Analyzing Necessity of Tess’s Tragedy

hongyan Su

Abstract： One of the most famous novels of Hardys is “Tess of DUrbervilles”. In this novel Hardy created a beautiful country girl with emotion vividly. It tells us the tragic life story of Tess. This thesis is aimed at exploring the necessity of Tesss tragedy in order to understand this novel better from society her personality and the author.

Key Words： Tesss tragedy； necessity； reasons

1.Tess 's tragedy

1.1 Description of Tesss tragedy

Tess is a beautiful and pure country girl. She has beautiful life hope and advanced thought. Tess should have lived a happy and peaceful life. But because of a series of difficulties， she becomes poor and pitiful. She lives a miserable live and has a miserable fate. Now it is aimed at analyzing her tragedy from the three aspects following：

2. 1 Reasons for Tesss tragedy

Although Tess is very smart and beautiful， diligent and kind， she， a victim， is sentenced to the gallows. Why is this？ Now analyze the reasons of Tesss tragedy from the several following aspects.

2. 1Reason from society

There is no dolt that Tesss tragedy comes from society firstly. In the mid of 19th century， the individual culture of capitalism intruded into the rural area in England. The society before disintegrated quickly and individual farmers were immersed in unemployment and poor condition in economy. At that time， the development of the capitalism affected every aspect of peoples life， but the development was not complete.（秦水，25）

In the meanwhile， the feudalism didn't collapse completely. This condition affects new generation. The capitalism gives them new thoughts and glimmer of hope， but the feudalism makes them not cast off the old morality. So in their mind， there are two kinds of thought--new and old. They are filled with tendency to advance and compromise. This causes Tess's love tragedy and life tragedy. Because Tess and Angel belong to the new generation. In this novel， Angel is gentle and cultivated but he is against the religion and the traditional morality. He violates parents' wish and goes to study agricultural technology in the countryside in order to service people better. His thought is advanced. But he can't cast off the old conception， at the crucial point， he stands at the side of the traditional morality. At the wedding night he thinks of the dignity of the bourgeoisie and the old morality after Tess tells her past to him. To Tess's death， he is responsible. Social moral rule gives Tess a hit and Angel pushes Tess towards the abyss. So the society causes Tess's tragedy of love.（侯艳铃，《论苔丝悲剧的根源》）

Society also causes Tess's tragedy of life. While the capital society develops quickly， the farmers' life is becoming much poorer. They have no job and suffer from starvation. They don't think that this kind of life is taken by the society. Thus they only know how to find a way to escape from this kind of life. So they become more miserable and suffer from bankruptcy and poverty. Tess is a farmer's daughter. So she also can't escape from the life. Due to the hardship of life， she asks Alec for help. This brings Tess the first unfortune. Then after her returning from Angel， due to the life and father's death， Tess is forced to live with Alec again. So Tess is pushed towards the abyss twice. Although she lives a rich life， she has no hope of life. The second yieldance makes Tess be in an impasse. So she is forced to kill Alec， then she is sentenced to death. Thus the society causes Tess's tragedy of life. In her whole life Tess is always in suffering. Her love and life are tragic. So her tragedy of love and life causes Tess's whole life is full of tragedy.（张世君，112-113）

2. 2Reason from her personality

Tesss tragedy is in relation to her personality. Tess is a brand-new womans model whom Hardy sculptured. She has double personality .The first aspect is that she dares to resist the traditional morality and hypocritical religion. The second aspect is that she cant shake off the fetters of traditional morality completely. The factor of the personality that causes Tesss tragedy is her honesty that nature endures her. Just the personality causes her tragedy of love and tragedy of life.

First Tess resists the traditional morality and has much new and advanced thought. So Tess insists on the family name of mediocre "D'Urberfield" and isn't willing to surname the noble "D'Urberville". When Angel asks her to surname "D'Urberville" in order to promote her social status， Tess refuses absolutely. These show Tess's sincereness and the high moral character that she disdains the conception of pedigree and is proud of labor. She treats her love with this thought. She accepts Angel's love after thinking about much. She wants a happy life， but she must tell Angel her past before. However， after hearing Tess， Angel casts her off because of the traditional morality. Tess thinks that all is attributed to her fault because she thinks that she disobeys the tradition and loses her virginity. So Tess leaves the farm and goes back home with pain. She suffers from huge torment in her mind. From the thing， it is clear that Tess and Angel are the victims of the traditional morality. They want to escape from the morality but they can't do that. So this causes that the two persons can't get together finally. So this causes Tess's tragedy of love.

This kind of personality also causes Tess's tragedy of life. Because Tess belongs to the new generation. She is advanced and pure owing to the influence of the capitalism. In the meanwhile， she compromises with the old morality. Thus her personality decides that she must depend on others in life. Although she doesn't want others to help her， Tess must gain others' help to preserve her life. So she goes to Alec and asks for help. There Tess yields to him. Then her tragedy starts. She is seduced by Alec and has an illegitimate child. Then she leaves Alec and goes to a farm. There she experiences her love， but the ending is bad because of her past. She is abandoned. After that， she goes back again. Owing to the hardship of life， she can't shake off the poverty at all. Tess yields to Alec again. Because she thinks that Alec is her real husband on body， that is to say， she is Angel's wife nominally. But the person whom she really loves is Angel. Thus she lives a rich life with no hope. It is miserable for Tess to have such life. Therefore， her personality causes her tragedy of life.

In her life， Tess experiences a double hurt---love and life. Both of them bring Tess endless pain. This is not enough. At the end of the story， Tess doesn't give up her resistance. In order to be with her lover， she kills Alec. This brings Tess and her lover several days' happiness at the cost of her life. At last， she is arrested and hanged. The last resistance adds the degree of the tragedy. Although she compromises with her fate， she still has a hope of changing the all. So her double personality causes that her whole life is tragic.

2.3 Reason from Hardy.

Tesss tragedy is not only the social tragedy， character tragedy， but also the fate tragedy. Tesss fate tragedy originates from Hardys fate conception. This shows the limitations of Hardys world view of pessimism and social concept. Hardy lives in the period when the capitalism develops quickly and the feudalism disintegrates. Hardys pessimism is the result of times. At that time the Great Britain started to decline， monopoly capital took place of free competition and put Britain into the abyss of crisis. So Hardys crisis consciousness is also the result of times. To be a realistic author， Hardy can duplicate vivid and realistic picture. To be a thinker， Hardy doesnt know the law of the social development. He thinks realistic crisis and inevitable conflict are the mysterious universe will that cant be forecasted. Hardy doesnt believe that bourgrisie preach the eternal quality of capitalism. And he doesnt believe religion and traditional morality can conceal the realistic conflict and crisis. In front of the universes power ，he thinks that human is paltry. He is controlled by fate. So the understanding of capital crisis causes pessimism and fatalism in his thought. The main characters who are affected by Hardys thought in Hardys novel always encounter the fortuitous misfortune when they are in happiness. Tess was born in a poor family with seven people. This decides her bitter fate. As the elderest one， Tess helps her mother do some work and affords heavy burden of the family. She goes to Alec and wants to change the situation by her work. But she cant shake off the fate， because she is the farmers daughter. Then Tess leaves Alec and goes to a farm. There she meets Angel. She loves him. But she cant accept his love because she thinks that she is not innocent. So she is determined to control her emotion， refuses Angels proposal， but fate and love let her accept Angel at last. Maybe she will master a happy life and live with her lover. But fate makes fun of her. She thinks that if they are couple they should tell their past to each other. So Tess tells Angel her experience. After hearing that， Tess is abandoned by her husband. This unfortune settles a basis of love tragedy. Because after that， Tess meets Angel again but everything changes. Alec breaks their love and makes them not be a couple. Due to the fate conception， Tess kills Alec. This causes Tesss love tragedy straightly.

In the meanwhile， Hardy experiences the huge change of the society， and sees people suffer from poverty and bankruptcy. So in his novels， the characters are almost the farmers or the poor people in that time. Its not likely for them to have a happy and rich life. This novel is not also exceptional. Tess was born in a farmers family. So this decides her fate that she will have a poor life and she will also experience frustration and difficulty. Thus the fate conception decides Tesss tragedy of life.

From analyzing Hardys thought， it is clear that a series of necessity comes from Hardys thoughts crystallization and the developing track of his pessimistic fatalism. This is not only limitation of authors thought but also the art method by which author exposes and criticizes the social darkness. From the above， in indicates that Tesss character is related to Hardys pessimistic fatalism. And this fatalism causes Tesss tragedy. So this factor is the most important one of the reasons.

3.Conclusion

Tess is the image of the poor and pitiful farmer in that time. She is the victim of the capitalism. Her fate reflects the social background and the peoples life in that time. In that period， poor people have no social status and live a miserable life. They suffer from the rich peoples exploitation and oppression. They have no freedom and right. Although they want to get rid of the poverty by themselves， they cant do that because of the exploiting class. Tess is the representative of them. Tesss life and fate are the epitome of those people. From Tesss experience， it is known that those people are very painful. And Hardy expresses his understanding towards the society.

From stating her fate and analyzing the reasons， Tesss tragedy includes three aspects： tragedy of love， tragedy of life， tragedy of fate. And the reasons that cause Tesss tragedy are not only the social factor， but also Tesss personality. Tesss personality and thought are in relation to Hardy. Hardys fatalism affects Tesss fate. So the factor from Hardy is also one of the reasons. These factors result in the necessity of Tesss tragedy. So Tesss tragedy is doomed.

作者简介

苏红艳（1982—），女，四川新津人，学历：学士，职称：助教，研究方向英语教育。