Preview

Critical Analysis of Thomas Hardy’s Novel Tess of the D’urbervilles.

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1171 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Critical Analysis of Thomas Hardy’s Novel Tess of the D’urbervilles.
Critical analysis of Thomas Hardy’s novel Tess of the D’Urbervilles.

Thomas Hardy is on of the brightest representatives of English realism at the end of 19th and the beginning of 20th century. At that time, a new stage in the development of the English literature began, characterized with the conflict between the supporters of realism and the new modernist artistic directions.
He learned from his predecessors to raise important and interesting problems, to tell interesting stories , to portray interesting characters and to describe the environment. Hardy is defined as classic of English literature as well as regional novelist, master of personalities and circumstances, the first real artist of Nature and human nature. The general features of his novels are pessimism, tragedy and fatalism . These characteristics also define Hardy as the first creator of tragic novels in the English literature . The roots of this worldview go back in to his homeland full with remains of ancient times and also in his inability to understand the social changes occurring in England. The disappointment of the village atheist from the big city, regarded by him as the source and symbol of evil, disintegration of the patriarchal peasant family, which he idealizes as a symbol of strong morality and real moral virtues becomes central theme in his novels . That is fully represented in Tess of the d’Ubervilles. The novel belongs to the group of novels called for character and circumstances. It can be defined as social, because it is placed in a specific social context, but it can also be defined as moral and psychological. It is like a monograph of a personality but it is also a monograph of a period as well.
A tragic story stands in the center of the novel and that is the story of the main female character Tess Durbeyfield and her life filled with plenty of unusual and exciting meetings, adventures and misadventures.
The novel is divided in several parts , called phases .

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In the excerpt Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy presents diction and imagery in order to showcase the life that Tess leads, ultimately illustrating the mysterious and weird things that are happening in Tess’s life and at the farm where she lives. The excerpt begins by showcasing how giddy and happy Tess is at the farm. The narration allows the reader to understand the emotions and feelings of Tess as she descends the Egdon slopes. “In good heart, and full of zest for life, descend the Egdon slopes”.…

    • 346 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    She is the Hero of this novel. As the narrator and the protagonist she eventually develops a more mature point of view and learns how to see in other people’s perspective. She also learns to appreciate the goodness in people.…

    • 922 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Born at Midnight Summary

    • 475 Words
    • 2 Pages

    trouble accepting who she is and throughout the novel tries finding who she is as well as what…

    • 475 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    What becomes apparent from researching Thomas Hardy's life is the multitude of experiences and influences that may have had some bearing on how he wrote and the content of these works. Obviously, his early life in Dorset and the bearing upon which this had on his early works is apparent through vivid descriptions and the recounting of certain episodes - so much so that it is impossible to ignore the inspiration that he derived from his birthplace. For example, the portrayal of the heath in 'The Return Of The Native' is the work of a man clearly saturated by his environment.…

    • 536 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The major story line behind Tess of the d’Urbervilles is the tragic life of Tess. Because she accidentally kills Prince, the family Horse, she must help her family make money (TD 22-24). This leads to her meeting an Alec d’Urberville (TD 28) who ends up raping her and impregnating her (TD 58 and Phase 2). Because of this, later on in life when she meets the man of her dreams, she is viewed as being impure and ghastly (TD 181-183). Her life is miserable and she faces much self-loathing. Because of all of these misfortunes, Tess undergoes exposure to the psychology of guilt.…

    • 975 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Fiction Essay Engl 102

    • 1077 Words
    • 3 Pages

    1. Throughout the story Miss Brill is perceived as a woman who is content with her life but as the story hits a crucial point she devolves into a very lonely and depressed old woman, when her distorted reality is revealed to herself.…

    • 1077 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In a world where victimization exists, any man or woman who find themselves to be a victim should instead consider themselves a survivor. All human beings have the ability to define their own lives, but a problem arises when an individual loses the strength to decline someone else’s definition of their life. For emerging individuals in society, it is essential to understand that, “[a] victim mind-set causes people to focus on what they cannot do instead of what they can do. It is a recipe for continued failure” (Maxwell). Tess Durbeyfield, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy, and Edna Pontellier, in The Awakening by Kate Chopin, develop a victim mind-set and shape themselves around inadequate men more deeply than Dominique Francon, in The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand.…

    • 880 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tess is presented as a member of a poor agricultural family. Despite her modest background, Tess is portrayed as anything but ‘simple’. Instead, Hardy presents her as a young, hugely diverse women through a series of paradoxical contradictions. The tragic trajectory of the novel is evident from the introduction of Tess as a victim of her social circumstances and gender.…

    • 860 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In the first phase, Hardy not only uncovers Tess’ homeland of ‘Marlott’ in his descriptions of the setting, but also uncovers Tess’ true nature through the use of a metaphor. ‘Marlott’ is “for the most part untrodden as yet by tourists... though within a four hours’ journey from London”, just as Tess is on the cuspe of womanhood with “phases of her (innocent and vulnerable) childhood (lurking amongst)... all her bouncing womanliness.” This makes a connection between the idea of a child’s naivety being like an unspoilt countryside, whilst a development of sexuality is like a corrupted and polluted, urban city. Furthermore, this demonstrates Hardy’s detestation of urbanisation due to the corruption he believes it to breed in people and may even be considered an omen of the educated and urbanized man, Alec, who will go on to take Tess’ virginity, which was considered in the Victorian era to be the essence of her innocence. The metaphor continues: “ best...viewing...(is)from the summits of the hills...except... during the droughts of summer (or) in bad weather (as it) is apt to engender dissatisfaction” just as a journey…

    • 1415 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    If I Stay Characters

    • 1162 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The major character of this book is Mia Hall. She is 17 years old and has a love for music. She plays the cello and that is one of her favorite hobbies. She loves her family, boyfriend, and bestfriend and they all love her back. She is very quiet and likes to be keep to herself most of the time. Mia has medium length, reddish/brown hair and is average height. She also has a very casual style. She has lots of love for her boyfriend, Adam Wilde, but at the end of the book she starts to lose the feeling she used to have with him. Mia is the narrator of the story and she is the one that took place in the main event of the story. She is a very passionate girl.…

    • 1162 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lily is the main character in the book who goes through a series of changes. Lily accidentally shoots her mother and kills her when she is little, but her memories are fuzzy as she was so little when it happened. She seeks answers to her mother’s death and is compelled to leave her father’s home. Lily runs away and moves into the home of the Boatwright sisters, who are a family of black women. Here she learns…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Lottery Essay

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The plot of this story was surprising and unexpected at the same time. In the beginning, the scene is described as: “Clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day.” Ironically, this makes the reader think this is going to be a positive story. Later, we shockingly find out that: “Someone’s life is going to be over.” This clearly tells us that someone is going to die in this story. Finally, in the end Tessie screams: “It’s not fair, it isn’t right!” Lastly, the story ends and we then know that Tessie has been killed. These three significant changes that transpire during the plot make it a more compelling story.…

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In addressing the issues faced by women in the poem ‘The Ruined Maid’, I must consider the conditions of women in Victorian society and more specifically, how the writer has represented them. The presentation of Hardy’s female characters, especially the fallen women, is rather sympathetic. Critic Geoffrey Harvey argues that Hardy’s ‘intelligent and sympathetic portrayal of women is informed by his perception of the inextricable entanglement of gender and class issues’, which means that he observes how women’s rights were restricted and sometimes denied at that time.…

    • 1605 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Industrialisation became a growing presence amongst the Victorian Era and had an elusive yet undeniable impact on the population. Within the novel Tess Of The d’Urbervilles and in particular phase the fourth, Industrialisation is heavily focused on and explored. However Hardy establishes a balanced and ambivalent viewpoint towards the implications and presence of Industry as there is evidence to suggest both positive and negative aspects to its advancement. This therefore demonstrates that Hardy, especially through his effective use of binary oppositions offers a complex view which evokes a variety of Interpretations.…

    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In the novel Jude the Obscure there are some controversial issues of that time period are being displayed. The first of which is masculinity and how that applied to certain people of different classes and genders. The masculinity of men in that time period was defined by several things, namely, a man’s control of the house hold, and the ability to think and act rationally rather than emotionally. Jude’s character gets dissected in this book and we really get a glimpse into his thought process and mind, and throughout the book Jude behaves in such a way that makes us wonder that would he have acted more like a “man”, the events in his life might have led to a happier ending for him.…

    • 1450 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays

Related Topics