Human and Environment： A Discussion about the Purity of Tess

陳灝君

【摘要】苔絲是頗受爭議的文學形象。她因被奸污而喪失貞潔，且淪落為他人的情婦，最終又因謀殺罪而被絞死，部分讀者和評論家疾呼：如此的一個人怎能稱之為“一個純潔的女性”呢？本文通過解析其他三個重要角色以及他們與女主角之間的關系，勾畫出她的人生軌跡，以此解答“苔絲是否純潔”這一問題。

【關鍵詞】純潔 苔絲 環境

Since its very first publication in 1891，a subtitle appeared on the title-page of Tess of the d'Urbervilles，that is，A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented，which triggered endless biting satires，harsh criticism and merciless ridicules from critics and readers at that time，even till today： Does Tess deserve to be called “a pure woman”？

Angel Clare is Tess's husband and true love.He considers himself a freethinker，but his notions of morality turn out to be fairly conventional： he rejects Tess on their wedding night when she confesses that she isn't a virgin，even though he，too，has engaged in premarital sex.His love rescues Tess and makes her strongly believe that love and happiness are not far.However，it is he that abandons Tess as soon as they get married，which at least indirectly leads to Tess degeneration for the second time.Then，he succeeds in persuading himself and comes back with mercy，and his return，his love sends Tess to the gallows.

In fact，he does not have enough understandings about Tess，neither her experience nor her inner world： “… she is simple Tess Durbeyfield，but she is ‘of the d'Urbervilles as well”，（Phillips，2003： xv） that is to say，“Tess is an exceptional woman，a Durbeyfield by social status，but a d'Urberville of the spirit.”（Phillips，2003： xiv） She “inherits the pride traditionally associated with noble families，and on the clash between her pride and her social and economic position much of the process of her tragedy depends.” （Phillips，2003： xv） Nobody，but he，Angel Clare，kills Tess，in the name of love.He offers hopes and courage to Tess，but confiscates all brutally and tyrannically.His bad timing propels the tragedy forward.He is the real criminal.He is unworthy of Tess love.

Mr.Durbeyfield，a haggler，should have been the backbone and leader of the whole family.But he gives up.His idleness，superficiality and vanity triggers the tragedy of Tess.He is neither a responsible husband nor an eligible father.Mrs.Durbeyfield is a typical housewife.It is her unlimited tolerance that indulges her husband being lazy and irresponsible，which turn into a sort of burden on Tess.Moreover，she is quite simple-minded.She blindly believes in her husbands words and a fortune-telling book and makes a hasty and arbitrary decision.She accelerates the tragedy of Tess，instead of stopping it.

Tess is a pure and innocent country girl，but as the eldest child and sister，she is far more responsible and realistic than her parents.After hearing the honourable past of her family，she did not lose reason and forget real life.On the contrary，she pays more attention to her fathers health and the business of beehives that is the pillar of the family.However，it is a pity that her advantages are restrained，because her parents could give little guidance to her，the same as Thomas Hardy expresses，“All these young souls were passengers in the Durbeyfield ship — entirely dependent on the judgment of the two Durbeyfield adults for their pleasures，their necessities，their health，even their existence.” （Hardy，1996： 28） Obviously，her parents decision deviates her whole life.

Tess，in spite of her bitter，miserable and complicated experiences and a seemingly disgraceful ending，has a beautiful and pure soul and respectable spirits.In the past，many western critics are obsessive about her so-called weakness or defects，“obedience and passiveness”，（Qi，2001： 32） which directly lead to her own tragedy.They treat her as “a fallen woman”，equivalent to “Eve in the Bible” and “Helen in the Iliad”.（Qi，2001： 4） But it is arbitrary to judge her morality and characters by only losing virginity or some of her weak points，for surroundings around her，such as， families，friends，lovers and the like，will absolutely exert influence on her and her decisions.To some extent，she is repressed，passive and powerless.

References：

[1]Hardy，Thomas.Tess of the d'Urbervilles.Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching & Research Press，1996.

[2]Phillips，Brian.Todays Most Popular Study Guides： Tess of the d'Urbervilles Tianjin：Tianjin Science & Technology Translation.& Publishing Corp，2003.

[3]Shouhua Qi，William W.Morgan.Voices in Tragic Harmony： Essays on Thomas Hardys Fiction and Poetry Shanghai： Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press，2001.