Tess Of The D'Urbervilles (2003) - Plot & Excerpts
HEADLINE: A bad guy who is fabulously talented in bed and a good guy who fumbles sex can complicate life for a girl.I ought to have my head examined for undertaking a review of Tess of the d'Ubervilles, the next to the last of Thomas Hardy's novels. My purpose in considering the idea was that I might perhaps persuade one other person to read this novel who might not otherwise. I am all about service to my fellow man. However, there are strange aspects of this novel that when discussed in remove from the novel itself can make it sound off-putting. I will mention a few of those without emphasizing them. They involve weird twists in the plot handed us through the vehicle of some strange scenes. On the other hand I do not wish simply to offer diamond-like passages from this novel, although that is tempting. But let us take a shot here.Tess is the eldest daughter in a poor family in 19th century England. The novel follows events in her life from the time she is sixteen until she is approximately 21, let us say. There are a multitude of detailed plot outlines of this novel to be found elsewhere on line. The only valuable supplement to those that I can offer is to say bluntly what those plot outlines say in such a roundabout way that it loses impact or can be missed entirely. Tess is one hot looking sixteen-year-old female human being. It is out of the fact that Tess is one hot looking sixteen-year-old that all the action of this novel arises. At the time of her first seduction, or rape, she is described as one who has a "coarse pattern" laid over her "beautiful feminine tissue." So in picturing her, we must picture her as something much more than simply a pretty young girl, although she is certainly that. She is a pretty young girl with that look about her that drives men wild—that look about her being something rarely encountered in a girl so young.Some part of that look about her derives from her unity with nature—or should we say “Nature” with a capital “N” since we are after all talking about a Thomas Hardy novel? I would rather put it this way. She is earthy. When Hardy writes about her when she is in relatively unspoiled natural surroundings, it is apparent that she herself is very much at home in and a natural part of those surroundings.Hardy places our hot looking sixteen-year-old girl in an environment with some problems. It is an environment wherein the Victorian morals of society are so completely at odds with the nature of men and women generally, and particularly in the realm of sex.Second, she inhabits a rural area of England where the quality of life is slowly deteriorating. Hardy does not impose upon us with some heavy-handed social commentary at all. Rather, this social commentary is portrayed seamlessly along with the characters and the action. As an example, there is a great contrast between the portrayal of Tess's life as a milkmaid early in the novel, which is idyllic and almost lyrically described, and her life later in hard labor on a farm, the slave of a threshing machine. You must notice stuff like this if you are going to do big time literature.But let me get back to the sex because I know that is what probably piqued your interest. For women heterosexual sex requires men, as much as women may at times regret this. Hardy supplies the men here in the form of two male knotheads named Alec and Angel. She is raped by the wealthy Alec who drugged her with a delicious strawberry, and has his child, which immediately dies. She falls in love with the decent Angel who lacks wits but is under the mistaken impression that he has them in spades. She marries Angel, only to be abandoned by him when he finds out about her past. She becomes Alec's mistress--Alec now, ala Roman Polanski, regrets the strawberry drugging and the rape--partly for economic reasons. A girl's gotta eat. The other part of her reasons are addressed below. A repentant Angel flies back to her, a tad late to the dance as usual, only after she has just murdered Alec. The two of them end up at Stonehenge of all places, where she is apprehended after the police let her complete a nap. There are a lot of puzzling sleep episodes in this novel. Again, you must notice stuff like that if you are going to do big time literature. I think that we can safely conclude that Alec, the "bad guy," is sexually skillful in the sack. He knows what he is doing with a woman and likes to do it a lot. The "good guy," Angel, fumbles in this area. I mean, the "good guy," Angel, chooses to sleep on the couch during his wedding night rather than have sex with one of the hottest young women in the country. Why? Because he finds out that she has had sex before. Whew! This is the kind of thing that can complicate life for a girl, I understand. And now, thanks to this novel, I do understand. I wanted to kick both of those guys' asses at one point or another, but of course I was feeling a little paternal about this poor hot looking sixteen-year-old girl. I refer to them as knotheads, but both do evolve and develop during the course of the novel in what we could simplistically call a favorable direction. The problem—and it is this problem that gives us our story—is that neither of them evolves and develops quickly enough to remedy the horrendous impact their earlier conduct has had on poor Tess and save her. Angel finally comes to the realization that it does not make any difference if she has previously had sex with both the football team and the marching band. She is nonetheless a quality human being whom that nitwit should feel undeservedly blessed to have as a wife.I say “poor Tess,” but. . . . Tess is not passive. She is a girl of action and decision. She makes choices. She acts on those choices. We readers like Tess immensely. It is just that we as readers are continually frustrated with the choices she makes. She is not very old. So this is natural. However, part of the great entertainment afforded by this novel for the reader is contemplating what her alternative choices were and whether those might have resulted in any better an outcome for her. After great thought, insofar as I do great thought, I have concluded that none of those other choices would have. My personal view is that she was doomed from the outset by the mere fact that she was one hot looking sixteen-year-old female human being in a society where that made for nothing but trouble. The tragedy is that in 21st Century America, this could have made her queen of the hop. I might be wrong. You will have fun coming to your own conclusions.I had given a spoiler alert at the beginning, but the facts of the plot that I set out above are not really spoilers. It is not at all that unusual a 19th Century plot, other than the conclusion is more grim than usual and the sex is more prominently on display in that Alec and Tess actually do have a lot of sex, as in intercourse and all the accompanying accoutrements presumably. At least Alec was no Bill Clinton. The great pleasure in reading this story is Hardy's manner of telling it even if you know what is going to happen. Anyone who knows anything about Hardy will know that Tess is not going to come to a good end anyway.There you go. That is the best I can do. I urge you not to miss out on this novel. And please do not respond by telling me that you saw the PBS production. Give me a break. This is a great novel, to be enjoyed as a novel.
It pains me to say that whenever I hear about Tess of the d'Urbervilles, I automatically associate it with Fifty Shades of Grey. Oh, that this masterpiece be besmirched in my mind by that rubbish is a travesty! Thus, I resolutely set upon disconnecting the thread by finally reading this book. And what a journey this has taken me in. I've heard from a lot of people, that Tess is one of Mr. Hardy's more inferior works. This being my first Hardy experience. Honestly, if you call this is inferior, then Mayor and Jude must be near perfect. Because, dear madams and sirs, this is writing in one of its finest embodiment. Yes, it is not perfect, but it is not flawed either. It is there in the precipice of greatness, but not quite. This you shall see later on. Shall we begin?One of the more popular criticisms to Tess is the notion that it depicts women horribly. I agree, to some extent it does. And I understand as to why feminists would feel bad about it. But we have to consider the setting of the story, this being Victorian England. And that the view towards women depicted in the book is just normal for its time. And not only that, mind you, this is a peasant woman in Victorian England. It is not only time but creed that has molded her into a self-abdicating woman. I feel that some feminists anger towards this book is untoward and uncalled for. Surely, they don't expect all women in literature to be independent and strong-willed. Anyway, we are now dealing with character and this can be fully independent of gender. I'm not an anti-feminist, dear no. I'm a humanist and in matters such as this, I only adhere to reason. No more. I do applaud feminists for their fervor, though. Another point that I should like to expound upon has its roots on the relationships that this book surmounts and how I perceive it so. Firstly, I believe that this relationship triangle of sorts is an allegory. Well, I have always seen allegories in things. But let me expostulate. Tess- innocent, unperceiving, self-abdicating, weak - I see in this the characteristics of the poor and the needy. These, she represents. Alec - rich, deceiving, heartless, cruel - here I see the traits of the powerful and the tyrants. And Angel - Intelligent, Imaginative, Logical - a man of reason. These three people represent the relationships and interactions that occur in these three groups. The poor and the needy being oppressed and taken advantage upon by the rich tyrants. The men of reason on the other hand, would endeavor to help the needy. But discovering that the needy to have flaws and crimes forced upon them by their desperation and neediness, would be flung by the men of reason as unworthy beings. Thus the needy would be ignored by both. Rich tyrants, on the other hand, can be converted by religion, thus reverting from their old ways and helping the poor. But this type of help is more of self gratification than actual kindness. Being that they only do it save their pampered souls from fiery damnation. Men of reason, on the other hand, can be made to realize the errors of their ways in time. The needy, being mostly uneducated, their only way to improve is to gain intelligence by the men of reason. They being their hope for a better life, not the rich converts. But the uneducated paupers are often trapped by the snares of the enemy. The ultimate act of the needy being murdered is a depiction of the injustice in the imperfect society that we live in. I do think that Hardy is not so pessimistic about relationships as this book makes him seem. Only, that he has other things considered.“The beauty or ugliness of a character lay not only in its achievements, but in its aims and impulses; its true history lay, not among things done, but among things willed.”Tess, more or less, is much more a criticism to society and its norms than to females and relationships as some perceive it to be. That society values trifles that do not reflect the internal image of people, but rather the external. The structure worshiped but the essence ignored. That spirit and character be no match for breeding and standing is a travesty higher than my associating this book with Fifty Shades. That people look not at inward but the outward. This is what makes this book so sorrowful. This excerpt below is one of the more tender moments of the book. My favorite one, of all. I fancy that it is a scene intended as clue to the coming sadness. But this also suggests the imperfectness of our world, our society. “Did you say the stars were worlds, Tess?""Yes.""All like ours?""I don't know, but I think so. They sometimes seem to be like the apples on our stubbard-tree. Most of them splendid and sound - a few blighted.""Which do we live on - a splendid one or a blighted one?""A blighted one.” **after their only horse dies**“Tis because we be on a blighted star, and not a sound one, isn't it Tess?” I should not warrant much more of your time. Let me just make up for all the bleakness. But the book doesn't end in gloom. The ending is far more hopeful than perceived. That though Tess dies, Liza-Lu takes her place. A younger, better version of herself. This I take to heart as, the hope to improve society lies within the younger generation. They must hand in hand work with men of intellect to improve the norms of society that stains the innate beauty of this world. And compared with the generation of Hardy, I do believe that he was right. That we have improved society and its trifles, that we will continue to improve through the years, I hope to believe. “Beauty lay not in the thing, but in what the thing symbolized.”
What do You think about Tess Of The D'Urbervilles (2003)?
It is a season of firsts, and this is my first Hardy. I wonder that I left him neglected so long. As has been observed by more astute readers than I, Hardy incorporates the natural world into his writing.The gray half-tones of daybreak are not the gray half-tones of the day's close, though the degree of their shade may be the same. In the twilight of the morning, light seems active, darkness passive; in the twilight of evening it is the darkness which is active and crescent, and the light which is the drowsy reverse.This passage reached a chord with me, as in the winter, there are many days when I see both the sunrise and the sunset. This passage comes early enough in the novel - and early enough in my understanding of it - that I failed to recognize how Hardy has used this description of the natural world to foretell something of Tess herself. Poor good, honest Tess! Poor unworldly, long-suffering Tess!Hardy also drew upon his knowledge of the natural world to describe a character. Within the remote depths of his constitution, so gentle and affectionate as he was in general, there lay hidden a hard logical deposit, like a vein of metal in a soft loam, which turned the edge of everything that attempted to traverse it.Being my first Hardy, I was perhaps unprepared. For a story to be worthwhile, and long-lasting, there must be a conflict. Conflict came relatively early, and was seemingly resolved. I was fooled into thinking this is just a quiet, lovely book. Like the character above, there is a vein of metal in a soft loam, which turned the edge of everything.
—Elizabeth (Alaska)
Barbara recommended Tess to me this summer.This is truly a book for celebrating the beauty of our language. As I read, I rejoiced that English is my native language! Do try to read Tess as leisurely as possible.Hardy is masterful at weaving an intricate plot. Tess is a resplendent character; she jumps from the pages of the book and emerges as a life force before our very eyes. Her beauty is palpable. The language caresses and jars. We are plunged into the life of small hamlets in the English countryside. In particular, Hardy invites us into the landscape. Nature dominates:tThe dull sky soon began to tell its meaning by sending down herald-drops of rain, and the stagnant air of the day changed into a fitful breeze which played about their faces. The quick-silvery glaze on the rivers and pools vanished; from broad mirrors of light they changed to lusterless sheets of lead, with a surface like a rasp. But that spectacle did not affect her preoccupation. Her countenance, a natural carnation slightly embrowned by the season, had deepened its tinge with the beating of the rain-drops; and her hair, which the pressure of the cows’ flanks had, as usual, caused to tumble down from its fastenings and stray beyond the curtain of her calico bonnet, was made clammy by the moisture, till it hardly was better than seaweed. (p. 156)In the background section of this edition (Norton Critical Edition edited by Scott Elledge and published in 1965), there is a powerful quote from Hardy’s Notebooks which helped frame (for me) Hardy’s attitude toward religion. I read this prior to reading the novel and it clarified Clare’s agnosticism (in Tess):Poetry. Perhaps I can express more fully in verse ideas and emotions which run counter to the inert crystallized opinion – hard as a rock – which the vast body of men have vested interests in supporting. To cry out in a passionate poem that (for instance) the Supreme Mover or Movers, the Prime Force or Forces, must be either limited in power, unknowing, or cruel – which is obvious enough, and has been for centuries – will cause them merely a shake of the head; but to put it in argumentative prose will make them sneer, or foam, and set all the literary contortionists jumping upon me, a harmless agnostic, as if I were a clamorous atheist, which in their crass illiteracy they seem to think is the same thing. . . .If Galileo had said in verse that the world moved, the Inquisition might have let him alone. (p. 332 from The Later Years pp. 57-58)I just LOVE that last sentence!I remember that in high school we read The Mayor of Casterbridge. I can only imagine how tedious this was for us back then. The language was wasted - utterly and completely wasted on me. It's taken a long time for me to reach this point: I'm able to luxuriate in and appreciate the richness of Hardy's language. The question in my mind is: when WAS the turning point, anyway? I suspect it was not any discrete point in time, but rather many microsteps towards this point. Anyhow, I am so thankful that I'm here!
—Bonnie
I have kept my grudge against Silas Marner even longer. Saw it hanging above me in a tiny bookstore and flinched as if seeing a ghost that died and came back.
—Maria
