Monday, August 26, 2013

Review: Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy


Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
Series: None
Published: 1891
Publisher: Public Domain
Pages: 518

"How could I be expected to know? I was a child when I left this house four months ago. Why didn't you tell me there was danger in men-folk? Why didn't you warn me?"
When Tess Durbeyfield is driven by family poverty to claim kinship with the wealthy D'Urbervilles and seek a portion of their family fortune, meeting her 'cousin' Alec proves to be her downfall. A very different man, Angel Clare, seems to offer her love and salvation, but Tess must choose whether to reveal her past or remain silent in the hope of a peaceful future. With its sensitive depiction of the wronged Tess and with its powerful criticism of social convention, Tess of the D'Urbervilles is on of the most moving and poetic of Hardy's novels.
This is a very difficult book to write about. There are plenty of things to talk about. Tess's representation of Nature, the guilt of the innocent, the chaos of Society imposed on Nature. But I could hardly say why (or why not) one should read it.

I'll start off with the plot. Tess is tangible innocence when the story begins. And then, through no fault of her own (I would argue), her innocence is corrupted, and she's outcasted from respectable society. At it's heart, this is a Moral story - the moral's man imposes vs. Natural Law. This conflict first comes up when Tess is ousted from society. Again when she meets Angel Clare. And finally at the end in conclusion with the story.

I should say, I expected something similar Jane Eyre when I started reading this book. Indeed, I thought so all the way to the end. That's when I found out that was not at all to be the case. I was so dense in my conviction that I knew where the story was heading that I completely missed all the foreshadowing...until I looked back and went, "Oh."


And then this proceeded to occur because honestly, it does not do to have oneself hit out of the blue by that ending!

Words of advice. If you read this, look for the foreshadowing (it's not hard to see), and don't be a dunce like me. Heed it. That way you won't be broken by the ending.

The hardest part for me to come to terms with, though, is not the ending, but the characters. They are all, each and everyone of them, so incredibly flawed. But they always will to do good, and because of that, I like them. Even Alec. 



To me, he's the most interesting character. And maybe I'm not supposed to think that. I'm inclined to think that he was completely guilty because it makes Tess less culpable. But at the same time, I acknowledge that this is likely not the truth. There are moments of foreshadowing, and certain turns of speech that lead me to believe Tess's lost of innocence wasn't completely out of her control. Ignorance may be at fault for that, and if so, it's interesting to think what Hardy's trying to say about it.

Even so, by believing that both Alec and Tess are guilty, suddenly, the perspective on his character changes. His guilt seems genuine, his desire to help

rooted in love. I can wonder if he truly does love Tess, and see's her more than as an object to be possessed. 

I might even like Alec more than Angel. He, at least, doesn't pretend to be something he's not. The double standard that Angel holds     
(He was my first Mordred <3)                                                                 Tess to infuriates me. He realizes his mistake, but too late. Does that make it okay? Very difficult question. Alec at least made offers of reparation, hell, he put everything into making it up to Tess. I also think there's an argument to made that he only wanted to possess her. But his story turned sour, too, which makes me think that he did have good intentions. Because everyone good ends up in a really bad position. Here's a quote from the book that says what I've been trying to say much better:
The beauty or ugliness of a character lay not only in its achievements, but in its aims and impulses; its true history lay, not among things done, but among things willed.
The characters that will to do good either end tragically, or their actions are convoluted through Society. It's what the entire novel is about, and it makes one seriously reconsider life.

So. If you think yourself up to it, I'd say go ahead and read this book. I probably wouldn't have if I'd known exactly what I was getting myself into. As it was, the premise somehow caught my fancy, and I decided to read it one day. And I'm glad I wasn't scared away because it truly is a good book, one of the most interesting and thought provoking books I've read in awhile.

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