blames herself:
“‘Tis all my doing—all mine!’”
She wants to help her family. So, she goes to the d’Urberville family. There, Alec takes advantage of Tess’s innocence and rapes her. Tess becomes a victim of rape. But the society and people blame her unfairly.
Tess’s Great Sense of Duty: Tess stays strong after this incident. But she never becomes truly happy. She gives birth to a baby boy named Sorrow, who soon dies. She buries him with love and care, even though the local priest refused to give the baby a proper burial place. Tess tries to start a new life. She works hard at Talbothats Dairy to earn money. She always tries to do her duty as a daughter, mother, and worker. This shows her great sense of duty.
Tess’s Honest Love and Angel’s Rejection: At Talbothays Dairy, Angel Clare falls in love with Tess. Tess also loves him deeply. When Angel proposes to marry Tess, she refuses. Because she is afraid of her past. Tess thinks she is not worthy of him. She even tries to confess before the wedding by writing a letter. But Angel never reads the letter. On the wedding night, Tess tells him everything about her past. But Angel cannot accept her. He says:
“O Tess, forgiveness does not apply to the case!”
This is unfair because Angel had an affair and spent two nights with a lady. But the society does not blame him or consider him impure. Tess forgives Angel, but he leaves her.
Tess’s Poverty and Alec’s Return: Angel leaves Tess and goes to Brazil. When Alec returns, Tess refuses him at first. She says to Alec,
“O, will you go away—for the sake of me and my husband…”
But Tess’s family becomes homeless after her father’s death. The family is starving. To save her family, Tess agrees to stay with Alec. But she never loves him. She writes letters to Angel, but Angel never returns. In the end, when Angel returns too late, Tess even kills Alec. Because she wants to return to the only love of her life, her Angel. This shows that Tess’s love for her husband is true, not impure.
Tess’s Death and Hardy’s Message: Tess spends a few happy days with Angel. When she is caught by the police, she accepts her fate quietly. Tess is hanged by the law. Hardy’s narrator says sadly that,
“‘Justice’ was done…”
But we know that this is not really justice. Tess’s death makes her a tragic but pure heroine. Hardy wrote this novel to show that society often judges women wrongly. In those days, a woman’s value was based on her body, not her heart.
In conclusion, Tess is one of the most touching and innocent characters in English literature. She is always a good and pure soul. She is only a victim of rape and society’s harsh judgment. Tess is undoubtedly “A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented.”
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