The Causes of Tess' Tragedy
温州师范学院外语系98英本(1) 周建珍
It is saying that if you want to learn about the history of nineteen century of
Briton ,please read the novels of Thomas Hardy. May be it is aggravated, but from
it we can learn that in Hardy's novels the society is truly reflected in some
aspects. And among Hardy' novels-----Tess of the d'Urbervilles described a wronged
woman by the poverty and the ideas of a seduced woman of the society in that time.
It is no doubt that Tess is one of the purest , kindest and loveliest women we
can find in the novels. She is a good daughter who is always caring her family
more than herself; she is also a good wife who loves her husband more than herself.
But it is always make me think a lot why the kindest woman receives so much suffering?
What are the causes ? Is it just because the backwardness and the cruelty of the
society? Can Tess have other better choices in her terrible situation?
In my mind there are two main causes in Tess' tragedy .The first and the primary
cause is the social circumstance .
Besides the poverty ,there was another important cause in the tragedy. It was
the prejudice of the social martyr and Christian principles towards the secured
woman.
In the terms of the society in which she lives, Tess was to some extent guilty
of bringing about her own fate, then, and was her own hangman. However, it was
this same society which had so unjustly marked her out as unclean, which has
so forcefully put the noose around her neck. This society blindly ignores Christian
principles, judging her on deeds and not on intentions, and unwilling to forgive
her past. This impure society, argues Hardy, punishes the honest and the conscientious.
There was another factor too in Tess's downfall, namely a Fate that had sought
in every step of Tess's life to trip her up, a "President of the Immortals"
that played with Tess in the way a cat plays with a helpless mouse. Tess was
alone fighting against these huge forces, the social and the natural, heroically
defending virtue in the face of rampant vice. It was little wonder she finally
cracks. Moreover, it was precisely because she finally cracks, because she was
human, that the reader admires her and sympathizes with her to such an extent.
Bibliography
《哈代创作论集》 中国社会出版社
托马斯-哈代------思想和创作》 外语教学与研究出版社
Tess of the d'Urbervilles
http://www.datasync.com/~pwilz/hardy.htm
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论文题目：
The Causes of Tess’Tragedy 
