| Tess of the d'Urbervilles is usually regarded as the best of Thomas Hardy's Wessex novels and the one with the richest connotations. Since its publication in 1891, it has invited different schools of critical theories and has been subject to different interpretations. Among the theoretical perspectives through which the novel has been read are feminist, sociological, Marxist, socialist and other materialist, with most of the criticism being concerned with Hardy's "philosophy," his views of morality, religion and so on. Feminist criticism focuses its attention upon Hardy's views of love, marriage, and his condemnation of the Victorian double-standard of sexual morality, whereas Marxist, socialist and other materialist criticism deals with the relationship between the historical, social, aesthetic, ideological factors involved in the production of Hardy's writing and the social "reproduction" of Hardy. Those who have read the novel sociologically consider it a reflection of the social changes in nineteenth-century England, viewing Tess as the embodiment of an order of rural society threatened by urbanism and mechanization and as an emblem of the destruction of the agricultural community. Moreover, some critics have approached the novel through a formalistic perspective and offered a close textual analysis of the formal properties of the novel-the tragic form, the narrative elements, the language, the imagery, the symbolism and the structure. However, none of these interpretations has been able to exhaust the rich connotations of the novel, which always invites further explorations and new insights.This thesis attempts to use the mythical and archetypal theories to probe into the biblical and mythical archetypes in Tess, which prevail in its themes, characters, structures, plots, imagery and symbols. In Tess, Hardy uses the biblical themes-"paradise lost," "redemption" and"regeneration." Tess's is a story of her loss of "paradise": paradise of innocence, love and life. Closely associated with her loss of "paradise" are her "redemption" and spiritual "regeneration." Tess's loss of "paradise" is due to her so-called original sin, which leads to her murder of Alec, whereas the "redemption" she undergoes-endless bodily and mental sufferings-is the price she must pay for her "original sin" and her murder. Through the "redemption," Tess finally gains her hard-won knowledge-a clearer perception of Alec, her seducer, of Angel, her husband, of her true self and of society. In this way, she has achieved her spiritual "regeneration." In accordance with the archetypal themes, Hardy moulds the main characters in the novel-Tess, Angel and Alec-upon the mythical or biblical characters. On the one hand, Tess is portrayed as Eve and pagan deities, and on the other, she is described as Jesus Christ. By comparing Tess to Eve, Hardy emphasizes her purity and innocence; by describing her as Jesus Christ, he stresses her virtues and her tragic fate; by paralleling her to pagan deities, he emphasizes her intimacy with nature. The archetypes of Angel are mainly the sun-god, Apollo, and the Christian God. Angel is a paradoxical character both in his own personality and in Hardy's treatment of him. By portraying Angel as Apollo, Hardy reveals Angel's double-sidedness as both the source of Tess's happiness and the cause of her disasters and destruction; by describing Angel as the Christian God, Hardy manifests his own complicated attitudes towards Christianity, which, in Hardy's opinion, has both benevolent and retributive aspects, for just as the worship of Apollo is both life-giving and destructive, so the worship of God is both a source of consolation and a source of judgment. Alec's archetype is mainly the biblical Satan; by basing Alec on Satan, Hardy reveals Alec's deceitful and vicious nature. With regard to the structure of the novel, there are two archetypes, namely, the circular structure and the biblical tragic structure. Tess's life experiences display several circles; at thebeginning of each circle,...
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