“Once victim, always victim - that’s the law!”
My friend Rebekah and I finished Tess of the D’urbervilles (TOTD) by, Thomas Hardy at the end of last year, however, we were finally able to meet up and discuss this past weekend. Meeting in person is always more entertaining and we spend more time talking about everything else before we remember we have books to discuss. Oh, and there’s always good food and beverages!
TOTD centers around Tess, her assualt, the emotional toil this has on her, and how this incident impacts a future relationship. Hardy sheds light on the hypocrisy of Victorian society - men, regardless of what they’ve done in their past, get to be redeemed and reinvent their characters, whereas women are not granted this opportunity.
“As soon as she could reflect it appalled her, this change in their relative platforms. He who had wrought her undoing was now on the side of the Spirit, while she remained unregenerate.”
This commentary that Victorian society puts more pressure on women to be “pure,” also gives rise to the idea of “sin.” What is sin and what about a “sin” that is committed towards a person, that is out of their control? In a way, one could argue that Hardy is critiquing the church/religious system. All “sins” cannot be categorized in the same way; there are shades of grey and a level of empathy that needs to be present.
“But,” she said tremulously, “suppose your sin was not of your own seeking.”
In TOTD, we see that the experiences of women are not taken seriously and are often viewed as comedic from the other characters, even other women.
“Yes, there was pain in it. This question of a women telling her story - the heaviest of crossed to herself - seemed but amusement to others. It was as if people should laugh at martyrdom.”
This is consistent with the point that Hardy is making that, when men and women have a less than perfect background, it is women who suffer the most. We got the impression that Tess is a bit like a tragic Greek heroine - she endures horrible circumstances outside of her control and no matter how much she tries to move away from her past, she can’t escape. She also has a fatal flaw - she doesn’t stick up enough for herself. As the novel progresses, the reader can sense the pressure that is boiling up inside of Tess and we all know what happens when too much pressure builds up…
Another interesting element that Hardy weaves throughout this narrative is the concept of ancestry. How much are we destined to endure certain hardships, based on what our ancestors experienced? Can we fully break away from our heritage or is it impossible to escape one’s generational curses?
“Sinister design lurked in the woman’s features, a concentrated purpose of revenge on the other sex - so it seemed to him then. The Caroline bodice of the portrait was low - precisely as Tess’s had been when he tucked it in to show the necklace; and again he experienced the distressing sensation of a resemblance between them.”
TOTD is such a modern feeling text, even though it was first published in 1891. Hardy does an excellent job capturing the female voice, and if one didn’t know Hardy had written it, one would wonder if a women wrote this novel. Hardy just knows how to write about people - his characters are flawed and human. Also, one can’t review a Thomas Hardy novel without mentioning the beauty of his writing. Leave it to T-Hard to make the most mundane things in life, like milking a cow, seem poetic.
Yes, TOTD deals with challenging subjects, however, a lot is alluded to and it is not particularly graphic. If this novel were published in 2021, it’s likely that a contemporary author wouldn’t leave much to the imagination. It takes more skill to be subtle than to just throw things blatantly into a readers’ face.
Overall, Rebekah and I really enjoyed this novel!
Rating: 4/5.
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