IndexIntroductionThomas Hardy and his WritingsTess of the D'UrbervillesConclusionIntroductionIf one word could come close to characterizing the entire Victorian era it would most certainly be a change . In all aspects and areas, from industrialization to scientific discoveries, the period is synonymous with development and rebirth. But greatness cannot be achieved completely and the proof lies in the inequality that development has brought with it. This change also had an impact on the authors of the time for whom the literature they offered to the public began to have a meaning different from the usual one. Literature was given the mission of supporting the change that people wanted to see in society. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on 'Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned'? Get an original essayThe period represented for many authors the source of inspiration for their writings perhaps due to the condition of the individual in that particular period, which depended entirely on society and its development. Some of them managed to foreground society and its influence on the inhabitants of the Victorian Empire and at the same time their thoughts, feelings or perspectives towards the era. Thomas Hardy was one of the first novelists of the Victorian era to lay the foundations of the realistic way of writing in English literature, through his novels, especially Tess of the D'urbervilles. His style has remained unique throughout this time thanks to the intense use of emotions that he made his characters experience and his highly pessimistic visions of the society that he did not hesitate to represent through his writings. Thomas Hardy and his writings The village in which he lived was born in the year 1840, in the county of Dorset, had provided him with all the inspiration needed for his fiction and poetry, the writer himself became a reflection of the small village and identified himself and his work with it as the characters of his novels closely explore the invisible sides of the village. Similar to Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy was no stranger to the way Victorian life was rewarding for a few and hardly tolerated by many of its citizens. Those belonging to the lower social classes were condemned to endure the low standards of living that the industrial cities offered them as a reward for their long hours of work in the factories that were supposed to ensure England's prosperity. He comes to recognize the difficulties of city life through his architectural apprenticeship which he is undertaking in London and which he will soon abandon for the career that lies ahead after the success of his serialized novel published in the newspaper. “Thomas Hardy is one of those sensitive writers , reflective and expressive of the scale of change his era was undergoing. Inhabiting the past and present as well as the rural and urban worlds, it hovered on the fringes of each, aware that it was not fully a member of one or the other.” The novel is the first through which Hardy presents Wessex to the public, receiving praise and appreciation. admiration for the agricultural environment and the refined blend of tragic, comic and pastoral elements within it. Through the realistic way in which he was able to describe life in Victorian England, covering it with his opinions on events that rarely lent themselves to criticism, Thomas Hardy manages to break through the rigid walls of Victorian literature, bringing a new perspective towards the era and even more towards the writing style. His characters are never superficial, never simple, always portrayed as experiencing their primeof their emotions, whether those in question rely on the tragic or comic category. The events they face are always the ones for which they are held responsible for their emotional state or for their imminent actions which are a reflection of their deep and intense feelings towards the events or the society in which they are inserted. Hardy also manages to give a realistic touch to his poetry, his poems range from lyric to ballad and also go as far as dramatic monologue is concerned, experimenting with different styles and forms of verses. Their subjects are as varied as his experiments with styles that foreground war, as in The Dynasts which brings an epic drama of war with Napoleon. The poem written in blank verse portrays the writer's vision of the universe as a place governed by unconscious forces which in Hardy's perspective are called Immanent Will. The death of his wife Emma influences Hardy to search for other subjects for his poems which now reflect the remorse and remorse the author is experiencing through this tragedy, the collection bears names such as After a Journey and The Voice. This period of Thomas Hardy's life is also considered by critics to be the pinnacle of his poetic achievement, the death of his wife leads the author to explore the different feelings he manages to portray through his poems. Tomalin (2007) states that “the moment when Thomas Hardy became a great poet” is linked to Emma's death, going so far as to mention that some of the “finest and strangest celebrations of the dead in English poetry” are depicted from poems praising his wife's death. Hardy's career in fiction came to an end with the publication of his next two novels Tess of the d'Urbervilles in 1891 and Jude, the Obscure in 1895, both of which represent some of the writer's best novels. Although different in style, both novels foreground different aspects of the lives of the same individuals in working-class England during the Victorian era. Although the biggest difference is made through the main character of both novels, the two, Tess and Jude, belonging to different genders and with their own personalities and characters that influence the development of the story, are also brought to light through the character of Tess, the sexual mores of society that are continually questioned through the events that are shaping Tess's destiny and through the character of Jude, the stonemason, criticism of the education system and the institution of marriage judging by the relationship that has with Sue. Both characters are strong reflections on the writer's critical views towards Victorian society, on the way in which the poor are treated by the rich and on how their condition turns out to be the determining factor of their destinies as he himself had witnessed since his childhood. “As he grew up he observed many further gradations in village life and realized how safe and secure his home was and how privileged his upbringing was. There were real difficulties among the working families in the surrounding area, which sometimes led to dark scenes and tragedies." Some of the main taboo topics of the time, sex and femininity, seem to have been thoroughly explored by the writer, even more so during the development of Tess' story, the female figure put in the foreground to emphasize the role of a black destiny in a hostile environment. At the same time, the author ensures that the audience fully understands the purpose of the novel, which is to describe through Tess' fate not just an individual fate but rather to predict the potential fate of all women similar to her who lived in that particular period. ,Tess being an exponent of the female category dominated by males in Victorian society. What Hardy tries to project through his work is a challenge to all morals and norms of the century, particularly in England. The challenge lies not in the density of the written text or the complexity of the story, but in the complex way in which the protagonist is constructed and revealed to the audience, her feelings and her attitude towards the character.how she should appear before others which cannot be classified as belonging to the moral conduct of the time. Reading the last two of his novels, but more specifically Tess of the d'Urbervilles, one realizes the dual role that the narrator plays by being at the same time defender of Tess's actions and defender of her behavior, because she is his creation, but also moving on to the category to which it belongs, the Victorian men for whom the heroine's decisions and her behavior are responsible for her disappearance and, ultimately, her death. Tess of the d'Urbervilles Tess of the d'Urbervilles was born between the pages of a newspaper and had to submit to the commercial rules of suspense which The author's dismay increased the density of the written text. Despite her popularity, Tess's story brought with it numerous critical opinions that labeled the heroine as immoral, wild or sly, a misfit in a world where woman was supposed to be an angel, completely alien to tormenting passions. The development of the action remains quite simple but the souls of the characters go beyond the contours of the biography, vigorously shaken by every unwelcome event that threatens their existence or their happiness. The beginning of the novel is at the same time the moment that leads to the development of the action and is also symbolic for the period in which the action takes place, when the name one bore was decisive of one's position in society and one's destiny . The discussion between the novel's heroine and her brother Abraham regarding the stars seen as different worlds further underlines the position that the Durbeyfields occupy in society and the impossibility of transcending that condition on their own. one ruined - One ruined. - It's really unfortunate that we didn't pick a good one when there were so many more. "Completely aware of how the Victorian world designates its winners and losers, when he finds out from a priest who may be a descendant of a noble family of lords and without being certain of the veracity of the priest's words, Tess Durbeyfield's father becomes sets out on further research with the aim of finding the truth. He sends Tess to Mrs. d'Urbervilles who is believed to be related to them with the aim of securing Tess's future with the inheritance that the family is thought to leave to her daughter. In reality the d'Urbervilles are not related to the Durbeyfield family at all and their name is as true as the position they acquired in society. When he retired, Simon Stoke, or the alleged Mr. d'Urbervilles, changed his surname to that current along with their improved status, effortlessly climbing the social ladder The portrait of Tess' supposed family along with their son, Alec, represents the introduction to Victorian society and how it works. It depicts a two-sided world in which money represents the means through which you can buy everything when you have the right amount of it. She is the ruler of the world, the holder of power and advantages and also has such strength that she can falsify identities and positions. Although not related in any way to Tess and determined to maintain her own respectable image in society, Mrs. D'Urbervilles offers Tess the job of looking after her chicken collection. Theredepiction of Tess tending animals highlights Hardy's concern with Charles Darwin's recently recognized theory that men were no longer superior to animals but one of their descendants. Furthermore he expresses fear for the consequences of this theory by describing the birds and their behavior as owners of the house which lead to the acceptance of the reduced status of the human being. “The lower rooms were entirely entrusted to the birds, who circled around them with proprietary air, as if the place had been built by themselves, and not by certain dusty copiers who now lay east and west in the churchyard... The rooms where dozens of children had cried at their suckling now resounded with the drumming of chicks nascent. The distracted hens in the stables occupied the places where previously there were chairs that supported the calm farmers. The fireplace corner where the chickens laid their eggs; while in the open air the plots which each successive householder had carefully laid out with his spade were torn to pieces by the cocks in the most savage manner.” At the same time, the task that Tess is given in the d'Urberville house is symbolic for her position which currently occupies the last rung of the social ladder in society, having to deal with the will and desires of the luckiest people. Here Tess has her first encounter with the vile things the human soul is capable of in the form of the family's son, Alec. From the beginning Alec asserts his dominant position over Tess's mind and feelings and at the same time manipulates the girl into falling into his trap following the pattern of seduction and betrayal. The young girl is not at all aware of the sexuality she embodies in Alec's eyes, being completely unaware of the meaning behind the boy's behavior. In this sense Alec is the one who initiates Tess into her erotic side, stimulating her instinctive behavior in her favor. Aside from her seductive behavior which stuns and destroys any judgment or will of the heroine, Tess is pushed into the arms of the d'Urbervilles by her own parents who are also bewitched by the wealth of the boy's family and by the way whose situation will be improved by the marriage between the two. The relationship between Alec and Tess inevitably takes into account the treatment of women and the image of women in society which is a recurring theme in Victorian literature. Despite what Tess's parents are led to believe about him, Alec shares the views of the society in which he lives, having no consideration for the woman's will or feelings and simply seeking to satisfy her desires“He considers satisfying his sexual need his privilege as a male member of the upper class. Alec – almost a stereotypical villain with a pointed black mustache – creates a game of seducing women... Instead of conceiving women as powerful equals, Alec uses women's sexuality to dominate them. he feels that it rightfully belongs to him. In his game of seduction he enjoys stimulating her sexuality, but he also uses his wealth and power, rarely mentioning his family and their condition which she should improve, to manipulate her and make her surrender to his will. “I have enough and more than enough to worry about, both for you and for your parents and sisters. I can put them all at ease if you will only show trust in me.” This reduced status of the human also turns out to be the very essence of Alec's behavior towards Tess and finally when he attacks her in the woods without showing mercy for the poor girl as a predator who has spent too much time hunting his prey and now enjoys the victory. Even if the nature of the actis vaguely hinted at since we are not told whether the event that is happening in the woods was consensual or the result of Alec's pressure on Tess, the heroine of Hardy's novel is depicted as almost absent during all the tragedies she is going through, giving the impression that he lets his life and actions be decided by fate, having no personal will, in Alec's presence, to change the course of his destiny. Another element that can be taken as a reference for the way of thinking of Victorian Britain is represented by the idea that there was no superior force that could be found to control the life and actions of human beings. The existence of God has been denied by many since Charles Darwin introduced his theory of survival of the fittest, so people were free to impose their will on anyone without fear of being punished by spiritual forces. This view is especially emphasized in the scene of Tess's assault in the woods which Hardy describes as a brutal act that was stopped by no one, not even the higher celestial forces whose existence was previously denied. he was Tess's guardian angel where was the providence of her simple faith. Perhaps like that other god of whom the ironic Tishbita spoke, he was speaking, or he was chasing, or he was traveling, or he was sleeping and did not want to be woken up.” Alec's actions not only have repercussions on Tess, whether we are taking into account the physical or mental abuse he inflicted on her, but also the image of the heroine in the society in which she is inserted. As a pure, uncontaminated and unsuspecting young girl, her image is distorted and places her in the least pleasant category a woman could ever find herself in, in the eyes of society. Now she is considered a woman who enjoys her sexuality and who has abandoned herself to tormenting passions that consider her an outcast from society, taking into account the morality of the time. Furthermore, Alec's assault has not only left her with a tainted image that gives her the symbolic title of a fallen woman, who is not worthy of being respected but rather condemned for her vicious ways, but which has also given her a son. The little girl represents proof of the sin that Tess has committed and is at the same time a constant reminder of the way in which she allowed herself to be manipulated by Alec's ways. Tess herself realizes the dominion that Alec has over her body and mind and, ultimately, his real intentions for which he began to stalk her. “'If you wish,' she replied indifferently, 'See how you have dominated me! She then turned and raised her face to his, and stood like a stone while he pressed a kiss to her cheek. referring to it as the end of the first phase, the maiden Tess is unaware of the evil forces of the world that possessed the people. The beginning of the second phase describes Tess as a woman who has now experienced the cruelty of humans, human nature and instincts that control their actions and attitudes. Although a victim of Alec's game, the one responsible for her downfall is Tess herself, both from the point of view of society and that of her own family. This attitude is a reflection of the morality of the time which in such cases could not hold the male guilty, but rather the woman, who, by violating the imposed rules of conduct, put herself in the position of suffering the foreseen consequences by tempting others. . Her mother is unhappy with Tess' behavior and holds her responsible for her own embarrassment and suffering even though the girl was completely unaware of what the end of her search might be. She tells Tess that "you should have been more careful if I wasn't going to get him to make you his wife" worrying more about her daughter's lost chance of becomingpart of the aristocracy and to help his family improve their lives than of his well-being and the ordeal he had to undergo demonstrating once again the lack of true feelings in a world dominated by those who possess more. The test of the tragedy, the son who will have to grow up as a single mother, represents for Tess the sign of her transformation but is at the same time the element that pushes the heroine towards adulthood and the responsibilities that are involved. Although she rarely shows affection for the little creature, she is convinced of the guilt he carries for his birth, rather than her own, thinking that they should both have died rather than have to experience the embarrassment. He accepts the consequences he must endure for his cardinal sin, even though he had no role in Alec's game other than that of the puppet, lured and manipulated into committing the sin. Unfortunately, the baby doesn't get to live to be a toddler. perpetual memory of that cursed night and dies shortly after birth, falling ill. His death does not represent so much a reason for sadness for Tess, but rather the place where the little one's soul will rest, as a consequence of the fact of being an illegitimate, unbaptized child and she decides to hastily baptize him by giving him a name. suited to the sense of guilt he will have to live with, Pain. “He thought of the child delivered to the deepest corner of hell, as of his double condemnation for lack of baptism and lack of legitimacy; he saw the archdevil throw his three-pronged pitchfork at him… to which image he added many other picturesque and curious details of the torment which the young were sometimes taught in this Christian country.” Tess's concern once again shows the purity of her soul and her belief in Christian penance for sin vigorously maintained in the Victorian era. By placing it in opposition to the moment in which the young girl is raped in the woods, one can easily observe the contradiction between the denial of a providential force and the acceptance of its existence. This contradiction further underlines the views of the time regarding Christianity and Christian values ​​which had been visibly shaken and questioned after Darwin's theory of evolution. After the loss of her son, who did not cry because of his importance to her life, Tess takes the opportunity to distance herself from all the unfortunate experiences she had in her home village and start over in a different place where she could not be recognized nor condemned for its previous errors. Unfortunately the girl will have to learn the hard way that once you have been assigned a certain task or have made a certain image of yourself in the eyes of society, there is no possible way to overcome that position, to change your destiny, it doesn't matter what ways you're trying to do it. The blind forces that maneuver the thread of people's lives are the same ones that dictate Tess's destiny from the beginning of her life, demonstrating to her that one cannot rebel against destiny and what it has prepared for him, even more so in a governed society. from men where she is on the other side of the fence. It is also one of the beliefs of Victorian society that everyone's fate is decided from the beginning and that any attempt to change it proves futile, especially if the person in question is trying to change beliefs and perspectives inherited from the ancestors. In the dairy where she manages to find work as a milkmaid she meets Angel Clare, the same man she had seen at the fair as a girl but had not managed to get to know him better, a fact that proves once again that destiny has its plan with Tess's life . The man is the son of Reverend Clare and comes from a very respected family,therefore Tess feels obliged to hide from him the condition she has been forced to live in since she lost her virginity. Fearful of what the man she sees as her chance to redeem herself and her image, she chooses not to mention to Angel the suffering her attacker caused her or the loss of her son. Angel happens to be planning their wedding. completely unaware of the important information Tess failed to share with him. The sense of guilt and remorse that torment her, even now that she is happily moving towards the life she had wanted with Angel, are the result of the patriarchal Victorian society to which the heroine must submit, regardless of her will and feelings. A society with double standards that victimizes women and treats them differently from men, denying them the right to defend themselves from male domination. Regardless of the severity of their actions, men are always given the benefit of the doubt while women are constantly looked down upon, being chastised for their conduct deemed inappropriate and immoral. The author himself is aware of how society's standards are set differently for the male and female side and highlights the beliefs of the patriarchal society by attributing its origin to the religion and doctrine that Christianity preaches to its followers. in Christianity to find out." Angel shares the beliefs of the society in which he lives in considering himself superior to Tess who he wants to marry or rather inflict his dominance on, Tess finding herself once again dominated by a man who seeks to show his superiority, rather than taking part in a relationship in which both are the same. Throughout their encounters, until discovering the girl's true nature, Angel considers her pure, pristine, virginal, rarely referring to her as "angel" and other divine entities, going so far as to further demonstrate Victorian beliefs in the two categories in which they could women return: the angel of the house and the whore, labels given by the male category. When she discovers the girl's past, she is automatically taken down from the pedestal she was previously placed on, and falls into the latter category in Angel's eyes. Unfortunately he does not live up to the meaning of his name, especially after discovering the true condition of his lover and causes her suffering, rejecting that part of her that deems her unworthy of his love, respect and attention but above all of the society that would condemn for marrying such a woman. Feeling unworthy of his affection, Tess accepts the harsh test that Angel will subject her to by abandoning her, once again falling into the position of the slave dominated by her ruthless master. “I accept the conditions, Angel; because you know best what my punishment should be; just - just - don't make it more than I can handle!” Full of prejudices and with opinions regarding women and their moral conduct that has been given to him by respectable society, Angel makes Tess relive all the ordeal of abandonment that she had feared since the beginning of their relationship. As he distances himself from Tess and the memory of her plight, the abandoned young girl meets the new bishop in the form of Alec who is far from repenting of his sins despite his newfound position. At the sight of his former prey, Alec is ready to give up his honorific title to win the girl's trust and attention for the second time but above all to have fun chasing her and manipulating her again into oblivious obedience. Tess bravely resists his efforts having not forgotten, not once, how he got rid of her after satisfying his ego. I am bitter and black about..