Literary Analysis: Tess of the D’Uberviless

The narrative is developed by acts that end up in a kind of catharsis, when Tess dies in the Stonehenge. The tragic aspect is built up by the religious beliefs of that society, while social class is directed related to fate. The fate of a social position – the result of the status quo – is reinforced by the protestant doctrine of election, in which the one’s beginning and future is determined by the Deity before one’s existence. This Calvinist thought has a strong effect over Tess. Although she is part of a peasant community and is in the middle of pagan-like acts, this predestination affects Tess, making her believe in her sinful existence.

  In Tess of the D’Uberviless, Hardy exposes structures of the woman’s role through the religious’ laws and beliefs of that period. Tess, raped and tainted by a sin she did not commit, has troubled relationships with Alec, who raped her, and Angel, who has doubts about religious doctrines.

Although Tess herself did not commit a sin in the beginning, being raped established the position she would have to take in society, both social and religious. Neither Alec nor Angel are judge by their communities, mainly because of a patriarchal aspect of protestant society; in which, according to Larson (2004) is part of a denial of Armenians and the defense of the idealistic men, the Manly Christian,  which includes the domination of women by men and their obedience. We see it clearer in some facts, i.e., Angel had had an affair with an older woman, but he is not judge by that, however, in Tess’s case, she is judge and even impure, which makes her to accept Angel’s rejection. Tess is not only part of rule in gender, but also part of a lower social class. Ingham (2003) argues that the gravity of female criminality was usually seen to involve what were called ‘crimes of morality’ and was measured by the failure of working-class women to live up to the middle-class model. In the rape, the entire fault relies upon Tess, who cannot be forgiven and need to accept her fate.

When Tess meets Alec again, the narrative exposes the injustice role of women, a gender that cannot be forgiven; the justice relies on a pragmatic scheme of purification, as Tess says, a scheme of religion. Alec is now a Methodist[1], receiving the fruits of the Spirit, which Tess finds a scheme of lies; while he is now a saint, she is still impure.

References

INGHAM, Patricia. The interlocked code of class and gender. In: ____. The language of gender and class: transformations in the Victorian novel. London: Routledge, 2003.

LARSON, Janet L. Skeptical Women v. Honest Men v. Good Old Boys: Gender  Conflict in the High Victorian Religion Wars. In: NIXON, Jude V. Victorian religious discourse. England: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.

---

[1] Here there may be an opposition between Calvinist ethics against the new role of Armenian’s doctrine. Methodism’s doctrines denies predestination which make one’s free will possible, something that Tess denies and seems to be part of the tragic aspect of the novel.