falls in love with Angel Clare a young and idealistic man from a higher social class They share a romantic and passionate relationship but Tess bears a dark secret she had been seduced by Alec D'Urberville before coming to the farm which resulted in the birth of a child who died young When Tess finally invokes the courage to confess her past to Angel she hopes for forgiveness and understanding Instead Angel reacts with shock and judgment leaving Tess heartbroken This moment describes Tess's transition from the frying pan her difficult family situation into the fire her troubled love life Her hope for a better life at Talbothays is destroyed She faces even more challenging circumstances It includes feelings of guilt and abandonment This pattern of moving from one difficult situation to another continues throughout the novel It makes Tess's life a tragic and poignant example of how society's rigid expectations and moral judgments can lead to the suffering of innocent individuals In Tess's story the idiom out of the frying pan into the fire grabs the essence of her struggles and relentless challenges It makes her one of literature's most memorable and tragic heroines