tess3
If written today, Tess of the d'urbervilles by Thomas Hardy may have been called Just Call Me Job or Tess: Victim of Fate. Throughout this often bleak novel, the reader is forced by Tess's circumstance to sympathize with the heroine (for lack of a better term) as life deals her blow after horrifying blow. One of the reasons that the reader is able to do so may be the fatalistic approach Hardy has taken with the life of the main character. Hardy writes Tess as a victim of Fate. This allows the reader to not blame her for the things that happen around her. Much of the critical debate surrounding Tess centers around this very point: Is Tess a victim? Are the things that happen to Tess beyond her control or could she have fought her way out of her circumstances? Better yet, could Hardy have written her out of her troubles or did his fatalistic approach to the novel force him to ultimately sacrifice poor Tess? Further, Is Hardy's approach to the novel and its main character truly fatalistic? In this essay, I will explore these questions and the doctrine of Fatalism as it applies to Tess. Fatalism is defined in Websters Dictionary as "the doctrine that all things take place by inevitable necessity" (175). Fatal
Often used as a synonym for destiny, Fate differs slightly but significantly from the idea of destiny. ' But the critical linking is never made and one remains uncertain about why Tess's fate is inevitable" (135). Hardy, through his Fatalistic approach, invokes sympathy and concern for poor Tess that keeps the reader turning each page in breathless anticipation for what's next. Examples of this are her ability to see or hear the d'Urberville Coach and her realization of her resemblance to the d'Urberville woman of the farmhouse at Wellbridge: "[Tess's] fine features were unquestionably traceable in these exaggerated forms" (277). Not ever really burying his flaws very deeply, Hardy seems to challenge the notion that the flaws were necessary and lend themselves to the books readability. But he may respond indirectly when someone else, an observer,, gives him information about himself. Later, realizing that God can't help her, Tess prays to Angel confessing her new religion in a letter: "It has been so much my religion ever since we were married to be faithful to you in every thought and look" (127). So does Tess believe that God can save her? Throughout the novel, we see Tess moving away from God.
Common topics in this essay:
Leonard Doob,
Van Ghent,
Fate Throughout,
Sir John,
Arnold Kettle,
Overall Tess,
Alec Tess,
Leon Waldoff,
Wellbridge Tess's,
God God,
poor tess,
tess victim,
save tess,
fatalistic approach,
critic dorothy van,
believe god,
throughout novel,
main character,
god save,
approach novel,
destiny fate,
dorothy van ghent,
tess victim fate,
author leonard doob,
|
Acceptance Essays
