Analyzing the role of fatein Tess of the d’Urbervilles

1. Introduction

Thomas Hardy is one of the famous writer in the Age of Victorian. He published nearly 20 novels in his lifetime and also wrote many middle-and -short stories and poems. Hardy was firmly brought up as a Christian. But his faith in religion disappeared due to the publication of Darwin’s Origin of Species which pointed out the theory that living forms is originated by development of earlier forms， not by special creation. Hardy was influenced by his reading of Darwin. He therefore rejected Christianity and adopted a position of “agnosticism” and turned to fatalism： a belief that the world was governed by the careless operation of chance （Lawrence， 1992）. At the same time， Hardy also accepted the pessimism from Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer hold that human’s life is a tragedy. This fatalism and pessimistic thoughts were reflected in all his novels， especially in Tess of the d’Urbervilles.

2. Accidents and Coincidences

In Tess of the d’Urbervilles， Thomas Hardy employs lots of accidents and improbable coincidences， which finally resulted in Tess’ s tragic life. By doing so， Hardy indicates in his novel that human destiny is determined by a kind of circumstantial force similar yet superior to any god created by man and that human beings will have no control over his own destiny （Sun， 2013）. In this part， it will analyze some coincidences in details.

First of all， at the beginning， Tess’s father， John Durbeyfield， happens to know that he is descendant of the d’ Urbervilles， an ancient noble familyt. Durbeyfield is very impressed by the information and go to a tavern to show off. The next morning he could not make the long trip to the market as he got drunk and couldn’t recover. Therefore， Tess and her brother， Abraham， go to the market. Both of them fall to sleep on the way. Unfortunately， the mail coach has crashed into their unlighted wagon， and their horse was killed. The horse， prince， is very precious and major income source in their family. Tess wants to save the horse but the horse’s blood splash from face to skirt. It is implicated Tess’s miserable life. This is the beginning of Tess’s tragedy.

Second， when Tess has recovered from her misfortune and is ready for a new life， she unexpectedly meets Angel Clare. They fall into love and Angel proposes to Tess. On the one hand， Tess feels guilty about her past. One the other hand， Tess can’t resist the strong love feeling towards Angel. The wedding is approaching. Tess decides to confess everything. She writes a letter and thrusts it under the door of Angel’s bedroom. But once again， an improper coincidence happens again！ “The carpet reached close to the sill， and under the edge of the carpet she discerned the faint white margin of the envelope containing her letter to him， which he obviously had never seen.” （Thomas Hardy， 1996）. The paper gets mislaid under the carpet in the bedroom and so Angel does not see it. If Angel had read the letter before their wedding， he might have forgiven her and Tess’s life would change totally. It seems that the Tess’s life is doomed to be tragic.

When she is abandoned by Angel， Tess meets Alec again. Alec tells Tess that her husband will never come back. Tess believes him and becomes his mistress due to the poverty. However， Tess’s final bad luck is the return of Angel. After knowing Angel is back， Tess almost falls apart. Her angry to Alec reaches the utmost and she finally killed Alec. She spends a few days with Angel and then is sentenced to death. The combination of a series of accidents and coincidences hinder Tess’s happiness and finally destroy Tess.

3. The Role of Fate

In many circumstances， Tess would have a different life if she had just a little luck. The coincidences and accidents seem impossible to happen， but it reflects the social background and thoughts at that time which have already determined the tragic life of Tess （Liu， 2004）. The plot that Tess is raped by Alec shows the difficult situation of lower class. They have to do something against their will for surviving， for example the heavy farm works and oppression by the middle and upper classes. Therefore， the pure and innocent countrymen are greatly influenced by hideous the bourgeoisie. When Tess wants to confess everything to Angel， she writes a letter but accidently throws under a carpet. The reason that Tess’s abandon by Angel is not really because the letter， but because the people’s prejudice towards impure women. Many people in England at that time believes Christian， they will not bear the women like Tess. At last， it seems that Angel would not go back， but surprisingly goes back and look for Tess. In this respect， Angel represents a Modernist people. In the age of Charles Dickens， people gradually influence by industrial revolution and their thoughts begin to get open. But many people are the victims in this transition. In conclusion， the fate of Tess is caused by many accidents and coincidences， but they are determined by the society. It is not an individual’s tragedy instead it is a tragedy of society.

Thomas Hardy’s pessimistic fatalism deeply roots in his works. Tess’s tragic fate indicates the hardship of people in lower class. In the novel， we could image the life of lower - class people and the social background at that time. Thomas Hardy uses this fatalism to criticize the bourgeoisie and reveals the back side of the society. He couldn’t find a solution.

【References】

[1]Hardy， Thomas.（1996）. Tess of the d’ Urbervilees. Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

[2]Lawrence， J， D. （1992）. Space， Time， and Coincidence in Hardy， Studies in the Novel， 024， （02）.

[3]Liu， Y， F. （2004）. Doomed From the Start — A Tentative Study on Thomas Hardy’ sTess of The d’ Ubervilles. Unpublished Master’ s Thesis， Shangdong Normal University， Shangdong： Jinan.

[4]孫耕梅.《德伯家的苔絲》中的征兆與巧合[J].河北北方學(xué)院學(xué)報(bào)（社會(huì)科學(xué)版），2013（3）：21-24.