Book Report of Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Tess of the D’Urbervilles ，a famous novel written by Thomas Hardy, was published in nineteenth century. Thomas Hardy was born in 1840 in a small town near the Dorchester where later became the famous “wessex” in many of his novels. There were many famous works of Hardy in his all life, including Under the Greenwood, A Pair of Blue Eyes, Far from the Madding Crowd, The Return of the Native, Mayor of the Casterbridge, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Jude the obscure. By the vivid description of the health, the fields, the seasons, the weather, Wessexs attained a physical presence in the novels and acted as a mirror of the psychological conditions of the characters. In the nineteenth century, Britain entered an industrial era, and the society of the England changed a lot.Big machines took place the handicraft production; so many workers lost their job. What’ more, in the nineteenth century, social law and morality all protected male’right, and women had a very low level at that time. From the short life of Tess, we can get to know that she never has a right as a woman in that specific era.
This novel mainly described a pure and kind-hearted girl’s unfortunate experiences. Heroine Tess was a beautiful girl, but her family was very poor. Her father became pride for he was told by a priest that he was the descendant of the D’Urbervilles, and her mother wanted to marry her to a rich family which claimed that they were the descendants of the D’Urbervilles. Without any choices, Tess had to go to the rich family. However, the son of that family called Alec fell in love with her and tried his best to get Tess to stay at his family. Three months later, Alec seduced Tess. Angry and hopeless, Tessleft there and went home. With so many misunderstandings and ridicules, she went to a farmland and obtained a new job. What’s more, she met Clare, the intellectual and free-thinking son of a clergyman. They fell in love with each other. Clare refused the wedding with a rich lady arranged by his father and was determined to marry Tess. However, Tess refused to marry him for the reason that she had been seduced. Finally love conquered all, and they got married. But she told Clare that she had been seduced on the wedding night。Unfortunately Clare couldn’t forgive Tess and left her for Brazil. At the same time, Alec made use of Tess’ family trouble to force her to live with him. However, Clare waked up in Brazil and came back to reconciled to Tess. But the girl found that her living with Alec hindered her from returning to Clare. She killed Alec. After spending a few days of happiness with Angel, Tess was arrested and then hanged. Clare followed Tess’s last wishes to live together with her sister.
After finished this book, I am impressed by its love story and Tess’s unfortunate experiences. Tess is a poor and peasant girl, who owns almost all of the virtues of a woman, including beauty, kind-hearted, bravery, honest and so on. But at the end of the story, she was hanged. I think it is the conventional morality that fettersher and causes her tragedy. I think that there are three reasons leading to Tess’s tragedy. First reason is the society in which she lived. her family was very poor, so her mother wanted her to marry a rich man. What’s more, her father was vain, and always dreams of being the descendant of the D’Urbervilles. If he didn’t believe this ridiculous thing, Tess wouldn’t be sent to the D’Urbervilles, and the tragedy wouldn’t take place. After Tess being pregnant, many people laughed at her, which made Tess feel more embarrassed and painful.As the book said:
Their chatter, their laughter, their good-humoured innuendoes, above all, their flashes and flickerings of envy, revived Tess’s spirits also; and, as the evening wore on, she caught the infection of their excitement, and grew almost gay. The marble hardness left her face, she moved with something of her old bounding step, and flushed in all her young beauty.
Form the description we can see how painful Tess was at that time.
Second reason is men surrounding Tess.Being seduced by Alec causes Tess’s tragedy directly. What’s more, he made use of Tess’family difficulties to threaten her to live with him, which hurt Tess deeply and forced Tess to make up her mind to kill him. However, angle fell love with Tess wholehearted, but he was a kind of men that treated women severely but is tolerant of himself. He could indulge himself in living with a woman but he couldn’t forgive the fact that Tess had been seduced. His attitude did harm to Tess deeply.From the dialogue we can see how painful did Tess suffer:
He paused, contemplating this definition; then suddenly broke into horrible laughter-as unnatural and ghastly as a laugh in hell.
‘Don’t-don’t! It kills me quite, that!’ She shrieked. ‘O have mercy upon me-have mercy!’
He did not answer; and, sickly white, she jumped up.
‘Angle, Angle! What do you mean by that laugh?’ she cried out.
‘Do you know-what this is to me?’
He shook his head.
‘I have been hoping, longing, praying, to make you happy! I have thought what joy it will be to do it, what an unworthy wife I shall be if I do not! That’s what I have felt, Angle!’
Ireally sympathize with Tess. She loved Angle from head to heel. However, Angle didn’t show sympathy for Tess but criticized Tess strictly. In my opinion, Clare wasmoral hypocrisy. Although he loved Tess deeply before he knew this fact, he showed his true features after being told the unfortunate thing. He said that the woman he had been loving is not Tess but another woman in her shape. What he said gives the evidence that he thought Tess was not pure any more. So I don’t think Clare loved Tess wholehearted.
Thirdly, although Tess had various advantages, her indecision character also caused the tragedy.Her personalities, her beliefs in religion, and her insisting in love cause Tess’ tragedy.Hardy describes Tess as a pure woman, which causes strong repercussions.From the vivid description of chapter Ⅱgives the readers the first impression of Tess:
she was a fine and handsome girl-not handsomer than some others, possibly-but her mobile peony month and large innocent eyes added eloquence to colour and shape.
Tess is so pure in Hardy’ mind, but her innocence reflects the fact that she doesn’t know how to protect herself.At this time, people couldn’t accept the describing Tess as a pure woman. All those above caused Tess’ tragedy.
Under Hardy’s writing, Tess is a pure woman although shehad been seduced past. She dares to sacrifice herself, set at defiance for good wishes. She loves others, believes in others, and she is gentle as well as strong. She is loyal and honesty as all the other people in Wessex. Thus she can’t help telling her husband all her past on the wedding night. As the oldest daughter in the peasant family, Tess keeps the diligent habit all the time. When she first goes to claim kindred with another branch of D’Urbervilles, she doesn’t mean to please the host by her beauty, but would like to work for pay. After she is seduced by the master of the house, Alec, she doesn’t marry him or live with him, but leaves the manor without hesitation. From the sentences above, we can find that Tess is a pure and self-respect girl.