A Jurisprudential Study Of Tess Of The D’Urbervilles

The author of the thesis tries to analyze Tess of the d’Urbervilles, one of themost famous tragedies of Thomas Hardy, from legal perspective. With theapplication of interdisciplinary critical approach, the present paper purports toexplore the causes of Tess’s tragedy by arguing that besides character flaws, doublemoral standards and tragic fatalism, Tess’s tragedy is also a result of problemsinherent in Victorian legal system.Structurally, this thesis is composed of three chapters in addition to theIntroduction and Conclusion. In the introductory part,“literature and law” Trend andthe comparative study between them are emphasized; And Hardy’s relation to lawwhich is the most important background information is well explained; In addition,researches from home and abroad are presented in order to show the various aspectscritics have been focusing on Hardy and his novels. Chapter One gives a legalanalysis of two relevant legal phenomena appeared in two different versions of thenovel, which are sham marriage in Graphic serial version and Alec’s rape on Tess inbook version. In order to make the novel accepted by publishers, Hardy is obliged tomake some changes on the original one and sham marriage is the altered plot for rapescene. The analysis of the sham marriage will show how civil marriage becomes anaccomplice of Alec by providing him with a convenient set of rules and practices tofake a marriage. As for the nature of Alec’s sexual assault upon Tess in the bookversion, the author tries to define it as rape according to Rape law and in the lastsegment of this chapter, the author gives explanations why Alec doesn’t be sued.Chapter two mainly focuses on the legal phenomena revealed in Tess’s marriage withAngel. Hardy has great sympathy for deserted women and Tess is one of his desertedheroines, but this deserted wife cannot get financial support from her husband under1886statute because of her two false actions: agreement to the separation andadultery with Alec. And in Chapter three, with the help of some relevant legal rules, Tess’s death penalty for killing Alec is elaborately analyzed and through the analysis,the author points out that the ruling given by Victorian court to Tess is unfair andfails to meet the golden legal rule—“punishment fits the crime”. Moreover, thelegitimacy of Angel’s possible marriage with Liza Lu will also be discussed in thischapter. By denying the possibility of Angel’s marriage to Tess’s sister within the law,the author states that the cruel law not only robs away Tess’s life but also makes herlast wish become impossible.The thesis is a new attempt of interdisciplinary research. It tries to makereaders further understand the nature of events in the novel as well as a correct imageof the character, graspe the theme of the novel, and accurately understand the writer’screation idea.