苔丝的性格分析悲剧成因

To Analyse Tess’s Tradegy in< Tess of The D’Urbervilles > From the Character of Tess1.Introduction1.1 Introduction to Thomas HardyThomas Hardy(1840-1928), was an English novelist and poet, born near Dorchester, and one of the greatest English writers of the 19th century.The son of a stonemason, he could not afford to pursue a scholarly career as he wished and was apprenticed to John Hicks, a local church architect. He continued, however, to study the Greek and Latin classics.Despite his employment, Hardy was writing continually during this period of his life.Such early novels as “Desperate Remedies”(1871)and “A Pair of Blue Eyes”(1873) met with small success and may be considered formative works. After the appearance of Far From the Madding Crowd(1874), popular as well as critical acclaim enabled him to devote himself exclusively to writing. His success also made marriage feasible, and in 1874 he married Emma Lavinia Gifford.Over the next 22 years Hardy wrote many novels, including those he referred to as “romances and fantasies”-most of which were first serialized in popular magazines. His major works are “The Return of the Native” (1878), “The Mayor of Casterbridge”(1886), “Tess of the D’Urbervilles” (1891), and“Jude the Obscure” (1896), the latter two considered masterpieces. Hardy’s novels are all set against the bleak and forbidding Dorset landscape (referred to as Wessex in the novels), whose physical harshness echoes that of an indifferent, if not malevolent,universe. The author’s characters, who are for the most part of the poorer rural classes, are sympathetically and often humorously portrayed. Their lives are ruled not only by nature but also by rigid Victorian social conventions. Hardy’s style is accordingly rough hewn, sometimes awkward, but always commanding and intense.1.2 Introduction to Tess of the D’Urbervilles1.2.1 Background of the NovelThis story happened in the late of Britain’s Victorian era, in this time, Capitalist class controlled all of the rights, and the law was serviced for them. Farmers were at the bottom of the society, they had never equal rights as the capitalist class. Tess as a woman in the Victorian era, she cannot avoid the “Hegemony”father right consciousness to “woman” nature understanding and severe social etiquette. And the patriarchal social system made women lost their independent status. By the Capitalist invasion, those Self-reliant farmers who had a small amount of land and the means of production had followed the insolvency. Female beauty not only regarded as the“Troubles” but also become an excuse for men to shirk their crime; The male requests feminine to be loyal and the bodily pure and chaste, actually disregarded own indulging. But under male power suppression, feminine thought pattern also was controlled solidly by this kind of strong trend which was even melting.1.2.2 Introduction to Tess of thed’UrbervillesAs is known to all, “Tess of the D’Urbervilles”is the most famous novel of Thomas Hardy. Focusing on the tragic experience of its heroine Tess, the plot of story begins. Tess comes from a farmer’s family, the Durbeyfields. She has lived a poor but peaceful life. However, God, “The President of the Immoral” begins to play a cr uel joke on this innocent girl. One day her father, John Durbeyfied learns that they are descended from the D’Urbervill es, an ancient family once renowned in England. Tess’s parents are in an ecstasy of delight over the news. Her mother urges Tess to claim kinship wi th the remaining D’Urbervilles,so that Tess could marry a gentleman. Unwillingly, the girl comes in contact with the Stoke, D’Urbervilles. There she meets Alec D’Urbervilles, who shows off the estate and always seduces her. Having received a job of tending to chickens, T ess stays in the D’Urbe rvilles. Her tragic life has just begun. Before long the rich and guileful Alec manages to seduce the girl and make her pregnant. Being humiliated and resolute, Tess returns home. Despite the rumors all around, she gives birth to a child, who is called Sorrow but dies soon because of grave illness. For several weeks, Tess is overwhelmed by grief and sorrow. Nevertheless, without financial support, Tess has to leave home and goes to work as a dairymaid at a distant farm, where she meets Angel Claire. They have met each other before, and Tess has made a favorable impression on Angel. After Angel persistent pursuit of Tess, the two fall in love and become engaged. Then comes the wedding night, too honest to keep any secret, Tess admits about Al ec D’Urbervilles and the child. She begs for forgiveness, but Angel leaves her in disgust. Tess again returns home alone, only find that her family remains impoverished and she even has no place to stay.In the meantime, Alec D’Urbervilles,the evil person appears again. He takes advantage of the Durbeyfields’ pover ty and continues to tempt Tess. He promises to support her family, only as a means to make Tess dependent.At the end of hope, the girl jumps into the trap of the shameless man. However, the tragedy has not finished yet. Angel Claire, who is remorseful for his mercilessness, comes back, but to find the cruel reality. And his arrival makes Tess even more desperate. After Angel leaves, she stabs Alec in the heart and kills him. Then she follows Angel and escape with him. They manage to hide for a while in a wood before they come to Stonehenge, where she is arrested. She is hanged later. The turn of events and the moment of catharsis prove that the novel is a classic Aristotelian tragedy.2. Analysis of the two important men around Tess-Alec and ClareIn this novel to male leading character’s description has reflected at that time thecapitalist society darkness and false capitalism morals view. Alec is the emerging bourgeoisie’s representatives; he is representing the bourgeois society’s authority, the wealth and the evil, Tess’s tragic life reason to him.His father is a rich merchant, but after crown by aristocrat D’Urbervilles surname. This young man lay on his father’s money and power dominates the native place. When he meets Tess, the dissolute lascivious countenance is completely unmasked; he supposes the snare that destroyed young girl’s pure and chaste and the life happiness. Harms others to benefit him, resorts to all means to satisfy own absurd fleshly desires, and not only displayed the countryside landlord class’s essential characteristic, but also manifested the property realistic characteristic. Although afterwards he changed in old pastor Clare help next evilly reforms, however, several dozens years abuse eradicates by no means. When he meets Tess again,has temptations regeneration. In order to control Tess, Alec even uses the money and the power and influence strength. It can be said, Tess’s life is the violence victim which the Alec thunder represents.If someone say Alec representative’s evil force is the direct reason to cause Tess’s tragedy, then the traditional ethics morality survives on Angel Clare devastates to Tess is one kind invisible, the more fearful spirit injures. Angel Clare is a complex artistic image. On his body, not only has the certain enlightened thought, but also is retaining the traditional moral prejudice. Although he born in a pastor family, not willing to be a pastor “serves for God”, he is willing to work at farm, “serves for the humanity”. He despises the class prejudice and the rank idea, tires of abandons the metropolis lively life, he wants to go the country to do the arduous physical labor as those farmers, tries hard to grasp each kind of class the agricultural technology. In nature bosom, he feels the village life is simple and fresh when he stays with the innocent peasant family young girls. In treats feminine and in the love question, he mild-mannered and cultivated, serious and earnest, pay more attention on emotion, all of these are different with Alec. This explanations he was the Bourgeois intellectuals who has the free thought at that time, but he departs from to this social class also is extremely limited, He will be engaged in the agricultural production the goal is for later to be a large landed estate. He contacts with Tess has not always abandoned the traditional ideas the fetter. He not only as soon as starts to recognize Tess could be a good steward in the future, the most important is he love Tess not like her to love his such selfless and sincere. In his eyes, Tess is “nature’s new born daughter”, however, once she confessed the insult to him which receives, then on his body preserves the inherent morals have strangled in his heart the real sentiment. Although he also have had the profligate behavior, and obtained Tess’s forgiving, but actually is not willing to forgive originally innocent Tess. This indicated his heart’s core traditional morals ethics idea ingrained, he regards a woman from traditional chastity view to be chaste or not, this has given Tess by devastating attack. If we say because the Alec thunder ferocious adversary caused the chastity losing to bring the deep pain to Tess, but has not been able to disappear the desire and the future hope of her live.Then, Clare to her abandonment, said in some kind of degree, then has destroyed her spiritual prop(because Tess really loves him). Thus, his return caused her to feel thehumiliation which own received, thus caused its pain, the lamentation; to despair has achieved the apex. Her finally killed Alec, not only must prove own helpless, simultaneously also are must to the person which loves prove own innocence. From this, may say that, is precisely by Alec representative’s evil force and Clare himself preserves the traditional ethics morality, together pushed Tess to the tragic abyss.3. Family Background of TessAt the beginning of the novel, Tess was a daughter of poverty descent which had once magnificent. She was a dairymaid, who lived in the country, as a daisy on the village roadside, beautiful but humble, and being with her family was broken up and decimated sixty years ago before the story began. And as the writer express emotion, “Norman’s descent,not for the support of Victoria 1800,the wealth, a very inconsequential!” Distinguished background doesn’t bring any benefits to Tess, but her tragic life was begun.Tess’s father was a poor countryside hawker, who had the natural disposition of lazy and constantly excessive and also was benighted. Tess’s mother was a dairymaid, who was sloppy superstition and mind simply. They were pitiful creature who chart admires the vanity and listened to depend on the time wind and rain willfully to devastate. Just as such terrible patents became the setter of a bad example of Tess’s tragedy.In order to show off own so-called “aristocrat” status and satisfied mere vanity, Tess’s parents wanted to by “acknowledges as relatives”, “marries”to improve own status. Although Tess obnoxious parents’hypocrisy, despised noble origin, and persisted thought oneself is peasant family’s daughter who living on own labor, but she was the oldest in the family,parents’incompetent made the heavy burden on herself early. She loved her little sisters and brothers deeply that cannot cruel enough to looked they suffer hardships. Unfortunately, when the old horse died what her family living on it, Tess great reluctance obeyed the aunt to assign to go for shelter richly in the result she suffered devastating, became the sacrificial victim and the Confucianism criminal which the beast wants. Afterwards, in order to her family Tess forced to leave native place, everywhere the wooden scoop anchors, experiences the vicissitudes. When end of hills and rivers, Tess came back to Alec again for family, received in exchange for family member’s warm and sufficient condition by own human body.The God gave Tess a woman of high station’s soul, let she has the fine dust does not dye,unusual refined, but the reality actually gave her to fall the soul the family background that made she got rid of between this mortal world incapably all sorts of troubled. This kind of spirit extreme is not harmonious with the meat caused Tess’s tragic fate.4. Hypocritical capitalist morality and unfair legal systemTess was lived in the Victorian era which capitalism invasion the rural England.She was a hardworking,kind-hearted,intelligent and beautiful girl; but regard as a laborer, a man of poor agricultural workers, she has low social status that naturally will received oppression and humiliation in the capitalist society. Research this novel we can know at that time in Victoria dynasty time England bourgeois society’s moral ethics view, Tess’s tragedy was due to social morals root mainly is in the masculine central society that kind of firm woman chastity idea. In the capitalist society, legal regime and moral outlook all were take maintains the exploiting class the benefit and the acknowledgment exploiting class oppresses people’s authority as the premise, were serviced for protect reactionary control. Alec wildly dominated in the township, did all kinds of evil things, but she was protected by the law. Tess actually is condemned the death penalty. This just was explaining bourgeoisie politics system reactionary, indicated the unimportant persons in the lower level social class were impossible to obtain the fair treatment in the society. We may see in the novel, such as Alec this thunder actually receives the bourgeoisie state apparatus and the religious morals protection.5. Analysis of Tess’s CharacterTess had many good qualities in her character:her beauty, smart and pure. Claire considered her as “the daughter of the nature” whose body was filled with poetry. She was gentle and kind, and caring for her younger siblings nuanced, more responsible than her parents. She endured enormous unfortunate fate with her indomitable will. Her love was pure, passionate, sincere and selfless. Her nature was high-hearted, but had to bite the bullet, and be obedient to others by damaging her self-dignity;she was desiring for happiness, but always in self-condemnation. She hesitated when she was facing her love. She not only complained about the fate of injustice, but also silently endured a flood of her misfortune. She was always docile and cowardly, but raised a revenge knife in a desperate moment. It can be said that Tess’s character was consisted of these complex contradictions and the suffering which made her as a searing tragedy.5.1 Tess’s Innocence and GoodnessTess’s biggest feature in the character is pure and good, but her pure and good are vulnerable to the ravages of dirty society; her selflessness and self-sacrifice give the forces of evil chance; and the pursuit of purity and honesty of her own makes her happiness lost. Horse died, Tess went to farm, which left a hidden danger. When ridiculed in the companion case, sh e actually jumped into the Alec’s horse. the purity of her heart and her undefended, so she entered the danger when was already dark in the woods without other people’s environment,She did not even realize the great danger of the playboy Alec. In the wedding night, her pure nature made her tell Claire her past, only to have been abandoned by her husband. Finally, she lured him to invest up arms, destroy her evil Alec, his eventual death.In the novel, Hardy compared the rural countryside women who was pure and gentle with the pure and simple rubbing pretentious bourgeois women. He would like to praise the girl living in the rural countryside, saying that she was a pure woman(apure wowan). Tess possessed outstanding qualities and virtues of the system of the working people, which formed the purity of her character, and it was the essential characteristic feature of the Tess’s character’s system. Pure and beautiful Tess exuded fragrance that was not something carved in the earth, and always sticked to her farmers’ daughter’s identity.Tess used to be the last descendants of the prominent wealthy aristocratic family. By the late nineteenth century, when the bourgeoisie overall ruled in the UK, the mighty family had been at a low ebb. And when reached at the father of this generation, the family only ended up as a hawkers. The only thing which could link to the ancient symbol of the family was an ancestral silver spoon and a set of a seal which carved flowers. Tess’s families were the lower labor workers who led a life entirely by hard-working. Celebrated ancestor was of no effect to their hard-working nature of the ancestral. Tess’s father, Durbeyfield, who lived half of his life, was only told by the pastor that his own family lineage. Addicted to a lot of gas and the vanity, his noble birth made him complacent. Mrs Durbeyfield who was industrious and trite was even proud of her husband.But Tess hated the vulgar atmosphere in this family. She had always maintained the virtues of working people. She despised this vulgar noble birth and considered her as a farmer’s daughter and lived by labor. She once said, “I had a father and mother who raised me. My good looks were given by the father and mother and I was just a milkmaid.”Read between the lines, we could see that her love and pride to the working status. Tess always adhered to his father’s surname(Duber fieled), and did not want to replace her ancestor’s surname. She was never boast of their noble ancestors to Claire. Claire advised to change her surname, and said so, Claire’s mother would look up to the daughter-in-law. But she firmly refused to agree. She said:“I still perfer the used name now.” Compared with those people who pretended to be secular bourgeois upstart squire,simple sentence, and that picked the name “Dubeville” from the museum, were sufficient to show Tess’s simple, pure and her contempt of the concept of blood lineage. She hated the bourgeois ease, but was proud to work.Tess’s purity was also reflected in her hard-working and good spirit of selfless sacrifice.Tess’s family was poor, coupled with his father addicted to drinking, and she also had many brothers and sisters. So her life became more difficult. Tess worked early to help her mother. When she was seventeen-year-old, she stir up the family’s burden. To the family, she had to go to the “capitalists” home as a helper, where the bad young man Alec tricked her virginity. She was in anger, depression, and was looked down upon by everyone. Later, she sacrificed everything for her family and went back Alec there the second time. She did not love Alec throughout her life, and was not polluted by the rich material life. Once her husband came back from abroad, she would have no hesitation to give up this life. Tess’s purity was also reflected in her steadfast love. She was deeply in love with Claire. At the wedding night, Tess poured out her unfortunate past to Claire. But she did not think that Claire was such a selfish person to abandon her. Then angrily went so far to Brazil. Tess concealed the truth and maintain the dignity and honor of Claire, while she silently suffer from her unfair treatment. What ismore, her despair killed Alec. She told Claire to married her sister after her death, showing her loyalty to love.5.2 Tess’s Feebleness and ResponsibilitySchopenhauer believes that every individual in our lives to work around the clock, it makes us different in the face of life’s problems or choices to make this or that choice, and to a large extent determine our fate. Thus, Tess’s tradegy was no exception. Although the external led to her tragic fate, of many reasons weakness of her own personality is the most fundamental reason for the internal decisive. As Tess was born into a peasant family,the remnants of the peasantry and the fate of some of the old moral view that allows her to demonstrate some weakness when against the traditional moral. With ever since lost her virginity after a crime,guilt, inferiority complex, a problem encountered in this type of concession to her shrink, it is this mentality has repeatedly refused to let her marry Claire, making her into a great heart contradiction. Claire can not forgive her in her more obvious inferiority complex, constantly explaining the requset, and even offered to be his slave, as long as he is willing to live live with her, even willing to die for his interests. Tess would have been a brave and strong country girl, but was tarnished after Alec. She thinks that “she is a person broke into the holy temple of the sinner”, “unconsciously considered herself as a whore, a bad woman, a fallen woman.”This increase self-torment and suffering of her misfortune. When she fell in love with Claire, her felling is not more happy, but the fear, anxiety, shame and regret. She thought that she did not deserve his love, so when the face of Claire’s marriage proposal, she frequently gave way. Finally she agreed to marry him. All of these illustrates the weakness of Tess,as if she was born to sin, to suffer the torture. Even when Claire abandoned her, she also quietly owed all the blame to herself, let life make fun of her own destiny.5.3 Tess’s Fatalism TendencyTess’s fatalism tengency in her character in her life is another important reason which led to her tragedies. When Tess first recognize the Alec’s home, she was stabbed chest by rose on her way to his home. She thoughted “it was an unlucky omen” to cast her shadow over her life. When Tess tried on wedding dresses, the mind emerged out of the folk “disloyal wife had put on it will never fit.” and she therefore had a heavy heart. Bridal portraits of her ancestors on the wall made her tense, and thought of Father Lawrence’s words, “This joy of violent will have the violent end.” It all gave Tess a bad felling that good luck always missed her. Fatalism thinking swallow Tess and her courage to fight life and weaken the morale of her.Tess’s life was a life of resistance, but in her character, also included the conservative and backward things, the existence of the old ethical values reflected conservative moral values behind her side, which was the embodiment of social limitations of the system of Tess’s character. Tess lives in a villege where existed religious forces, and it is inevitable to be affected by the moral values. Tess considered that she was forced to lose her virginity as a sin, and this conception became a subconscious mind, and haunted her so long. She thought that when she lost virginity to Alec, there was a moral force. nominally she was Claire’s wife, but morally, had shehas the rights to request this particular sub-power?How much more of it to say she was Alec’s wife?Until the Alec’s second appearance, such a guilt had been lingering in her mind:from the physical point of view, Alec was her true husband. She was the ritual law of sinners, and not fit to be Clay’s wife. This fully reflected the limitations of Tess and her moral conservation. As a moral conservative female, Tess gave up her power to obey her husband. In fact, Claire mercilessly throwed her from the spirit of promoting the impasse. Tess must hate Claire deeply, but Tess actually accepted this unfair fate silently, and voluntarily gave up the equal rights to Claire. Even she humbled to the Claire, said:“I have to like you, like a poor slave, obey you, that you let me die, I do not go against you.”Tess’s insignificant behavior made Claire be more cruel to her, adding to her tragic fate. So when Tess was abandoned, she always shut herself up, honored Claire’s instructions. Her pain was not born out of some sense of this, but more than half were due to the secular bias. It can be seen that the traditional conception deepened oppression of the large to Tess, and also reflected Tess’s own limitations. However, this limitation could not contain the purity in her character, and her development and show of resistance.5.4 The Resistance in Tess’s CharacterTess was a typical character of old moral which Hardy wanted to criticised. She had the traditional virtues of kindness, but was persecuted by the old moral. She was a new image of modern women who gradually formed a sense of resistance. In the dark environment, Alec seduced her and the traditional social prejudices considered that she was a guilty woman and an example of immoral woman. Although has been insulted, but she did not force Alec to marry her. In contrast, she left him with no hesitation. This reflected her sense of resistance, her spiritual purity and high moral character. Claire’s multiple courtship, made her step into the abyss of her inner pain. On the one hand she was touched by the mercy of Claire, on the other hand she worship Claire limitless. However, she also absolutely refused to marry so rush in case that her husband would regret to marry her when he knew the truth. For one thing, she was exceptionally happy. “She loved him very warmly, and she looked him as god”. For another, she was very miserable. Because she understood that she should not married Claire. She struggled, grinded her teeth to live a serious and independent life. Tess tried to pursue good things, but the visible and invisible evil tightly surrounded her and made her breathless. She would rather die for her lover, do everything he wanted, but was given his ruthless abandon!People demanded her as perfect as God, and this was absurd and unrealistic. She used an extreme way to express her love and hate. This was a weak woman who issued a strong protest.Tess had the courage to resist the hypocrisy of religion and the old moral values. The contradiction between Tess and Alec can be said an embodiment of the oppressed workers and the concrete expression of social contradictions. Tess’s attitude to Alec was very clear in the beginning, she declared:“I do not like you!I hate you!I hate you!”Later, when Tess was annoyed by Alec for the second time on the farm, She beated him. Finally, she ignored the bourgeois law and morality and killed him. It was like a heavy beat to that dark society. Clearly, the resistance is one of the main aspects in Tess’sthought. Until the end of the novel, there was such a description:She woke up when she found surrounded by sixteen people, she did not feel nervous because this was what she expected, she stood up and went towards the waiting men:“I am ready!” This was such a brave woman!she was educated, intelligent. Her beauty was based on the natural beauty of the sacred and imbued with noble beauty. It was obvious that such a society had destroyed a pure woman. Tess showed the courage to explore the power of resistance and the confidence to pursue which was hidden in the little.6. ConclusionA lot of reflection was left by Hardy through his creation of Tess’s tragedy. Tess was a strong woman throughout the novel. She stood up for herself and refused to crumble under pressure. It is true Tess should deserve respect because of enduring a great deal of pain. Yet, for her tragedy, it is not proper to blame solely on the unequal society that Tess lived in. Reading over this book, maybe someone think if does not have such unexpected event; perhaps Tess has the happy life and safely completes her life, but there are some factors which could not think in her each important life stage, these factors cause her tragedy. In actually, this was the time which she lived and her natural weakness invested her in this poor situation. Cruel Alec and his peers are the direct reason for her death, but it is Angel who killed her indirectly but more cruelly. Face such a serious situation, her individuality weakness suits the accomplice.In a word, Tess has shown a powerful woman’s image to common people with her unyielding spirit of revolt. She, to the moribund society, traditional old morals, hypocritical religion, capitalist marriage system, has carried on the strongest revealing and criticism. Her kindhearted enlightenment, noble emotion, strong personality, and her resistance in imbuing all rooted in the hearts of the people forever, worth savoring.。