A pure woman faithfully presented Nicole Esbach
Tess of the d’Urbervilles is the kind of novel that you toss aside in frustration, only to resume angry-reading it until the very last page.The 19th century, Victorian novel by Thomas Hardy, is the literary equivalent of Precious followed by an entire season of Law and Order.The female protagonist, Tess, is positioned as a mere puppet of the gods –to be jostled by whims, patriarchal prejudices and then sacrificed or to be more precise, executed. Her journey through life begins with her hymen, and thus archaically viewed with her virtue still intact. Once severed outside of the social requirement of marriage (with or without her consent), she is considered reduced in moral value and consequently a point of ridicule. For in her world, if you are not Madonna (not to be confused with the sexual provocative, music icon of the same name) then you are a whore.
The story begins in a rural village where John Durbeyfield,a drunk and candidate for Worst Father of the Year learns of his noble heritage. The working class Durbeyfield soon feels elevated by his connection to the old, monied d’Ubervilles and goes off to celebrate this prestigious news in his preferred fashion. What follows is a succession of tragic events, resulting in the Durbeyfields requiring financial support. Evidently believing in presentation, they send their attractive, eldest daughter; who also happens to be the only one with a basic education to secure them the object of their desire from a family whom they mistakenly believe to be their next of kin. These d’Urbervilles, residents of the portentously named, The Slope, had in fact had their current illustrious named purchased by their father, Sam Stokes. At The Slopes, Tess becomes the object of desire of the entitled and smooth-talking Alec d’Urberville. Whom she believes is a distant cousin of hers due to his constant referral of her as being such. He relentlessly pursues her and she answers each advance with rejection. Not dismayed, the predatory Alec eventually rapes her. Tess pregnant with the child of her rapist, is viewed as having brought shame on her family. She is left to baptise and bury her infant son, named Sorrow alone when he dies. Two years later, she employed as a milkmaid at a dairy farm, Talbothays, she meets Angel Clare. She falls in love with the academic turned apprentice farmer, and typically views him as being her social and moral superior. Angel Clare, for his part falls in love with her or more truthfully falls in love with his image of her – that of an untouched earth goddess. The two marry, only to have said marriage severed after Tess follows Angel’s confession of his past sexual relations with her own. The earth goddess image ruined, Angel flees to Brazil leaving his new bride to fend for herself. Though not before soliciting one of her friends to accompany him in the capacity of mistress to Brazil. Earning him a leading spot in The Douche-Bag Hall of Fame.Tess, in an added cruel twist of fate, ends up working at the farm of the man who had painfully mocked her for her past tragedies. This is then soon followed by the meeting of the seemingly reformed Alec. Alec, the wandering Methodist preacher quickly abandons his proverbial Bible once he sees Tess, and resumes his base pursuit of her. In the end his persistence pays off when Tess’s mother and sister are left destitute by her father’s death and their lack of money. Angel Clare, the marital defector returns to England, remorseful, and attempts to find Tess. He finds her living as an upper class lady with her rapist. Upon seeing Angel, Tess blames Alec for their separation. Which she expresses by fatally stabbing him. She then runs off with Angel Clare to have what is essentially the Bonny and Clyde honeymoon package. On their final day, the police find her asleep at Stonehenge on a sacrificial altar, apparently inspired by symbolism they cart her off to be executed. While the recently blessed couple, Angel Clare and the dubiously named Liza Lu, sister of Tess looks on.
To sum up, Tess of the d’Urbervilles is a critique of Victorian society and its host of judgments as well as its narrow necessaries to be considered a somebody. Women are situated either as man-focused or the object of man’s focus; mere sexual adjuncts in a patriarchal world. Almost anything can be bought: a prestigious family name to gain entry into a higher social order. Indicative of the shift towards the new middle class. And lastly woman and her physical attributes, to be used as and when wanted as a whim or for the price of her family’s financial security. Tess had the unfortunate genetic curse of being born not only as a girl, but as a pretty girl in an environment that bred horrors that was consumed as acceptable daily occurrences. No wonder her only respite was death.
About Nicole:
Apparently nobody is perfect, yet here I am….living proof that that sentiment holds true. Champion of all things grey, voracious eater of the humble peanut (well pulverised into a delectable paste that is) and one existential crisis away from never speaking without using air quotes. Pet peeve: people who send me photographs of food. Instead of actual food. They should be phased out.
Check out her blog GrrrlGazette! It's funny!
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