On The Image Of Tess In Thomas Hardy's Namesake Novel

Tess of the D 'Urbervilles is generally regarded as one of the most important works of Thomas Hardy, the noticeable English novelist and poet. It best embodies the spirit of Hardy's "Novels of Character and Environment", marking the crowning achievement of his literary creation.The novel has once been condemned and rejected by Victorian society for its unorthodox delineation of Tess of the D'Urbervilles, the protagonist of the novel. Before its publication, Hardy had already authored several renowned novels, including Far From the Madding Crowd, The Return of the Native and numerous short stories. Despite of his reputation, Hardy met with great difficulties in finding a periodical to publish this book. The main reason was that the reviewers could not accept Tess, a dishonored woman, as a pure woman. They also denounced Hardy's forthright depiction of sexual attraction. Although the book proved to be a success, it brought Hardy harsh criticism and notoriety. As a sensitive man, he was deeply wounded by some of the particular personal attacks he received from reviewers, and the novel thereby became one of his last.But today, the novel is considered his finest work and is exalted as a courageous call for righting the evils of the Victorian society. The story takes place in "Wessex". a fictional country created by Hardy on the basis of his hometown Dorset. Tess, the central character of the novel, comes from a poor farmer's family. In order to get rid of poverty and seek financial help from their wealthy relatives, her parents goad her to claim kin with the Stoke-D'Urbervilles. She gets a job there, but unfortunately, is seduced by herfalse cousin Alec. She refuses to stay as his fancy woman and retreats from him. Later she falls in love with Angel Clare but is abandoned by him on their wedding night as a result of her confession of her illicit sex encounter with Alec. Tess murders Alec out of rage and is at last executed. Tess's life is short and tragic but her image is impressive and memorable and thus becomes one of the immortal female figures in the world literature.The main paper of this essay consists of four parts梚ntroduction, a survey of the novel, Tess as a symbol of new woman, Tess as a stereotype in conventional male psychology. The article begins with a general comment on the novel and its heroine in the introduction. The first chapter takes a brief review on the publication history of the book and "Women Question" in the Victorian age, and meanwhile probes two major themes in order to pave way for the major discussion. The second one explores the reason why Tess, a fallen woman, is considered a pure woman and how she grows into a new woman. After reading the story, one may get the sense that Tess possesses all good qualities of a lady in that she has a strong responsibility towards her family and is ready to sacrifice her own happiness for the ones she loves. Tess is honest and loyal to Angel in her love. She confesses her history to Angel at the risk of being abandoned. In her brave struggle under tough situations and her fearless challenge to conventional norms and religious dogmas, especially after her killing of Alec, Tess becomes a spirited new woman. Thus we may say that the true value of Tess lies more in the spiritual power rather than physical one. But the image of Tess cannot be read in one simple way. The discussion of the last part views her from another light and analyzes her image as a stereotypical woman created by a male writer. She possesses some fatal flaws in her character, which contribute partly to her final downfall. She is also depicted as a woman with sexual enough beauty to attract any man. Tess, thereby, is a mixture of anew woman and a stereotypical woman in male ideology.This essay analyzes the image of Tess from two aspects-her new woman image and her stereotypical female image created from a male perspective.