Tess: Analysis & Key Chapters

Phase 1 / Chapter 1

This offhand revelation about the d'Urberville name is the impetus for the rest of action of the book. Durbeyfield's

excitement and feeling of entitlement over a name with no real wealth or power behind it begins Hardy's satire of

English Victorian society, starting with the emphasis on ancient names, but also commenting on how the mighty

have fallen in modern times.

Chapter 2**

The description of the village and valley shows a part of society that is more in tune with Nature and seems to exist

in a pre-industrial era. Tess herself is first revealed at the fertility ritual of May-Day, which begins her portrayal as a

Nature goddess, and the rural women as symbols of pagan innocence.

Chapter 3

The satire of the Durbeyfields/d'Urbervilles continues with the rest of the family celebrating a name with no real

meaning or advantages attached to it. John Durbeyfield's bad diagnosis is a reminder to Tess that his days are

numbered, and introduces the theme of inevitable doom. Joan's faith in the fortune-telling book is a sign of both the

pagan superstitions and belief in the power of fate that still lives in the Vale of Blakemore. The narrator's musings

about the fate of the Durbeyfield children continues the theme of an inevitable destiny that the characters are born

into, rather than choosing for themselves.

The description of the twisting road to Rolliver's builds a sense of foreboding for Tess's future.

Chapter 4**

This is the first mention of the wealthy d'Urberville branch who are soon to take a major role in the plot. The

discovery of why Joan had been consulting her fortune-telling book, combined with her plan for Tess's marriage,

emphasizes the theme of fate and makes Tess's future seem unavoidable.

Abraham asks if the stars are all worlds just like theirs, and if some are “blighted” and some are “sound.” Tess says

they live on a blighted star, and that is why their lives are so hard.

Tess's dream is vaguely prophetic, and her falling asleep before a tragedy is the beginning of her role as the woman

as passive victim. The death of Prince is the start of Tess's misfortunes, and his bloody death both foreshadows her

later crime and symbolizes a blow to the idea of Nature, as the farm horse is killed by the sleek modern mail-cart.

The pool of Prince's blood foreshadows the bloody ceiling at the novel's climax. Tess feeling guilty for something that

was only partly her fault begins a recurring plot point, and Abraham's question seems to affirm the preordained

injustice of fate.

Chapter 5

Prince's death and Tess's own ideals set her along the inevitable path of her destiny, despite her protests. The

economic woes of the once aristocratic family are again emphasized, and seem almost a force of fate itself, pushing

her forward. And poverty is often a condition from which people can't escape, leading them to disaster.

The Chase acts as a symbol of ancient Nature and pagan powers, while the history of the d'Urberville-Stokes offers a

sharp critique on society's emphasis on old, respectable names, and the inherent valuelessness of those names

themselves. The unhappy coincidence of the Stokes choosing the d'Urberville name instead of another to burnish

their reputation is also pointed out.

Alec appears as the novel's antagonist, a figure of corruption set against Tess's female innocence and modesty. The

seal and spoon are brought up as symbols of the essentially worthless inheritance left to the Durbeyfields by their

ancestors. The narrator laments the cruel chance of these two meeting at this precise time. Nature hardly ever offers

happy coincidences, but instead prefers disasters and tragic destinies. She is trapped by the circumstance of this

meeting, and cannot escape her future.

Chapter 6

It is finally Tess's own guilt and selflessness that lead her to accept her fate and go to the other d'Urbervilles. Here

again she acts as a religious figure, sacrificing her future for her family's well-being. She imagines that she has

decided her path now and so is more at peace, although she cannot know the misfortunes to come.

Chapter 7

Even Joan, who pushed this plan so hard, has doubts now, but in the end she trusts that fate will work itself out. She

keeps believing that “what will be will be,” but for Joan that is an optimistic idea. Joan also sees beauty as a strength

for Tess, but in many ways Tess's beauty functions as a kind of weakness, attracting predatory men.

Chapter 8

“The kiss of mastery” prefigures the terrible act to come—Alec's rape of Tess—and shows Tess as a victim of male

dominance. Tess is portrayed as an animal being teased by a cruel human, and so again stands as an image for the

purer natural world.

Chapter 9

Alec says that Tess is a “temptation as never before fell to mortal man,” but that he won't try to seduce her again.

Alec draws attention to the disparity of power in their interactions. When he calls Tess a “temptation” it frames her

in religious terms, but also places her in an unwilling and passive role. She does not intend to be a temptation, but

he sees her as such and holds it against her. This foreshadows her later forced “sins.”

The circumstances of society, wealth, and gender all work in Alec's favor against Tess. She is essentially powerless,

and must rely totally on his whims and good humor. Yet she still manages to stay hopeful in her innocence, and is

able to take pleasure in working with the birds.

Chapter 10**

The outside dance at nearby Chaseborough - The dance grows wilder and more primal, and Alec's enjoyment of it

highlights his own essentially bestial nature. The atmosphere is now quite foreboding, and the feeling is that

something bad is about to happen.

Car Darch appears here as a foil for Tess, violent and passionate against Tess's modesty and innocence, and shows a

type of woman not yet seen in the novel. This scene is another example of a situation where Tess is condemned for

something that was only barely her fault. In this case the anger of the others seems to do with their jealousy of her

beauty and the attention she gets from Alec—attention she doesn't even want.

Chapter 11**

On the (prolonged) ride home, Tess falls asleep and again becomes the passive victim. The primeval powers of The

Chase take over in the night, and Tess is presented as a figure of tragic innocence, light set against the dark. This is

the last action described of the rape scene, and even this was too explicit for critics and many readers at the time of

the novel's publication.

The dark ancient trees are all around, and birds and rabbits, but the narrator wonders where Tess's guardian angel is

this night. He wonders if the god of her faith is distracted, and why such female innocence should be doomed to

violation in this way, and why these injustices happen so often. The narrator hypothesizes that probably many

d'Urberville knights had been even more cruel towards peasant girls of their day, and perhaps Tess is being punished

for this. But he admits that humans find this kind of justice unsatisfying, and finally he retreats to the saying of the

rural folk, “It was to be.” There is no good explanation, but after this she is to be a different woman altogether.

Hardy invokes Nature as Tess's element, but her pagan purity is defenceless against the cruelty of modern man and

unjust fate. His meditation on why bad things happen to good people leads to no satisfying answer, just the fatalism

of the simple townspeople, as all possible explanations seem unfair. Tess is a “Pure Woman Faithfully Presented,”

and her rape is not her own sin but something unfairly enacted upon her. The language of this scene emphasizes

that fact in the face of society's criticism.

PHASE 2

Chapter 12**

The section begins a few weeks after the scene at The Chase. Tess is walking the twenty miles back home to Marlott,

carrying a heavy basket but looking like her burden is an emotional one instead. Tess is a new woman now, one no

longer innocent and naïve but broken by the harsh world. It hurts her to even look at Marlott, the site of her old self,

the symbol of agricultural purity. She does not fear Alec anymore because he can't do anything worse to her than he

already has, so in a way she has achieved a new strength through her tribulations.

Tess has been reduced in her humanity by Alec's continued dominance, but finally her independent spirit flares up

again and she takes control briefly within her anger. This flare-up is foreshadowing for her later, more dangerous act

of rage against Alec's blithe cruelty.

The way Alec talks about the rape only makes it seem more horrible, as if his money and flippant apologies could

undo it. Alec claims it is fate that he should be bad, but he was the one with the agency in the deed. Tess gazes out

at Nature as he kisses her, but her old, familiar world gives her no comfort now.

Tess is able to retain a little dignity still by refusing to give in to Alec when she is awake. She again symbolizes Nature

as all her surroundings seem to grieve alongside her.

Joan blames Tess for not holding up her end of the plan, despite the many sacrifices Tess has already made for her

family. Even her mother did not realize the extent of Tess's innocence. Tess is able to retain at least a little dignity by

showing no regret for not getting married. Joan quickly jumps to a similar conclusion that the narrator reached, the

simple fatalism of the rural townspeople.

Chapter 13

The envious reception and Joan's boasting are especially tragic compared to the reality of Tess's situation. Once the

first hopeful night wears away, she is left alone and friendless in a condemning, unsympathetic society, and there is

no escape from this fate.

Tess likes the singing and chanting most, and these have the most in common with ancient pagan religions. This is

the first concrete example of people judging Tess negatively for her rape. She learns to avoid people and return to

the natural world, where she is most at home. Nature seems to reflect her sadness now as it reflected her purity

before.

The narrator points out the unfairness of Tess's plight; she feels herself as guilty, but it is really another who is guilty.

She feels like an intruder among the animals, but really she is as innocent as they are. It is not Tess that is in the

wrong, but society. To the natural world she has committed no sin. This is Hardy's explicit critique of the unfairness

of Victorian society and the modern world. Tess is still in accord with nature and morality; it is only the arbitrary

rules of society that she has broken.

Chapter 14**

It is August. Change of time and weather reflects how time has passed for Tess. Doom and inevitability build for the

creatures and nature (and of course Tess). The introduction of the child is done slowly – Hardy’s method of

describing the beautiful figure still seems to suggest her fate and suffering are tied to her sexuality. The child

becomes a reminder of the rape – a physical one which, unlike the emotional impact, gives us a view of the scars

beneath but also a way for the other characters to focus their condemnation. It is “on offence against society”. They

look away when Liza-Lu arrives with the baby. Hardy emphasises that it is the judgement of others which leads to

“Sorrow”, not the child itself, which she kisses fiercely and is distraught when it falls ill.

The lack of care of family and parson symbolise society’s condemnation and the narrative voice defends Tess’

instincts and need to baptise the child herself. She assumes a role of divinity and dignity. Hardy demonstrates his

value of spirituality over institutions and law – it seems the same as if the parson had done it, as such titles and job

roles are meaningless. Again shunned by society’s rules, she buries the child herself at night and acts in the face of

society’s condemnation.

Chapter 15

The narrator opens with a muse on Tess’ suffering and the injustice of fate and the predetermined path of her life.

Her musings on death and the future make her a “complex woman” – she seems to grow into a tragic and wise

heroine here.

In May, the new opportunity brings the promise of a new start. Spring and a new job symbolise a fresh start and

she’s still youthful enough to feel optimistic about Talbothays. Note the proximity to the D’Urberville estate – Tess

sees it as a good omen, a connection to the ancient name she holds, but the reader cannot help but feel foreboding.

Phase 3

Chapter 16

She journeys to the dairy and feels “akin to the landscape” – a sign of resolution and happiness in the novel. As she

descends into the vale, the joyful descriptions (e.g. birdsong, heron) promise happiness.

She muses on the D’Urberville heritage - The seal and the spoon with the d'Urberville crest are the only things the

Durbeyfields have left from their noble heritage. The smallness and uselessness of the items is a symbol of how the

d'Urberville name means nothing anymore in terms of real wealth or influence. Tess thinks angrily of them as

essentially causing her misfortunes by proving her kinship to the wealthy d'Urbervilles. They are also associated with

the old tombs of the d'Urberville knights, which again seem grand but are in effect worthless, full of nothing but the

dead.

Chapter 17

However, she is reminded of her past at the start – Richard Crick, master dairy-man, mentions the heritage that

seems to hang over her like a curse.

Introduction of Angel – a slow build up, creating a character who is different to the rest but unseen behind the cow.

A sense of intrigue is established and a sense that this man will be important in Tess’ fate, predicting their

relationship.

Chapter 18

We find out more about Angel Clare and his family, such as the Reverend Clare. A shift in focus occurs. We also hear

of the affair in London. Hardy is quick to point out such transgressions from early encounters with Angel.

Angel's tendency to idealize and stereotype foreshadows the appearance of his later faults. He is able to accept the

farm workers as unique individuals after a while, however. This relates to Hardy's emphasis on regarding Tess as a

person rather than just a symbol or ideal, and one not to be judged by social constructs of morality.

Tess remembers meeting Angel at the May Day dance but he does not at first (or clearly). He thinks of her as the

“daughter of Nature”. Here Angel begins his idealization of Tess as a pure, mythical Nature symbol. He knows he has

met her before, but cannot remember the details like Tess can, which foreshadows how his soon-forgotten whims

will affect her. In some ways, he is condemned for his carelessness as much as Alec with his education, maleness and

higher social status.

Chapter 19*

More cows and vivid natural descriptions abound as Tess and Angel begin a flirtation. Angel suggests he teach her as

their differences become clear. First he proposes a history lesson, but Tess says she avoids history. To her it is like

learning that she is only one in a long line of similar lives, and her fate is predestined by her ancestors, and nothing is

unique about her actions or experiences. Tess's wise, pessimistic views on history show her maturity and how her

past has affected her. She already understands the power of fate and being punished unfairly. She also hints at the

idea that her place in this society is a predetermined role which she must act out, a role that was inflicted upon her,

not chosen.

She begins to wonder, however, if Angel might be impressed by her heritage. Crick warns her he would not: Angel's

ideas reflect some of the narrator's earlier musings, that people can be punished for their ancestors, or that

bloodlines carry inherent traits within them. Retty is another example of a once-great family laid low, and the

changing social order.

Chapter 20

Happiness at last – time goes on, more animals appear and Tess and Angel remain in a state of limbo but it does

seem inevitable that they will come together.

However, Angel’s idolisation develops into a religious fascination, painting her as unearthly, divine, like Eve and the

archetype of the “Pure woman”. Tess seems to realise the danger in this for the future – she wishes to be just Tess

and an individual. The constant descriptions of her beauty may seem positive but can be interpreted with

foreboding.

Chapter 21

The machine breaks; when Tess loses vitality, it begins to work again. A note of hopelessness for the future (for any

of the girls) if it involves Angel is introduced. Tess feels unworthy and upset, as if she is drawing his attention from

the “purer” girls.

Chapter 22

As a result, Tess tries to show self-sacrifice and direct his attention to the other girls. His restraint and continued

attraction to her mark a contrast to Alec’s aggression. She tries to deny herself joy as she feels unworthy as the

result of her past. Either because of society or her own self-doubt, she continues to fulfil the role of victim.

Chapter 23

The ‘rescue’ where Angel carries Tess across the river is another contrast to Alec but it also moves forward their

relationship. The flood suggests this is beyond their control and inevitable. She is once again passive, standing

waiting on the bank with the other girls. Tess realises that she loves Angel, but still tries to suppress her passion and

her own happiness – Hardy uses this to increase the tension as she fights with her own desires. The fact that she

wishes to remain ‘pure’ reveals that she has not been corrupted by Alec, despite what society think. The mention of

the possibility of another wife reminds the reader that Angel, and the others, are still ruled by social constraint and

propriety, however.

Chapter 24

The season of fertility and hot weather – this reflects Tess and Angel’s passion. Angel makes advances and Tess sees

it as “unreflecting inevitableness” but actually feels joy. This fact, and that Angel stops, marks a different experience

to the rape with Alec – Hardy clearly separates them. This is another turning point in the relationship, however, and

they seem inexorably bound together at the end of Phase 3.

Phase 4

Chapter 25

That evening, Angel is still restless and the narrative turns to his contemplation of Tess’ fate. He again mirrors the

narrator’s view of a predestined fate or compassionless God, emphasising that Tess is not a doll for his temporary

pleasure but an individual (finally) with a “precious life” – the connotations being singular, of importance, with only

one chance. This starts the fourth phase with a shadow of the ‘consequence’ hanging over the reader.

Angel realises he should stay away but can’t. He returns home and this symbolises his reliance on others’ opinions –

one that foreshadows his rejection of Tess. When there, he sees Mercy (Tess’ opposite) and tries to avoid her when

he realises his preoccupation with Tess, and the natural world she represents.

We meet the rest of the Clare family: his father’s care of Angel overrides his religious beliefs and piety but the

brothers represent lifeless cutouts of what society wants them to be, with little curiosity or sense of the wider world.

There is a sense of detachment and joylessness during the meal.

Chapter 26

Angel tries to frame his wish to marry Tess and their meeting as providence – ironically, Fate is used here in a

positive way by Angel. His mother seems more concerned with social class and Angel focuses on Tess’ purity instead,

again ironically. For now, Angel is blinded by love and overlooks these concerns and social conventions.

Angel departs in the morning, eager to return to Tess, but a mention of Alec overshadows the previous chapters and

discussions. The narrator reminds us that the happiness cannot last and is predetermined as such.

Chapter 27**

When Angel re-enters the valley, he feels more vital than at home. Tess is the first to appear and we return to her

focus. There is a reminder of the nature of their new relationship and Angel’s conviction increases. He at last asks

her to marry him. This afternoon is one of the pinnacles of Tess's happiness, before the realities of her own past and

the condemning structures of society take control of their relationship.

Tess refuses, citing her social status at the reason. Finally reality catches up and again Tess must sacrifice her own

happiness because of something that was not her fault. Angel still idealizes her, and so he cannot imagine his

innocent Nature-girl having any kind of real objection to their marriage.

Oblivious of her inner turmoil, Angel recounts his visit, including the conversation about Alex. Even at the peak of her

happiness Alec's ghost comes back to haunt her. She can never escape her destiny, and hopelessly tries to push away

her own happiness.

Chapter 28**

Angel continues to pursue Tess. Angel cannot even conceive of his ideal woman having any kind of hidden flaws,

which of course makes it all the harder for her to reveal them.

Tess seeks out Nature again in her sadness. She sees the hand of fate pushing her forward, and knows that she

cannot escape.

Saturday arrives and she cries out to herself that she will allow herself to marry him. This outburst is the essence of

Tess's pain at this point. The oppressive hand of Victorian society works against her even in her anonymity and rural

freedom. She still is not free to follow her heart without guilt.

Chapter 29

Lots of proposals and affection – it seems Tess has accepted her inevitable fate in the previous chapter and now only

delays to see if she can work out how to spare Angel pain. The chapter ends with a ride in a wagon (a mirror of the

ride with Alec before the rape) to take the milk to the station.

Chapter 30**

On the drive back, Tess has an opportunity to reveal her past (they once again mention the D’Urberville family when

passing the mansion to remind her of her lack of freedom) but chooses to speak only of the family link and pretend

this was the reason for her reluctance. This could have been the moment of truth but she slips up – perhaps this is

the only selfish thing she has done, but note that this is only selfish because of society’s unfair treatment of her

anyway – she has nothing to be guilty of. The image of the mansion before the conversation suggests that nothing

would have changed anyway, and the way that they discuss the name afterwards frames their frank discussion with

foreboding. Tess insists the name is unlucky a bad omen – which, for her, it is.

Another turning point – Angel asks her to take his name instead and she finally accepts, although cannot escape her

inner guilt and turmoil. However, she kisses him of her own volition, actually acting as more than just the passive

object of desire or passion.

The chapter ends with the narrator’s musings. Nature always wins against the weak and arbitrary rules of society, so

it was inevitable that Tess should have agreed eventually. Hardy explains how this result was unavoidable from the

beginning, that “what will be will be” despite our feeble social rules. Tess asks to write to her mother in Marlott, and

Angel remembers where they met at last. Tess hopes that his first refusal of her at the dance is not a bad omen, but

yet another mention of the past emphasises the path of inevitability beyond both of their control.

Chapter 31

Tess makes contact home about her impending marriage; however, Joan advises her not to tell Angel about her past

– warning her that it could end the relationship and hinting at Angel’s abandonment. Tess makes another mistake

her – she decided to continue to idealise and trust Angel. He is presented positively here, especially in comparison to

Alec, but the comparisons she makes and the idolisation on both sides can lead to nothing good.

Despite some moments where she feels unworthy, the joy Tess experiences here is heartbreaking, especially as the

reader fears what may come. Guilt threatens this happiness; by the end, she determines to tell him the truth before

they set a date.

Chapter 32

Angel’s whims and sentiments to begin to affect Tess; he unknowingly dredges up some of her dark past and shows

he cares more about others’ opinions than her when he suggests he “train” her to meet his mother.

The date is set for 31st December – a symbolic end of the year and her troubles? Angel buys her a dress and Tess

fears it will turn red to betray her. Tess is still steeped in both her mother's superstitions and the judgments of

Victorian society. The song and the dress seem like bad omens, and she feels impure again.

Chapter 33**

Christmas Eve, a romantic outing shopping: they are still trying to prolong this episode of unreality, and play-act as a

married couple among Angel's society that will later judge them. When Tess is recognised and insulted by a man

from her past, Angel strikes him. Another unhappy coincidence where Tess's past comes up at the peak of her

happiness. Angel can physically strike it—just as he has always stopped Tess from admitting it to him—but Tess

cannot escape its reality. She writes it all down and slips it under Angel's door. The next morning Tess is distraught

but Angel acts normally. She wonders if he got the note, but feels comforted that he will forgive her either way. Fate

has intervened.

The marriage takes place, with a brief spell of happiness and excitement, yet an underlying ominous tone continues,

particularly in the symbol of the coach which is first mentioned here.

The d'Urberville coach is an old legend of the family which Angel mentions and Alec later explains to Tess. It

concerns some ancient d'Urberville who abducted a beautiful woman and then inadvertently killed her when she

tried to escape his coach. Whenever a d'Urberville hears the sound of an invisible coach it is supposed to be a bad

omen, or even to forebode that murder is about to be committed. The coach is a symbol of foreshadowing and the

theme of fate that looms over all the characters in the novel. Tess cannot escape the cruel things that happen to her,

no matter how “pure” she remains at heart. The coach also symbolizes the ancient idea of being punished for one's

ancestors. This is pointed out by the narrator when the Durbeyfields are evicted from their home, perhaps because

of the many houses the old d'Urbervilles had taken from peasants. Tess's murder of Alec is also associated with this

legend, as the symbol of the fateful coach implies both that she is the woman capture in Alec's "coach" and that, as a

d'Urberville, she always had an inescapable murderous strain in her blood.

Tess feels this foreboding when they return to the dairy. At the end of the chapter, as they leave this place of

happiness, a cock crows twice. This is another bad omen with its own sense of urgency in ending the chapter. This is

also another bird associated with Tess's fate, and the image recalls the story of the Biblical Peter denying that he

knew Jesus, like Tess betraying Angel with her silence.

Chapter 34**

They arrive at the farm with the ancient d'Urberville mansion and see that they have the place to themselves. The

moldy house upsets Tess, and she is still worried about the crowing rooster. On the walls are portraits of old, cruel-

looking d'Urberville women, and Angel can't help noticing how Tess resembles them. Even their first day as husband

and wife is shadowed by the specter of the past. The old house also provides a gloomy setting for what should be a

happy occasion. The portraits hint that Tess cannot escape her cruel blood and the fate that comes with it.

Angel’s confession time: Hardy reveals that Angel has been in almost the same situation as Tess this whole time. He

also had a sexual past to confess but waited until they were married in case Tess rejected him. His sin is actually

greater than Tess's, as his was voluntary and hers was forced upon her. This surprise confession makes the ultimate

result much more tragic.

At last hopeful, Tess feels (rightly) that their “sins” are almost the same so she should have nothing to fear for

forgiveness. In her joy she forgets the cruel conventions of society and Angel's own upbringing and strict ideals. The

gloomy diamonds of their wedding rings as they hold hands forebode that her hopes will be dashed.

Phase 5

Chapter 35**

Atmosphere is a very important component in these chapters, and as Tess nears the culmination of her tragedy, the

sense of mystical gloom intensifies. The old, abandoned, Gothic d’Urberville mansion is a perfect setting for the

emotional change that takes place. The setting also mirrors Tess’s feelings of emptiness and coldness toward her

family legacy. In exploiting the setting for dramatic and psychological effect, Hardy draws heavily on the conventions

of Gothic literature, sometimes creating very unrealistic effects.

Tess finishes her story, and the “essence of things” seems to have been transformed by it. Angel cannot yet

comprehend the truth, and asks if Tess is lying or crazy, and why she did not tell him before. Tess begs him to forgive

her, as she forgave him for “the same.” We see the hypocrisy of Victorian society personified through Angel.

Angel’s idealised view is broken and he is cruelly unemotional; Tess, meanwhile, falls into dramatics in despair at

what has happened. She points out arguments that are logical by the rules of Nature – but not society. For hours,

they walk the grounds of the mansion, but significantly end the chapter by sleeping in separate rooms.

Chapter 36

Three miserable days go by, during which Angel spends his time at the mill or with his studies. Tess wonders if they

should get a divorce, but she learns that the law does not allow divorces. Finally, Tess offers to go home, and Angel

tells her she should go.

Chapter 37**

“Clare came close, and bent over her. “Dead, dead, dead!” he murmured.”

Angel begins to sleepwalk on the third night of his estrangement from Tess, having rejected her as his wife because

of her earlier disgrace. Like Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking scene, Angel’s nighttime somnambulism reveals an inner

conflict within a character who earlier seems convinced of a moral idea, in control, and inflexible. For Lady Macbeth,

her earlier cold protestations that killing a king is justifiable are belied by her unconscious fixation on being

bloodstained. For Angel, the situation is reversed. He consciously maintains a conviction that Tess is bad, corrupt,

and cannot be forgiven, but his unconscious sleepwalking self reveals the tender love and moral respect for her (“so

good, so true!”) that he feels somewhere inside him. This revelation foreshadows his final realization, too late, that

his condemnation of Tess was wrongheaded. Angel’s words “dead, dead, dead” hint at Tess’s future death, but they

also signal Angel’s conception of Tess. She is alive physically, but for him she is dead morally, as dead as an idea of

purity that he once revered.

The scene becomes even harder to believe when Angel scoops up his wife, and—still asleep—carries her to her

ancestral cemetery and places her in a coffin. Hardy may have included such a scene to please a Victorian readership

that loved Gothic gloom and mystery. But the scene also attests to the hostility of fate toward Tess. Hardy means for

us to accept Tess’s tragedy as foreordained, willed by the universe, and executed by powers beyond mortal control.

By suggesting such a deterministic view of events, Hardy makes us look at the story in a new and unsettling way. For

much of the novel, Hardy seems to criticize the archaic and outmoded morality that unfairly judges and condemns

Tess, as well as the social hierarchies that allow aristocrats to exploit the lower classes and men to abuse women.

But if Tess’s tragedy is foreordained, it may not be solely the fault of outdated public moral judgment.

Chapter 38

Tess returns home and confesses what happened; she is miserable. She receives a letter from Angel and seizes on

this excuse to leave.

Chapter 39

Angel visits his parents and tells them he is traveling to Brazil and not taking Tess. His parents are alarmed and

disappointed, but Angel tells them they will meet Tess in a year, when he returns. His mother sadly demonstrates

her acceptance of Tess, even though Angel can’t look past her “trouble”.

Chapter 40

Angel plans the trip to Brazil and strangely meets Izz and invites her to Brazil but then returns her home when she

rightly claims no-one loves him as much as Tess does.

Like the visit to his parents, this proves him to be judgemental and impulsive whilst other characters emphasis Tess;

loyalty and nobility.

Chapter 41**

Tess finds sporadic work and manages to conceal her separation from home. In the meantime, Angel is ill in Brazil,

removed from Tess.

On the way home, Tess encounters the man from Chapter 33 and is forced to run and hide. She feels as though her

past and Alec are making her a “hunted soul”. Then she encounters the pheasants - “Poor darlings—to suppose

myself the most miserable being on earth in the sight o’ such misery as yours!” she exclaimed, her tears running

down as she killed the birds tenderly. In a literary sense, these flightless birds stand in sharp contrast to the high-

flying birds of Romantic poetry—we recall that Angel is compared to Shelley, who wrote an ode to a skylark.

Romantic birds leave the Earth below to soar into a higher plane of existence, but the birds here have no such luck,

having been shot down as Tess has been.

Tess’s killing of these suffering birds suggests that she is killing off that part of herself that has quietly accepted many

years of agony. After this scene Tess begins to show a more active resolution that culminates in her final murder of

Alec. Her newfound activity may not save her; indeed, her punishment for the murder, presumably death by

hanging, will snap her neck just like she snaps the necks of these pheasants. Nevertheless, it may be preferable to

her earlier passivity, providing her with a nobler way to face her fate.

Tess is too proud to ask for help from the Clares or admit what’s wrong to her family: because she remains loyal to

her sense of self and to other people, the situation in which Alec and Angel have placed her becomes impossible. The

happiness she knows at Talbothays is completely shattered, and the contrast between jovial Talbothays and cold,

hard Flintcomb-Ash hammers home Tess’s new life situation.

Chapter 42

Tess takes to making herself ugly to protect herself from lustful men, and she cuts off her eyebrows and dresses in

old, unattractive clothing. She reaches Flintcomb-Ash.

Chapter 43

Tess and Marian do hard labour, joined later by Izz. They are sent to work in the barn in the winter, and Tess meets

the man who owns the farm—it is the same man from Alec d’Urberville’s village. He accuses her of being a poor

worker, and she offers to work harder to compensate. Marian tells Tess that Angel invited Izz to travel with him to

Brazil, and Tess at first feels as though she should write to him. Before long, however, she is overcome by doubt as

to whether she really should.

Chapter 44

Tess decides to visit Angel’s family to discover what has happened to him and begins the long walk to the vicarage.

She takes off her boots and hides them, planning to put them on again for the walk home. She overhears Angel’s

brothers discussing Angel’s unfortunate marriage, and when they find her boots, they assume they belong to a

peasant. Tess is ashamed and unhappy and decides not to meet Angel’s family after all. She begins the walk home,

but she stops before a barn in which a passionate sermon is being delivered. She looks inside, and sees none other

than Alec d’Urberville.

Tess’s reencounter with Alec d’Urberville is staged at the moment of her greatest weakness, as she has gone to ask

for help from Angel’s parents. While “[grieving] for the beloved man whose unyielding judgment has caused her all

these later sorrows,” she encounters the man who condemned her to that judgment, and the stage is set for Tess’s

hardest challenge: to avoid the temptation to give in to Alec d’Urberville again in order to help herself and her

family. Hardy has arranged his story so that Tess’s most admirable strengths, such as her loyalty to her family, tempt

her toward her worst mistake. Fate manifests itself again in Tess’s visit to Angel’s family, in which her tragic course is

once again influenced by improbable circumstance. Had Tess not happened to overhear Felix and Cuthbert criticizing

Angel’s marriage, she might not leave when she does and see Alec at such a despairing and vulnerable moment.

Phase 6

Chapter 45 to 48

Tess is struck dumb when she first sees Alec; he chases her, and they end up at the symbolic Cross-in-hand

monument. He asks Tess to swear that she will never tempt him again, but when she asks a shepherd what it means

and learns it is an ill-omen. Though Alec seems at first to have undergone a remarkable transformation from a rake

into a pious and religious man, he discards this posture so effortlessly and quickly that it seems to have been a

superfluous charade—Alec’s attempts to contain his desire for Tess seem weak at best.

This proves true in the next chapter when Alec approaches Tess and asks her to marry him. He continues to

approach her and is rebuffed by Tess, who even slaps him. We might well view the relationship between Tess and

Alec as an allegory of good struggling with the temptation offered by evil – he offers money and security, two things

that would help her family’s ever-worsening situation. Tess writes a letter to Angel, asking for his help against this

temptation and professing her loyalty and love.

Chapter 49 to 52

More sorrowful news: Tess’ letter reaches Angel and he feels a powerful regret when a more experienced man says

he was wrong to leave her and then dies. Tess then receives her own bad news – her mother is dying and her father

is ill. She leaves for home immediately to work on the family’s land, with Alec once again haunting her and becoming

more of a temptation as the family situation worsens further. Then, her father dies, and the family fear losing their

house without him.

Phase the Sixth tells the story of Tess’s struggle to remain free from Alec despite her family’s increasingly desperate

plight, which Alec has the power to alleviate if Tess agrees to love him. Though Alec overtly plays the part of a villain

in this section, the real conflict is within Tess, as two of her deepest virtues, her integrity and her loyalty to her

family, prompt her in opposite directions. Her integrity demands that she stay away from Alec, whom she does not

love, but her duty to her family tempts her to go with him to save her mother and her siblings. Integrity wins out

throughout the section, but we get the sense that it is only a matter of time before Tess is forced to submit

Alec finally finishes the story of the coach from Chapter 33 after her marriage – a deadly foreshadowing of their

tragic ending – but she continues to refuse him. Instead, she decides to write Angel a final letter to say she will forget

him as she can’t forgive him. This section and part of the next is propelled along by a kind of race: Angel needs to

forgive Tess and return to her before she surrenders to Alec.

As Alec’s courtship of Tess increases in intensity, so does the string of misfortunes that plague Tess and her family.

Throughout, Alec is portrayed as a sinister and threatening figure even when supposedly in the grip of religious

conflict. Now, the family heads to Kingsbere for new lodgings but find the letter was late and the rooms are rented.

They end up sleeping in a churchyard, where Alec haunts her yet again. The supernatural, Gothic atmosphere of the

old d’Urberville mansion reappears here at the d’Urberville Aisle in the churchyard. Here, Tess, a real d’Urberville,

and Alec, an imposter, have one of their most solemn moments, as Alec asserts that he can do more for Tess than all

her lofty dead ancestors. Tess begins to realize the futility of claiming such an aristocratic legacy, since her ancestors

truly cannot help her at all. She begins to realize that Alec may be her only hope.

Phase 7

Chapter 53 to 59

Shift in narrative focus to Angel: he returns from Brazil to Tess’ most recent angry letter and worries she will not

forgive him. As he recovers at home and sends a letter to Marlott, the sense of the race intensifies with this shift in

focus. He sets out, travelling to the places of Tess’ unhappiness, and there’s a sense of impending dread when Joan

finally reveals that Tess is in Sandborne. This phase begins in an aura of mystery, as Hardy chooses not to narrate

the climax of Tess’s struggle—her return to the bed of Alec d’Urberville.

When he arrives at The Herons, we have a gradual, sickening sense of what to expect, but Angel has no idea. He

pleads for her forgiveness but Tess informs him that he’s too late. He rushes from the house and she rushes from the

room.

The narrative shifts again in Chapter 56** to Mrs Brooks for delayed suspense – she spies on Tess through the

keyhole and then notices the stain on the ceiling. Just as he excludes Tess’s return to Alec, he excludes her murder of

Alec. Just as an unsuspecting third party shows us that she has gone back to him, another unsuspecting third party

shows us that she has killed him. Tess’s mind has been at the center of the novel from its beginning, and practically

everything that has happened has been shown solely in its relation to her. By shifting attention away from her so

suddenly, Hardy creates the sense that Tess is already lost—though she is still alive, she has partially vanished into

the gloom of her fate. From that moment, the novel simply becomes a mechanical process leading to the inevitable

conclusion—Tess’s death.

Whether intentionally or not, Tess has fulfilled Angel’s proclamation that they cannot be together as long as Alec is

alive. The murder may appear justified to us at this point, after everything through which Alec has put Tess. But,

though we may sympathize with Tess’s actions, we know that Tess must now flee and live the life of a hunted

criminal. However, happiness occurs at last for 5 days for Tess and Angel at the mansion (which mirrors that of their

wedding night) until they’re discovered and must leave.

They end their journey at Stonehenge – the most Gothic of all the settings. She asks if he will marry Liza-Lu after her

death then falls asleep. By dawn they are surrounded. Tess feels strangely relieved when she wakes: “Justice” was

done, and the President of the Immortals (in Aeschylean phrase) had ended his sport with Tess.

Finally, Angel and Liza-Lu watch as a black flag is raised above the prison and then walk away, hand in hand. Perhaps

there is some sense of relief and resolution at last.