get enough food to keep herself and her family alive.
While she is working in the fields, she meets Alec again. He met Angel’s minister father and, repenting his evil ways, became an itinerant preacher. The sight of Tess, for whom he always lusted, causes a lapse in his new religious fervor, and he begins to pursue her once again. Frightened, Tess writes to Angel, sending the letter to his parents to forward to him. She tells Angel that she loves him and needs him and that an enemy is pursuing her. She begs him to forgive her and to return to her.
The letter takes several months to reach Angel. Meanwhile, Alec is so kind to Tess and so generous to her family that she begins to relent in her feelings toward him. At last, when she does not receive an answer from Angel, she writes him a note saying that he is cruel not to forgive her and that now she will not forgive his treatment of her. Then she goes to Alec again and lives with him as his wife.
It is thus that Angel finds her. He comes to tell her that he forgives her and that he still loves her. When he finds her with Alec, however, he turns away, more hurt than before.
Tess, too, is bitterly unhappy. She now hates Alec because once again he is the cause of her husband’s repudiation of her. Feeling that she could find happiness only if Alec is dead, she stabs him as he sleeps. Then she runs out of the house and follows Angel, who is aimlessly walking down a road leading out of the town. When they meet and Tess tells him what she did, Angel forgives her everything, even the murder of Alec, and they go on together. They are happy with each other for a few days, although Angel knows that the authorities will soon find Tess.
When the officers finally find them, Tess is asleep. Angel asks the officers to wait until she awakens. As soon as she opens her eyes, Tess sees the strangers and knows that they came for her and that she will be hanged, but she is not unhappy. She had a few days with the husband she truly loves, and now she is ready for her punishment. She stands up bravely and faces her captors. She is not afraid.
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