Tess of the D'Urbervilles is the kind of book that makes you wish you were back in one of your Brit Lit classes debating it with equally enthusiastic classmates. An erudite novel replete with Biblical, mythological and cultural references left as clues for the close reader to interpret in Thomas Hardy's exploration of whether we are defined by our actions or our intentions.

Hardy's eponymous heroine is a sixteen-year-old country girl at the story's outset, just removed from school and under the guidance of her uneducated parents who have recently discovered their noble ancestry. At their behest, she travels to the nearby estate of a wealthy relative to seek employment and a financially beneficial match. Unfortunately, the supposed relatives have in fact appropriated the family name, rather than being born into it, and the naive Tess is set upon and disgraced by the scoundrel son, Alec. Her self-assessed punishment is to run away from family and friends, working in anonymity as milkmaid on a faraway farm.

The remainder of Tess's story is a disheartening reminder that one's past cannot be left behind. She finds love, only to be scorned by a hypocritical husband guilty of her same crime (absent an out of wedlock birth). Her shiftless parents burden her for money in their ignorance regarding her impoverished life. Worst of all, she suffers the renewed advances of the irredeemable Alec.

Tess of the D'Urbervilles is a critical analysis of late 18th century England morals and manners with a healthy dose of Ecclesiastical philosophy thrown in: the repetitive nature of Tess's sad life is mere proof that there is nothing new under the sun. ( )

Such a well written and painful book. Hardy's writing is amazing, so detailed and descriptive, and he seems to describe everything! His 3 main characters are so well portrayed I felt for all of them and was sad so much of the time I was reading this book. Tess was a woman of courage who sufferered greatly, but was much more than a victim. She worked herself very hard and tried to please the love of her life as much as she possibly could. She also realized that she had a right to be treated respectfully. The ending is very logical and both very depressing and very hopeful. ( )

Angel Clare - I can't stand him, urghhh!
Angel was a whiney, pathetic, hypocritical, self-obsessed oaf from his first moody sigh to his last melodramatic tear. The only reason I'd want to see him is so I could kick him.
Angel, I hate you.
Tess, I'm sorry you loved an unredeemable man. You deserved so much better. ( )

Tess of the d'Urbervilles is one of those books where I had the nearly uncontrollable urge to hurl it violently across the room. It's one of those books that painfully reminds us how bad things were for women, and how far we still have to go with gender equality.

In an attempt to not litter this whole review with angry ranting… here is the clean synopsis:

The story follows young Tess Durbeyfield, who, after her father’s discovery that they are distantly related to the ancient and noble d’Urberville family, is sent to work for what seems to be the last d’Urbervilles, by which he means to have her ask them for financial assistance. The young Alec d’Urberville however, has licentious ulterior motives for letting Tess stay and work for them. Tragedy befalls Tess in her time there, something that changes her whole life. In an attempt to forget her terrible secret and start afresh, she leaves to work for a dairy far to the south. However she soon finds that the past tends to haunt one’s steps wherever you may go.

But here is what I really gleaned of the plot (LOTS OF SPOILERS):

Basically what happens is that Tess innocently goes to work for these “d’Urbervilles.” Alec lets Tess work for him because she’s beautiful and naïve. He hounds her every step, harasses her, comes on to her, and ignores every “no” she gives him. One night after going to a party with some of the other farm workers, she finds herself walking home alone, her drunken companions having abandoned her. Alec finds Tess alone, and under the pretense of taking her home, he instead rides around the countryside until she falls asleep. It’s then that Alec takes advantage of Tess… In the most uncouth of terms, Alec “date rapes” Tess. Realizing later what has happened, Tess goes home where she births her illegitimate child. Her family basically tells her she should’ve known better – it was her fault, she led him on. Sound familiar?

Her child, dubbed “Sorrow,” is doomed to a short life. After the child dies, Tess leaves home to work at Talbothay’s Dairy, far south from where her home is. Her intention is to start afresh, where no one knows her or her history. Vowing never to marry, because by Victorian standards she is unmarriageable – even though she was raped and had no control of what happened to her. She tries to lie low but soon becomes the love-interest of one Angel Clare. She denies his affections dozens of times, because she knows what’s happened to her. But she loves him too, and soon caves and agrees to marry him. But the entire time, she doesn’t tell him about her past – that she was raped and gave birth to a child. They get married. On the night of their marriage, Angel is feeling all truthful and confesses that once, when he was in London, he “went crazy” and had a one night stand with an unknown woman. Tess thinks this is great, because she can finally spill her secret without feeling guilty, or so she thinks. She tells him what happened, and Angel instantly rejects her. Cursing her and saying that she’s a completely different woman than the one he fell in love with – he’s ashamed of her actions, furious that she lied. And even more mad because this is the Victorian era and you can’t get a divorce because somehow that’s even worse that getting raped out of wedlock and not telling anyone.

After this confession, Angel gives Tess some money and abandons her to go try some pointless farming in Brazil. Tess quickly spends all the money, and is left nearly destitute just as winter hits. Too prideful to ask her in-laws for more money, she ends up working on a miserable turnip farm near the ocean. Some time passes, and she runs into Alec again, who is a newly professed convert and preacher. However, when Alec sees her, he just “can’t resist her.” He leaves his preaching and newfound religion, (blaming Tess’s irresistible beauty for causing him to stray from the path), to start harassing Tess again. He hounds her and hounds her for weeks and weeks, not believing that she’s married, because any good husband would be there to provide for her. (Okay, I agree with him on that point.) Finally she gives in, believing that Angel will never come back. They get hitched, and it’s only THEN that Angel gets his ass back to England to help Tess. (Okay the fact that it took months to travel from Brazil to England back then probably contributed to how long it took him, but at this point I really just wanted to punch Angel in his stupid face, the numbnut.) He finds her remarried. Tess is so furious that Alec convinced her to marry him, that she promptly runs upstairs after Angel leaves and stabs Alec. About time.

After that, Angel finally grows a pair and forgives her, realizing she’s beautiful and he loves her after all. They get a week together before Tess gets arrested and put to death for murdering Alec.

So basically, the entire book is Tess having all these hardships befall her because something happened to her that she couldn’t control. All because she was raped out of wedlock, she lives a life of misery that everyone tells her is self-imposed. And this was the point that Hardy was trying to make – is it really fair to shame a woman for something that she is not to blame for?

”Never in her life – she could swear it from the bottom of her soul – had she ever intended to do wrong; yet these hard judgments had come. Whatever her sins, they were not sins of intention, but of inadvertence, and why should she have been punished so persistently?”

The really infuriating part was that throughout most of the book, Angel proudly professes his agnosticism, (or perhaps atheism), saying that he’s better than those outdated religious ideals. Ok, then why did you immediately reject Tess without thinking?? Blaming morality and values as the reason to abandon Tess, without any consideration for how Tess is so much more than her rape. However, it is clear that soon after leaving her, Angel has the same thoughts; Hardy also litters the text with examples from the Bible of how one should value one’s wife, etc. It only infuriates me more that it took him so long to get over his pride and return to the one that he originally proclaimed to love and protect.

The craziest thing about this book, is that I really liked it, despite all that happens. It is beautifully written. Tess has an appreciation for the natural world around her that’s very eloquently expressed a multitude of times. Hardy is truly a master of imagery and vivid description. Sometimes the way he writes is so beautiful it hurts. Which is why I could forgive him for all the times that he wrote such horrible things happening to Tess.

Overall, Tess of the d’Urbervilles is an infuriating but very well-written book, with many powerful messages to share. While we have come a long way from the Victorian era in the way women are treated today, there are sadly still many things that we do which parallel that time. Blaming the victim for instance. So don't let anyone say that classical novels are irrelevant or a waste of time.
In the end, I would give Tess of the d'Urbervilles 3.5 stars. ( )

I have a great admiration for this novel. Hardy doesn’t hold back with this one; it’s edgy, it’s dark and it’s merciless. In this allegorical tale, Tess is your loveable scapegoat, the Christ-figure if you will, that evokes our inmost pity. All she innocently desires is to do the right thing, and we martyr her because we won’t compromise our "armoured" regulations. Yes, Hardy goes way over the top here, and some may criticize him as overly romantic, but considering he was working within the confines of Victorian censorship and he didn't have much choice, this novel was ground-breaking for cleverly breaking the rules.

As a feminist, I consider this novel seminal to the movement in the late 19th century, much like I consider Huckleberry Finn seminal to racial awareness of the same period. They may not sound robust enough to our modern ears, but they were amongst the ideas that got the gears turning in the first place. ( )