In his novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles Thomas Hardy deals with issues of morality in the sense of the opposition between man-made laws and Nature. These issues are explored through the experiences of Tess Durbyfield as she encounters the problems of life, and as she changes from an innocent and simple country girl into a mature and complex woman.
Intelligent, strikingly attractive, and distinguished by her deep moral sensitivity and passionate intensity, Tess is indisputably the central character of the novel that bears her name. Tess is a beautiful young woman living with her impoverished family in the village of Marlott . She is introduced into the novel as a member of the May Day procession, adorned in white. Tess symbolizes purity and virginity, while her physical characteristics equally suggest her innocence.
However, she is from the very beginning of the novel distinguished from her girlfriends because “she wore a red ribbon in her hair, and was the only one of the white company who could boast of such a pronounced adornment.” 2 Hardy's use of symbolism makes it clear to us that the red colour of her ribbon suggests that transgressions will occur against Tess's whiteness and innocence, symbolized by the redness of the ribbon, that is, by the colour of the blood and passion of the man she will encounter later in her life.
In the same way, Angel is an equal symbol of purity and goodness, as shown by his name and his demeanor. A freethinking son born into the family of a provincial parson and determined to set himself up as a farmer instead of going to Cambridge like his conformist brothers, Angel represents a rebellious striving toward a personal vision of goodness . However, as we shall see later in the novel, Angel Clare is nevertheless equally dogmatic and obstinate, despite holding more liberal opinions than his father and brothers.
From the very beginning, Tess Durbeyfield is a passive character subject to the wishes of her family and afflicted by their sense of irresponsibility. She is the key to her father's design to regain the family fortune, for he intends to marry her off to a gentleman who will provide for her and for her parents; however, Tess has no say in her father's plans.
Hardy starts with the idea of the cruelty of fate with the discussion between Tess and Abraham concerning the stars; the two siblings decide that the misfortunes they suffer are due to living on a blighted star rather than any direct sense of cause and effect. This theme is also illustrated by the accident that Tess and Abraham have concerning their horse and wagon; the occurrence is a complete accident, yet Hardy instills the event with a sense of determinism, as if it were part of the Durbeyfield fate.
By going to claim kinship with the d'Urbervilles, Tess is in fact sent to find a husband; behind her mother's request is the assumption that Tess will marry a gentleman who will provide for the Durbeyfields. It is this aspect of the visit to the d'Urbervilles that disturbs Tess most, highlighting her particular sexual innocence. This introduces the theme of sexuality and innocence that will continue throughout the novel; at this point in the novel Tess represents a particular sexual innocence, “a mere vessel of emotion untinctured by experience.” 3 She is unaware of her own sexuality and thus cannot perceive the danger that Alec d'Urberville presents to her.
Alec d'Urberville uses several factors particular to Tess's situation and her sense of guilt to seduce his distant relative. The “disastrous night of her undoing” 4 takes place in the fog and thick darkness in The Chase, the oldest wood in England . Having arranged that Tess falls asleep in the nest of dead leaves, Alec takes advantage of Tess, and forever changes the course of her future life.
Hardy often uses words and phrases that depict Tess's hurt feelings, her sense of guilt or her subordinated position in society she lives in: “she sat now, like a puppet , replying to his remarks in monosyllables.” The words: “I wish I had never been born…” 5 describe her utter misery and humiliation.
In the scene of Tess's seduction Hardy indicates one of his main themes, the inexplicable injustice and cruelty of fate:
“Why it was that upon this beautiful feminine tissue, sensitive as gossamer, and practically blank as snow as yet, there should have been traced such a coarse pattern as it was doomed to receive; why so often the coarse appropriates the finer thus, the wrong man the woman, the wrong woman the man, many thousands of years of analytical philosophy have failed to explain to our sense of order.” 6
2 Thomas Hardy, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, (Penguin Books, 1984), p.51
3 Ibid., p. 51
4 Ibid, p. 149
5 Ibid., p.124
6 Ibid., p.119
