A Tentative Analysis on the Causes of Individual Tragedy in Tess of the D’Urbervilles

【Abstract】Among Thomas Hardy’s famous novels， Tess of the D’Urbervilles， Hardy truthfully depicts the unfavorable conditions of the society which were responsible for the tragedy of the protagonist， Tess. This paper is trying to find out the major reason causing Tess’s individual tragedy， which is the social environment.

【Key words】individual tragedy； cause analysis； social environment； decline； moral codes； Christianity

【作者簡介】蔡春陽，焦作技師學院。

Thomas Hardy is a novelist and poet， who is one of the representatives of English critical realism at that time. His famous works such as Tess of the D’Urbervilles has the setting of agricultural region of the southern countries of England. He truthfully depicts the impoverishment and decay of small farmers who were hired as laborers. The rich landowners mercilessly exploited them. The author was pained to see their mysterious fate， which brings misfortune to human life.

Many critics and scholars have been studying the novel and the author. On the basis of these materials， this paper is trying to do a tentative analysis on the causes of individual tragedy of the protagonist in the book： the social environment.

Ⅰ.The decline of moral codes

In the book， Hardy explores the effects of the unraveling of universally held moral codes， which have changed greatly from the past. Tess has a deep moral sensitivity， while Angel Clare， a person called an admiring spotlessness， hating impurity， is an intelligent young man， who has decided to become a farmer to preserve his intellectual freedom from the pressures of city life. He rejects the values handed on to him， and wants to set off in search of his own. His love for Tess， a mere milkmaid and his social inferior， is one expression of his disdain for tradition. But Angel floats above it in a transcendent sphere himself. When Tess forgives Angel and tells her sins and requests his forgiveness， Angel said “No”！ Tess feels sad and requires the same forgiveness she should get， while Angel said more bitter words to her. According to the moral codes of Angel， a man doing wrong can be forgiven， but a woman will be put into hell forever. Angel is full of new ideas at that time， but with a traditional view of ethics and moral codes rooted in his deep heart and to see if a woman’s chastity or not. How hypocritical his moral codes are！ Moreover， Alec seduces Tess as the serpent like Satan， he reveals in the story. There is frank acceptance in this admission and no shame. He represents a larger moral principle rather than a real individual man. This is the clear appearance of the decline of moral codes. So the moral codes at that time push Tess further to a tragedy.

Ⅱ. The decline of Christianity

Tess is a beautiful， pure and simple country girl. But Alec brings about severe consequences to Tess， which influences her all through her life. After seducing Tess， Alec found excuses to push the responsibility to Tess through the story in Bible： just as Eve seduced Adam， Tess seduced Alec. In fact， it’s Alec who commits crimes and should be responsible for them. Even when he can’t control himself as a preacher， he said shamelessly to Tess “swear that you will never tempt me”. Tess suffers for crimes that are not her own. Even more sarcastically， later in the novel， Alec suddenly becomes an excellent fiery Christian man for preaching. Such a kind person can become a respectful priest， this is no doubt a great irony to the hypocritical Victorian Christianity. Tess represents fallen humanity in a religious sense as the frequent biblical allusions in the novel remind us. Tess thus represents what is known in Christian theology as original sin， the degraded state in which all humans live， even when --like Tess is the myth of the human who suffers for crimes that are not her own and lives a life more degraded than she deserves， which is her individual tragedy.

In this paper， through the analysis of the reasons resulting in Tess’s individual tragedy， it can be summarized as the social environment， including the decline of moral codes and the decline of Christianity. Tess’s image is bright and her tragedy is beautiful， inevitable. So Tess’s story may be “standard” ones， representing a deeper and larger experience than that of a single individual. Although the author of this paper does a tentative analysis on the causes of individual tragedy in the book， because it is in the shortage of materials and knowledge limitation of the author， this subject should be continued further in future.

References：

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[2]Brian Phillips.Tess[M].天津科技翻譯出版公司，2003.