Undergraduate Thesis of School of Foreign Studies of Yangtze University

3 Causes of Tess ’ Tragedy

3.1Social perspective

3.1.1 Economic constraint

Tess reflected the decline and destruction of English peasantry by capitalist invasion．Tess‘s tragedy，formed in the social transition from feudalism to capitalism，has its deep economic and class roots．

The story of Tess was unfolded in Wessex，a traditional rural area in south England．In the late of 19th century, the age—old order of Wessex was destroyed by the capitalist invasion．It can be easily seen from the death of the old horse by the mail carriage hauled by a vigorous one．―The morning mail—cart, with its two noiseless wheels，speeding along these lanes like an arrow, as it always did，had driven into her slow and unlighted equipage．The pointed shaft of the cart had entered the breast of the unhappy Prince like a sword，and from the wound his life‘s blood was spouting in a stream，and falling with a hiss into the road.‖The modem mail system is one of achievement of Victorian capitalism．The mail carriage is the embodiment of the strong capitalist economy,which is pauperizing Tess‘s family, whereas the old horse can be regarded as the symbol of the frail old rural agriculture，which serves as the support for the economy of Tess‘s family．Their collision into each other stands for the struggle of the exhausted rural economy against the prevailing strong capitalist economy．

The death of the old horse also foreshadows the collapse of Tess‘s family and of her class．This unexpected event also serves as a critical point in Tess‘s life pushing her into an exhausting journey of struggles and conflicts．Because of the unnecessary sense of guilt for the death of the horse and in order to earn some money to make up for the loss，Tess agreed to work for the false D'Urberville and therefore put herself in danger．

With the pressures of bringing up a large family in difficult circumstances，there is always great difficulty of earning enough to ensure physical survival for the Durbeyfields．The old horse Prince is the only source of life making and its death

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Undergraduate Thesis of School of Foreign Studies of Yangtze University

plunges the whole family into an economic blind alley．The Durbeyfield‘ s need of a new horse，and the mother‘s greed for her daughter to claim kin against her will with a noble family member of the D‘Urbervilles, starts Tess on her journey to her destruction．

When Tess loses her chastity and returns home from Trantridge，her mother blames her for not capitalizing on her situation．Tess‘ s innocence is at risk because her parents do not inform her of the dangers of life. Her mother does not even stop her from living with Alec, even though she has a feeling that Alec may take advantage of Tess．The greed for her daughter‘s marriage into a noble family has put the wool over her eyes．

From the very beginning to the end，Tess never loves Alec．She is forced to submit herself to Alec just because of the dilemma of life and helplessness．So it is the poverty of the Durbeyfield family that brings Tess across the path of Alec in the first place，and it is Alec‘s ability to provide for the family that brings Tess to―sell‖herself to him at the close of the book．

3.1.2 Social ethics

Tess, a beautiful and pure village girl ,meets misfortune since she steps into society . However ,she is subject to ridicule and accusations instead of sympathy , which is mainly due to the impact of social ethics . At that time, chastity is a kind of morality in which the society asks for women‘s unilateral implementation of sexual imprisonment．

Chastity, in the traditional sense, is a kind of pure conduct and behavior about gender relations. It mainly refers to the virtue of single-mindedness and that women do not lose their virginity．It is the ethics of sexual behaviors．Chastity has become the most important values to judge women, and carry out the control and destruction of women more and more deeply．

The inequality of the Victorian sexual morality towards women was also reflected in the implementation of double moral standards between men and women, in which, on the one hand, society asked for the absolute purity of women while on the other hand, there was no limit on male behavior, and it not only turned a blind eye to those morally corrupted men who played women randomly and then abandoned them, but

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Undergraduate Thesis of School of Foreign Studies of Yangtze University

also pointed all condemnation and criticism to women．Men could always be with impunity, while women were put a heavy cross forever which they could no longer escape. If some conduct was regarded a crime which would cause serious legal consequences and social consequences in women‘s side, then it would be considered to be an honor or at best only a small moral stain that could be readily accepted in men‘s side．

In Victorian times,the conventional Victorian role of woman emphasized the virtues of self-sacrifice which required women to be chaste, which was the precondition for a happy marriage．According to its sexual morality, women‘s chastity became the absolute standard to measure whether the woman was pure or not．Once a woman lost her virginity, she would become degraded and immoral no matter how noble and pure her soul was, and she would be pushed to the opposite of the social collective, losing forever the right to happiness．

After Tess has been deflowered，she feels herself evil and unchaste. Tess knows that she is the victim of violence and she is innocent，but when criticized by the villagers，she also believes that she is guilty．She measures her innocence according to the traditional morality and chastity all the time．She sees herself as an incarnation of evil, and she can not forget her shame more than others. Tess bounds herself into a moral net which she has woven herself. So at the same time when she fights boldly against the traditional morality, Tess，limited by her ideas，also becomes the defender of the old tradition．This concept gradually grows to be an unconscious that torments her for a long time．

At the wedding night, Tess admits to Clare her past ―mistakes‖in order to show her faith to her husband, which shows her quite high moral courage．Although Clare is a liberal intellectual, he has a deeply-rooted moral tradition in his deepest heart．He himself also has had a dissolute behavior before and get forgiven by Tess,but he refuses to forgive the originally innocent Tess . His first feeling is that he had been fooled, and been fooled―very cruelly‖．He says：―Don‘t,Tess；don‘t argue．Different societies,different manners．‖He can not accept the fact, his perfect image of Tess built by himself in his mind has fallen apart, and he says to Tess that ―the woman I have been loving is not you but another woman in your shape.‖ Here ,we can see that what

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Undergraduate Thesis of School of Foreign Studies of Yangtze University

Clare respects is actually her virginity . In fact，that Clare mercilessly abandons Tess gives her a heavy spiritual blow，which is deeper and more deadly than the physical destruction done by Alec.

3.1.3 Unequal legal system

If Tess lives in the contemporary era in which all people are equally protected by the law , her tragedy would not take place . However , Tess lives in the Victorian era which capitalism invaded the rural region. In the capitalist society, law was served for the capitalist class. Farmers were at the bottle of the society, they never had equal rights as the capitalist class. Alec, the representative of capitalist power and violence , dares to do what he desires, not only because he has money and power, but also because his evil behavior is protected by the capitalist law and rules.

After 1857 , the law ruled that if a British woman was found unfaithful to her husband，the husband could divorce her immediately and chose another darling；no matter how indiscreetly her husband acted，she still could not divorce him. After a woman was possessed by a man, the only way out was to marry him , regardless of whether she loved him. This determined that if Tess did not marry Alec after rape , she must be considered as an unclean woman and condemned by people .

In the eyes of Victorian people, the young upstart were noble, while Tess is considered to lure Alec in order to acquire his money. Tess bears all that injustice silently all along. However, when Tess defends herself for the first time, she is hanged. Alec leads a loose and dissolute life in the novel，but he does not have the punishment by law. In the end, Tess thinks all her misfortune is caused by Alec, so she kills Alec to eliminate the stains . As a result, Tess is sentenced to death. This indicates that the under class in society are impossible to get a fair treatment. As Hardy says at the end of the novel :―Justice was done, and the president of the immortals in Aeschylean phrase had ended his sport with Tess.‖ Obviously, Tess is the victim of the unjust, hypocritical law.

3.2 Family perspective

3.2.1 Family background

Tess' s father John D‘Urbeyfield is an alcohol一addict and a lazy and

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