苔丝的悲剧成因

People's social status is determined by their economic status. Economy is the most basic condition for people to live in the society. “Economic poverty was the principal cause of her unhappy fate in the first place...She was raped the first time and then lost again, all because of economic poverty”(Jiang Liping,1998). It’s poverty of her family forces Tess to be a wage worker in a harsh environment for the pitiful wages. And it’s also poverty of her family forces Tess come back to Alec again. Economic distress led to Tess again and again against her will to compromise with reality.

After Angel left her for Brazil, Tess got into financial difficulties several times. She divided half of the 50 pounds from Angel to her parents, and then gave more than half of the 30 pounds from the bank to repair the old house, leaving only 10 pounds to support herself. After buying winter clothes, she had only a few dollars. Although she worked hard on the farm, she could still barely support herself. When her mother fell ill, she resumed the burden of her family. When their father died, they lost their house and the family was homeless. This economic despair gave Alec, the rich merchant's son, an opportunity to continue his persecution of Tess. Tess had to sacrifice herself again so that her mother and her brothers and sisters could survive.

Tess did not yield to the strong moral and religious pressure, but in the face of the economic pressure, Tess had to gave up her happiness. Alec’s violent means and hypocritical religious appearance failed to win Tess’s heart. But he used money to help Tess's family out of economic difficulties that made Tess yield. The economic power is so great that poverty not only causes Tess to bear the heavy pressure physically, but also causes Tess's soul to suffer from torture and pain, and finally pushed Tess to the end of destruction. We can conclude that the low economic status is an important and basic factor leading to Tess’s tragedy.