Tess of the D'Urbervilles
...e. Throughout the whole novel the reader wants to push her, to tell her what to do or not to do. Tess could not deal with her problems in a right way. Being abandoned and left by her beloved Angel, she believes that all her chance of happiness is over; she sells herself ultimately for the benefit of her family. The time period of the novel is very different from our times. Men considered themselves to be superior over women. Social difference was big: education, manners, wealth on one side and poverty, ignorance on the other. Social class and lineage are powerful forces for determining character in the novel. It’s hard to imagine how people were afraid of doing certain things, and being ashamed of the society’s judgment. Victorian times in England were harsh to Tess. Living a hard life, being young, she faced something she ahd no idea about: seduction, betrayal, confusion. Tess was seduced by Alec, the amoral son of the wealthy merchant. The seduction becomes a central moment in the novel that established Tess’s purity. Alec was in a sense, a victim of society, too because due to his wealth he could escape punishment. He was “superior” to just a peasant girl. Tess was miserably unhappy The source of her unhappiness seems to stem from her fall from the grace of society an her own conscience. Her fate was already predestined: she was “doomed” to it, she was fated to tragedy. But human instincts led her oppose her fate. Tess’s healthy desire simply to be happy was perhaps the source of her great courage and moral strength. Angel is one of the main characters and the man in who Tess tried to find support. He was depicted by Hardy as a rationalist in morals. It shows again how social rules influenced a single person. Fear of the society’s judgment made him be so harsh to helpless woman. He became a victim of social stereotypes of his time, which caused him to reject Tess. His betrayal turns out to be the key in the novel. Tess felt that she was not worthy of Angel. Tess is innocent, but she is also guilty. She has repeated impulse to punish herself. Some power was sitting inside of her telling her that everything is her fault. She becomes the victim of men who are both attract...