Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

“If an offense come out of the truth, better is it that the offense comes than that the truth be concealed.”  - Tess of the d’Urbervilles

Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy is set in a small country town in Wessex, at the end of the 19^th Century. The Durbeyfields discover they are the descendants of a forgotten noble family – the d’Urbervilles. When the family experiences financial hardship they send their eldest daughter to ask for help from their “kin” (a family that bought the name of d’Urberville). Tess meets Alec d’Urberville her (fake) cousin. While Tess is working for Alec’s mother, he rapes her. The rest of the story is about the struggles Tess faces as a victim of rape in a society that blamed her for her own predicament. Even her mother blamed her for not marrying Alec.

Is this a good book? Yes and no. I didn’t like it; in fact I quite detested it. I didn’t like the ending of the story and I certainly didn’t like the characters, not even Tess. However, if Hardy’s purpose in writing was to draw emotions, even if they are negative, if his purpose was to start a debate on feminist issues then he did a good job with his book. Personally, I like the idea of books as escapism and of stories with happy endings. I did not achieve this with Tess of d’Urbervilles, but I did go on an emotional roller coaster ride as I had heated discussions with all of the characters at one point or another.

So I must admit, I’ve been lazy and it’s been some time since I’ve actually read the book; the emotions and my dislike of it are still fresh in my memory but the themes and ideas aren’t so I don’t think I’d be very qualified to discuss them here. One thing, however, that is still clear in my mind was Hardy’s exploration of the female role in society. I say ‘exploration’ because Hardy more explores these ideas than he criticizes it. Hardy was very advanced for a writer of his time period, his writings broke away from Victorian values; however, they were not modernist yet, and for a modern reader the story still seems very sexist. From the subtitle of the book, “A Pure Woman”, Hardy presents Tess as pure, as a victim of her context. However, Tess is still a very weak character and is still completely dependent on men. Tess is prepared to commit suicide just to please Angel, because of her apparent “sin”. While, Hardy was ahead of his time, his view on women is definitely not egalitarian.

Also, I would just like to point out how similar the plot is to that of the Garden of Eden. Alec is the snake, Tess is Eve and Angel is Adam. Tess comes from a family that has fallen down from grace. Tess is trying to recover from her “original sin”, one that according to Hardy was never her own fault. This was just one of the ways that Hardy criticizes the Christian religion. Hardy also portrays his own lack of religious faith by having Angel being a self-proclaimed atheist. Hardy makes Paganism seem like the simpler and more natural religion; the May dance is pure and simple and Tess feels at home at Stonehenge. However, even Paganism isn’t safe from Hardy’s critiques. At the end of the book Hardy wrote, “”Justice” was done, and the President of the Immortals has ended his sport with Tess.” Tess was back again at the Stonehenge and the end, and “justice” was served by one of the Pagan Gods. This shows how justice, written in inverted commas, is only a game to the Gods and that we are only pawns in a cyclical game.

Tess of the d’Urbervilles is a good book to read to see literature shifting from a Victorian to Modernist style. However, only read if you are okay with sad endings. Before reading, one must also accept that Hardy’s view, while modern in his time, would now still be seen as quite sexist. I personally did not enjoy it and I quite disliked all the shallow characters, however, I also know many people who absolutely loved it. The book is quite controversial and definitely emotional.