Characters

Main Characters

• Tess Durbeyfield – The protagonist and tragic heroine. A poor country girl. Innocent and hardworking. Life treats her cruelly, though she does no real wrong. She is a pure woman.
• Angel Clare – Son of a clergyman. Honest but proud. Wants to be a farmer, not a priest. He loves Tess but fails to support her when she needs him most.

• Alec d’Urberville – A rich and selfish young man. Arrogant, cunning, and shameless. He ruins Tess’s life by using his wealth and power.

Durbeyfield Family

• John Durbeyfield – Tess’s father. Lazy and often drunk. Becomes proud when he learns about his “noble” family name.
• Joan Durbeyfield – Tess’s mother. Simple, careless, and often selfish. Hopes Tess will marry Alec for the family’s good.
• Liza-Lu Durbeyfield – Tess’s younger sister. Good and kind-hearted. Tess wishes Angel to marry her after Tess’s death.
• Abraham Durbeyfield – Tess’s younger brother.
• Other Children – Hope and Modesty are Tess’s younger sisters.
• Sorrow – Tess’s baby boy, who dies soon after birth.

Clare Family

• Mr. Clare – Angel’s father. A strict clergyman with strong religious views.
• Mrs. Clare – Angel’s mother. Proud and class-conscious, but kind in nature.
• Cuthbert Clare – Angel’s scholarly brother. A clergyman who later marries Mercy Chant.
• Felix Clare – Angel’s other brother. A curate (assistant priest).
• Mercy Chant – A religious young woman expected to marry Angel, but later marries Cuthbert.

Friends & Others

• Dairyman Crick – Tess’s kind employer at Talbothays Dairy.
• Mrs. Crick – His wife. Friendly, helpful, and respectable.
• Izz Huett, Marian, and Retty Priddle – Milkmaids who work with Tess. All love Angel. Izz and Marian later pity Tess. Retty tries to harm herself after Angel marries Tess.
• Farmer Groby – Tess’s harsh employer at Flintcomb-Ash.
• Mrs. Brooks – Landlady at The Herons in Sandbourne, where Tess stays with Alec.
• Parson Tringham – The clergyman who tells John Durbeyfield about his noble family.
• Vicar of Marlott – Refuses to give Sorrow a Christian burial at first.
• Mrs. Rolliver – Owner of the ale-house where the Durbeyfields often drink.
• Mrs. d’Urberville – Alec’s blind, old mother. She loves her birds more than people. Tess once worked for her.