On_the_Causes_of_Tess_of_the_D’urbervilles’s_Tragedy毕业论文.doc

On_the_Causes_of_Tess_of_the_Durbervilless_Tragedy 毕业论文 On the Causes of Tess of the Durbervilless Tragedy IntroductionLife and works of HardyThomas Hardy the son of the mason was born in 1840 in a small town near the Dorchester where later became the famous Wessex in many of his novels Liu Qiuping 2007 When he was young he showed a great interest in religion and music At the age of 16 he left school and was apprenticed to a local architecture He left the rural South West at the age of 22 and traveled to London where he worked as an architect for Arthur Bloomfield During his years in London he continued his studies in his spare time He read works of Charles Darwin Herbert Spenser and John Stuart Mill Their philosophy had a strong influence on him At the same time he began to write poetry But the poetries were all rejected by the magazines thus he embarked to write fiction The fist novel of Hardy was Desperate Remedies Later he became one of the most important realism writers in the19th century in England The age Hardy wrote was called Victoria PeriodThere were many famous works of Hardy in his all life including Under the Greenwood A Pair of Blue Eyes Far from the Madding Crowd The Return of the Native Major of the Casterbridge Tess of the DUrbervilles Jude the obscure By the vivid description of the health the fields the seasons the weather Wessxs attained a physical presence in the novels and acted as a mirror of the psychological conditions of the characters His greatest poetry is the Dynasts Tess of the DUrbervillesTess of the DUrbervilles was published at the beginning of the last decade of the 19th century which was a time of considerable intellectual and social ferment According to the novel Tess is a poor peasant girl She is beautiful pure strong and diligent Having lost the horse prince she is persuaded by her mother to claim kindred with a more prosperous branch of the DUrbervilles family There she is seduced by the young master of the house Alec and then has to return home in disgrace After she goes home she gives birth to a baby Unfortunately the baby dies in a few days Tess is hurt deeply again With huge pain she decides to begin her new life She gets to a farmland and obtains a new job She meets Clare the intellectual and free-thinking son of a clergyman And he falls love with her and wants to marry her There she lives a most joyful life in her life All the hurts in her heart are forgotten immediately She starts to begin her new life full of love passion and hope But the virtual Tess would not like to continue her life with the shadow by Alec and the guilty in her heart Thus she decides to tell Clare the all truth about her history She writes a letter to Clare to tell him however Clare doesnt see it With a restless heart she comes to the church to marry Clare On their wedding night Tess and angle tell each other about their past Angle fist tells Tess his past about him and an elder woman Tess forgives him because full love But after hearing Tesss confession Angle cant accept the truth He is so angry that he leaves her abruptly for Brazil Poverty forces Tess to work at a farm Flincomb Ash where she is insulted and ill -treated by master At the same time Alec appears again Alec tempts Tess again by many methods although Tess doesnt change her mind But her dads death makes the family lose their home Then Tess is in contradiction and confusion in the periods She writes several letters to Clare to ask for help but she waits for nothing She comes to helpless meanwhile Alec keeps in persuading her and cheating her In the case of no better way to go Tess chooses to come to Alec again although she still loses her heart with her husband Clare as before On the other hand Clare is ill in Brazil so he doesnt know the trouble about Tess Finally advised by a friend in Brazil Clare realizes his fault and decides to come back to forgive Tess and go to Brazil together Whats more the parents of Clare also would like to accept Tess Clare cant find Tess after his returning because the family has moved He comes to many places to get information of his wife but he finds nobody knows anything about Mrs Clare He suddenly understands his wifes painful sufferings Clare finds his dear wife finally but her dressing is not that as he imagined Her dressing is graceful as a rich woman Tess is so excited and broken-hearted to meet her husband and she tells him it too late Angle gets to know everything and leaves the boarding house lonely At the time of his getting into the train somebody runs to him its his wife Tess They get in to the train together Tess tells her husband she killed Alec just now Clare makes up his mind to share anything with his wife After several days of escaping for no destination they are found by the police Tess is sentenced to death and Clare starts a new life with her sister Soon after Tess of the DUrbervilles was published some critics had already recognized that Mr Hardys latest novel is his greatest1 The Main Causes of Tesss Tragedy According to the famous work Tess of the DUrbervilles by Hardy who is an English poet and novelist with many outstanding works we can gain an entire impression of Tess As the most significant novel in Hardys life it is The novel is so direct in its appeal and unambiguous in its story line that for many readers all commentary will be redundant Thomas Hardy 20052 Tess is a girl of beauty diligence goodness and simplicity But unfortunately she faces poverty defile and discrimination There are not only many social causes but also personal factors even some occasional for Tesss tragedy11 Historical Background com The England in 19th centuryThe main cause on Tesss tragedy is from the society she lives in Industrialization is filled with the 19th England The society of England changed a lot especially in countries For the novelist Hardy he had experienced almost the whole Victorian period The Victorian age was for Great Britain physically an age of immense power It was the period in which the Britain Empire got its imum size and significance It was also an age of great change and many difficulties English society was experiencing severe strains in its attempts to adjust to vast alterations in its structure-Hardy depicts the effects of the pressure of the new urban and industrial Revolution had pulled population from rural areas into towns that expanded at an enormous rate Zhu Yan 2004 It penetrated any aspect of the country Facing the result of the industrialization people were so shocked that they relied on religion deeply Tess lives in the country of Victoria age which is invaded and poisoned by the Capitalism The poverty of Tesss family is in certain because of the Capitalism of the society people are compelled to find work with low salary in factory or farmland where the condition is of the worst and the hardest Her tragedy is a social tragedy which is the conflict of people and environment and the conflict of the industrialization and religion com Customs in That TimeThe current society for Tess lives in is a society for men and all the laws protect the males right Women have a very low level in the society Male is the symbol of right authority and power Women live for men and should obey all the laws and rules for men From the short life of Tess we can get to know that she never has her right as a woman Liu Qiuping 2007 The author has descripted a whole scene of the country life in the 19th England At that time virtue was an important part of womens life so was Tess The novel also has a vise title A Pure Woman which indicates Tess is a pure girl in spirit actually by the authors opinion Virtue plays a key role in Tesss short life With the invading of the industrialization people are snobbish as well as conservative We can see after Tesss return from the DUrbervilles her scandal is spread up everywhere quickly She lives in the house and never gets out When she goes to the church she notices that others whispering to each others and cant help thinking they are talking about her and she dares not go out the day Living in the traditional morality dominated society she is forced to look ay herself in that light Her infancy is never christened because it is illegal in that society and the customs there dont allow After the baby dies Tess even cant find a place in the church to bury it finally she tries her best to beg the pastor to bury her baby in the churchyard where all unbaptized infants notorious drunkards suicides and others of the conjecturally banned are laid Thomas Hardy 2005117 Although Tess suffers many unfair treats in her life she can do noting but accept because she cant find any law or custom to help her Tess herself is also influenced by the customs deeply she is also one member of the society and she cant live without respecting the customs around her com Minds of the People AroundAfter Tess has been seduced by Alec people laugh at her but not blame Alec In other peoples mind its a shame for a girl to have sex with a man without marriage Tess just lives in that shadow She gets no sympathy from others even her family When Alec saves Tess from the quarrel at the key time of their conflict with some attempts although the crowds know she will be in danger they laugh at her Look at the following quotationHo-ho-ho laughed dark CarHee-hee-hee laughed the tippling bride as she steadied herself on the arm of her fond husbandHeu-heu-heu laughed dark Cars mother stroking her moustache as she explained laconically Out of the frying pan into the fire Thomas Hardy 200599 After Tess father dies the people in the country dont think its a pity for Tess they think its an opportunity to send off the family It was indeed quite true that the household had not been shining examples either of temperance soberness or chastity The father and even the mother had got drunk at times the younger children seldom had gone to church and the eldest daughter had made queer unions By some means the village had to keep pure So on this the first Lady-Day on which the Durbeyfields were expellable the house being roomy was required for a carter with a large family and Widow Joan her daughter Tess and Liza-Lu the boy Abraham and the younger children had to go elsewhere Thomas Hardy 2005309 12 Family Backgroundcom Education from Her ParentsAccording to the novel we can find that its poverty of Tesss family that forces Tess to claim kindred with Alec and finally be seduced Angle who gets the hypocritical morality deserts her because of her seduction by Alec then it is poverty again that makes her comes back to Alec again and tragedy happens So we can analyze her tragedy from her family first Tess is in a poor peasant family with the benighted parents Her father lives by selling and his favorite is noting but drinking Thus when he gets to know that he is the descendent of an ancient aristocratic family he even goes to a hotel and drinks very much until Tess comes to look for him Tesss mother is a housewife who just knows how to take care of the family Tess has six sisters and brothers As the oldest child in the poor family Tess knows many things and has a strong considerable character Whats more she understands the poverty profoundly - Never mind that now- Did you say the stars were worlds Tess- Yes- All like ours-I dont know but I think so They sometimes seem to be like apples on our stub bard tree Most of them splendid and sound a few blighted Which do we live on-a splendid one or a blighted one-A blighted one Thomas Hardy 200522 Tess would like to sacrifice anything for the family Because of this after the horse dies she accepts her mothers advice to claim kindred although she doesnt mean to Educated by the family from Youngwood Tess is so pure that she doesnt how to protect herself from others Later she comes back to Alec again also for the poor family Under the poverty the parents become more apathetic and vulgar Her mother was vain and she hopes Tess to marry a rich man by her beauty When Tesss fathers horse is killed in a collision which is no fault of hers the kind girl feels guilt at having thus damaged her familys live hood To make amends for her supposed fault Tess agrees to save the family fortunes by in effect begging from the rich relatives the DUrbervilles Hence in a sense it is her kindness against p ride that leads her to the way of violation Liu Qiuping 2007 com Lack of LoveThere is not enough love between Tess and her parents This is also a reason for her tragedy The parents of Tess are so fatuous and ignorant that they dont know how to protect and love their children They dont give enough education to their children They struggle for their poor life day and night To be richer they would like to lose their Tess We can find that the parents do nothing for their daughter after her seducer After Tess goes home she never comes out for several months the parents never give her any advice even think that she attaints the reputation of the family When Tess falls in love with Clare she writes a letter to her mother to ask for advice for that whether to tell him her past or not her mother asks her not to She just wants the short goods but loses her daughters happiness all the life They parents consider anything just by the plan of money not the happiness of the children 2 Tesss characters an inner factor that causes her tragedyThe tragedy of Tess is caused not only by the society but also by her characters Tess Durbeyfield the tragic exceptionally gifted country girl The characterization is considered as the most outstanding achievement of the novel And the figure of Tess is not only the best characterization of Hardy s but also one of the most significant women figures in English literature In Hardys novel series characters of the hero and heroine are always closely connected with their fates Xu Haibo 20072-3 Then the second cause for Tesss tragedy is her own factors which mainly falls into three parts her personalities her beliefs in religion and her insisting of love Lets take a brief analysis on each of these aspects21 Personalities Tess is a pure girl with simple strong diligent virtuous and staunch characters Whats more she is conservative All of these characters of Tess lead to her tragedy directly Hardy comments on Tess as a pure Woman against the conventional morality and social attitudes Zhu Yan 2004 The vivid depiction in chapter I give the readers the first impression of the girls purityShe was a fine and handsome girl Her mobile peony mouth and innocent eyes added eloquence to color and shape She wore a red ribbon in her hair and the only one of the white company this beautiful feminine tissue sensitive as gossamer and practically blank as snow Thomas Hardy 20053 Under Hardys writing Tess is a pure woman although her seducer past She dares to sacrifice herself set at defiance for good wishes She loves others believes in others and she is gentle as well as strong She is loyal and honesty as all the other people in Wesex Thus she cant help telling her husband all her past on the wedding night As the oldest daughter in the peasant family Tess keeps the diligent habit all the time When she first goes to claim kindred with another branch of DUrbervilles she doesnt mean to please the host by her beauty but would like to work for pay After she is seduced by the master of the house Alec she doesnt marry him or live with him but leaves the manor without hesitation From the sentences above we can find that Tess is a pure and self-respect girl She is so self-respected that she never asks help from Alec when she gives birth to a baby either asks for help from Angles parents when she is abandoned by her husband On the other hand Tess is an obedient filial girl Tess is a very obedient girl Whatever her parents say she always obeys From her mothers words we can find Tess is obedient Durbeyfield you can settle it If you say she ought to go she will go Thomas Hardy 200539 Tess sense of responsibility plays a central role in tragedy She thinks she has the responsibility to her family especially after the death of the horse Prince and her father Seeing the difficult life burden of her mother brothers and sisters Tess again and again turns to Alec for help despite of her own unwillingness Tess kindness gives Alec the opportunity to cheat her Because of her sacrificial attitude Tess is a natural scapegoat and those around her find it easy to abrogate their responsibilities As Tess says my little sisters and brothers and my mothers needsthey were the things you moved me by Thomas Hardy 2005317 22 Religion beliefTess is a faithful follower of religion She likes to go to the church and believes in the religion deeply Tess christens her baby Sorrow by herself Christians believe that they will go to hell if they are not baptized after their birth Sorrow dies Tesss sorrow seems likely to die with it but unlike the baby the mothers trials are capable of resurrection However she rallies after the babys death and moves away to a place where she is unknown Tess several times sees herself as being on pilgrimage through life She feels that her life is in someway a penance redemption for the sin of being born But unlike Christian Tess is no mere symbol no abstraction She is a woman in flesh and blood passionate physical and luxuriant Though she still believes the existence of God and hell in her mentality she comes to doubt the acquired conventional custom and the religious belief These beliefs of religion makes Tess have an obedient character in certain Xu Haibo 200782 According to the conventional custom at that time she should become Alecs lover or try to legalize their relation However she would rather leave him than live him without love After her violation at Trantrige