LECTfIRE

Inh'oduction to the Victo an Ag (1830-1880)

Char!6s Dickens (t 812-1870)

lntroduction to the Victorian Age (1830-t 880)

The Victorian Age (1830-1880) is indebred for the name appropriation to Queen Victoria (1837-1901); she reigned for sixty fbur years and emerged as a symbol of
the rapidly growing British empire, The significance ofthe year 1832 (when the Vjctorian Age proper ;s considered to have started): first great poliiical reform biils" marking the advance oldemocracy

in England, were

passed;

in tle literary field, Walter Scotr, rhe most typical

Romantic .ovelist dies: Goethe, the great German Romantic poet also dies and

Lord Alfred Tennyson, the most

first volume ofpoetry;

Vi

odan of the Victorian poets, published his

There has been h-emendous progress and change in economy, society and culture: in a treatise on university education (1852), Newman included a desc.iption ofrhe gentleman that best surnmarizes the image most Victorians identified with:

"It is almost a definition ofa [...] He

has his eyes on

gentleman to say he is one who never inflicls pain.

all his company; he is tender towards rhe bashful, genrle

unseasonable allusions,

towards the distant and merciful to,ra.ds the absurd; he can recollect to whom he

is speaking; he guards against

or topics which

may

rrritate, he is seldom prominent in conversatlon, and never wearisome He Drakes

light of favours while he does them, and seems to be receiving when he is conferring. He never speaks of himself except when compelled, never defends
himseJl by a mere retort, he has no ears

lor slander or gossip, is scrupr_rlous in

impuiing motives to those who intefere wjth him, and inierprets every ihjng lor
the best".

Historically, what characteizes the 19d' century England is an eryansion ol the

cotniry'a froiaidra, *hich is paradoxicatly mingled frt1-B;iiaL--insutaiit

England controlled Egypt, the eastem part of the Mediterranean, India, South

Alrica, Caf,ada, Australi4 New Zealand and many other territories, almost one third ofthe v,,hole world

Iron $is

perspective,

it

can be viewed as coionial,

nationalistic and self-cenired; on lanuary 1'r 1876, cn an open plain in Delhi. an assembly

of govemors,

ambassadors, heads

of

adminisrradon, .uling Indian

princes, other chie6 and nobles were attending the Imperial Assemblage held on that day io proclaim Queen Victona Empress of lndia, the solerrn ceremony was

symbolic ofthe age, ofthe nineteenth century as a period in which the delineation

ofBritish national identity

was essential;

Yet, the Victorian Age can be considered to be more liberal and democratic in spirit than the l8'h century. In 1832, the first Reform Act was passed, meming the
extension ofvoting rights. This was followed by othet reforms, leading to better

in the Government, changes in the constitution and a modem system of parties. The most dramatic political change consisted in the
representation
achievement of universal suffrage;

. As far as the economic

level is concemed, there was an

unprccedenrcd

industrializat;on covering ali areas ofeconomic activity. lt is now that we wihess

the transition from small workshops to modern factories and

concentrating men and capital and affecting people,s iives

enterprises

(i

ustrated by Dickens

in his "industrial nove1s", such as Eard Tines, Dombey and San, i e poverty, the slums of London, the debtors'prison, the situation of the boarding houses) A
consequence

of industrial development: urbanization the rise of new industnal

towns, described by certain writers as..blackened', and .,monstlous,.i the best illustration ofthe industrial development ir early Victorian England was the Gre_et Exhibition (held in 185t

i.

the Crystal palace, in a huge glass building, pulled

down later and replaced by Victoria and Albeit Musexj), intended to show the
material progress ofnations that

will

lead to a peacelul well-being ofmankind,

The Victorian Age was a period of scientific progress scientific discoveries.

such as the ones produced by Cia.les Darwin wrth his evolutionary theory

oliife

on eafth in Origin ofSpecies (1850) and Descent ofMan (18' ) challenge man,s lrelieFirGxdardthrl6-Os.i&Tr6nTiil6i.ei1ot61he ..A!e

o?Doutt';

Actuaily, Da.win showed how the evolutionary change took place

as ihe pioduci sense

in

the

biological field to prove tiat "man makes himsell and is the changer of as well

of his environment. Coupled with material progress, the.e was a

happiness,

of intellectual enlightenment and a generai advance towards

juslice and Iiberty. There were opposite views as well, essayists, such as Carlyle,
Newman, Morris and Ruskin considered that civilization arld progress were a
monstrous aberration

ifyou do not know where to stop;

The development ofthe novel can be connected to material progress: paper was
cheap; there was a rise in literacy; people bought newspapen and magazines and

reading was a pastime; most Victorian novelisB published

tleir work in weekly/

monthly magazinest Dickens's magazine was called Ho sehold Words (special

Christmas, Easter issues)

General features ofthe V;ctorian novel

Wilkie Collins: "Make'em laugh, make'em cry, make'em waitl"

suspense in each

the recipe for

writing a good novel in the igth century: be comical, be sent;mental and create ofthe episodes published in magazines;
and,

Plot is not very essential in a Victorian novell the protagonist is vital

the hardships

usually, it is a hero full of optimism, aspirations and energy, srruggling against

oflife and who is rewarded in the endl

olthe
family life,

The typical Victorian novel is a happy ending, lvedding bell stereoR?e, \,r.hich
illustrates the
Themes
sp-id_t

age and the cult ofpeaceful

ofthe Victor;an novel

the social problems novel (city life, money, prisons, injusiice, povert),, orphans and
Expectations,

paupers Ch

Dickens: David Copperfeld. Great

Brcnt) Jane lir.e),

ltard

Tintes, Oliver Ttri.tr, Bleak Hause):

the govemess and iife in boarding houses (Ch.

life in an English traditional communjty in the counhyside

Tess olf the

(fh

Hardy:

D'Urbeh,i

I les)

life in a provrncial English lown

(C

il,it.- iaat"."rc4.

Charles Dickens (l 812-t 870)

D;ckens's novels best expiess iViikie Collins's idea ofa successful novei anrj irs

impact on the readers Also, Dickens offers the largest and most complete
panorama of Victorian England;

Lines ofdevelopment in Dickens's novelsl

thepi,are,qr.ct/r'rc l l,AricA Pol'n.'

the historical romance(Barnaby

MoItn, llt.tl.nttt
A Tale ofTy o Cities);

dge,

a mixtLre ofthe sentimenral and the realisr (Olivet T*ist, Little Doffi|
Old Curia:ity Shop);
the gloomy novel (Bleak Holtse,

Hdrd

line.r;

Dickens's best oroductions are those that combine the picaresque, the sentimental
and the realist, such as David Copperrtelcl and Great Expectations.

Themes ofDickens's novels'

the orphan and the

pauper it is Dickens's

best known theme, rvhich

gives him the possibilill, to describe poverty and decay as the marn
condition ofthe people in Victorian England; it also enables the writer ro
describe characters free of social constraints and parental guidance, who

usually r;se from rags to riches, set a good exampie and the novei ends happily;

_ .

urban lrle and industnalizalion

money;
education and rhe shaping ofpenonaliry

Great Expectalonr (Dickens's 13u novel, publrshed' 1860-t, seria

composed

and published); sources and context: the bildungsroman, autobiognphy, Golhic

Frction and Victorianism.

- plot: Philip Pirrip (Pip), an or?han raiscd by an older srsrer and her husband.

visits the gBveyard and encounters an escaped convict, Ir{agwitch, whom he

helps. The two convicts and enemies, Magwitch and Compeyson, a.e
captured. Pip visits Satis House, where weird Miss I{avisham, who had been

left as a bride in 6ont ofttie alter and preserved everything untouched srnce

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LECTTIRE 2

The Brontes were a strange and interesting family. Socially, they belonged to the

"petty bourgeoisie", mmning that they were entrapped between the upper class
(edlrcated,

with money) and the working class (non-educated, wiihout moncy)

The Brontds had money but they did not have wealth. Patrick Bronte, the father,

\\?s a curate, a country priest, and the girls, Charlotte, Emily and Anne, had to work as govemesses, after graduating the boardins school, in order to eam their living;

The social position ofa govemess was tiat ofan upper servant: she depended on the family for whom she worked; she had less fiee time tian the other servants

and she was lonely because her education would segregate her ftom the otler serva.ts Each ofthe Bronte sisters had this experience and hated it;

The Brontes's lives at l{aworth, the place whe.e they we.e bom and spent most

of

their lives, in the middle ofthe moors, made them psychologically isolated. They

of their Irish o.igin and because of their poverty. However, they were attached to each other, which was more than a source of
because

feit like oulsiders

special strength; it r,'as a necessity. Tle most solitary in the family was Emily, who spoke less and spent more time on the moors.

As children and as young women, the sisters were lamiliar with both tle ideological debates popular in the JoumaJs ol therr time and with rlre late
flickering ofEuropean Romanticism. To this, they added the Gorhic fantasy of their secluded but imaginative life. Therefore, Romantic elements mingle with
realism and the Gothic in the sisters' work, publjshed as it was customary, under a pseudonym, iheBell sisters

The girls also had a brother, Bmnwell, very gifted at drawing. So, all five
members

ofthe Bront

lia..nily were writers and artists and all, but Branwell,

will

--pDbfish-at-fcast

-ne toot. Emily and Arure died young, of

consumption.

Branwell's life also ended tragically, when he was

in his 3Os He dies an

alcoholic, suffering of a tragic love story. Charlotte, the strongest in the frmily,
was the only one to get manied but she died soon, in childbirth. Thus, PairicL was

left alonet

Charlotte B.onta

(1 8

16-l 855)

In her novels, Charlotte Bronte generally followed the pattem ofthe Vrctorian
nar.ative, made up

offour paris: L the establishment ofthe settlement; 2. the

disrupdon of the settlemeni; 3. the re-establishing ofthe settlemeni and

4 lie

happy ending. According the con!ntion, the Victonan novel had to end

happiiy as gloomy characters ard pessimism were not considered to be

suitable features ofa sr.rccessful novel;

Charlotte Brontd's besi novel, Jane Eyre (184'/),

is a Romantic

work,

revealing aspects ofthe author's Iife. The novel is a work offiction with a few

biogriphical insertions, as was customary at the time. Apaft from the real
suffering that Charlotte must have felt at the boarding school and the fact that
Jane is projection

ofCharlotte's own heart and mind, nothing thai is described

happened; the stucture is Victonan; the themes are

in the novel actually

Victorian: the orphan, arriage and the govemess; the love s1ory is Romantic
and there are also Gothic elements, i.e. Rochester's mad wife. The novel opens with a seemingly stable settlement which js shortly disrupted

by the exaggerated behaviour of a

teena-qer

boy and the "blndness,, of

tle

adults in the house. Jane's misfortunes stafi here. The novel tackies the theme of the orphan; Jane is ar orphan with no money, living on the chanry of her relatives

Iler

lifeline contains unexpected events. She passes through a series ofmisfortunes

Lrntil she eventually obtains what she deserves: happiness. There are severai

sages in -lane's iilb which follow the disruption ofthe settJemen!: the years spent

al the boarding school, the time spent at Rochester's

house as a

governess and her fal)ing in love with him;

h-er nfrn-ing a!hi, fi'brn-hislioiije

and the time spent at Moor house, her retum to Thomfield Hall and her
marriage to Rochester, which re-establishes the settlement_

The nct,el is extremely complex: fulfillment .,,,i*.h thc rJicrorians in gencral,

and with Ch. Brontd in particular, equals appeasement: Jane's rejection of an

adulterous relationship with Rochester, revealing her Victorian morality, is complemented later
respectable prospect

in the novel by her firm rejection ol a

as a missionary's

somberly

ofa life

wife, which unveils her deeply

Rornantic dreams Jane's wish is to find a pa.tner worthy

her refined conscience and herdetermined

ofher intelligence,

sell

Emily B.onte (1818-1848)

Emily Brcnte's only novel ls thnheing HeTgrls (1847)

ir is a trag;c love

story, Romantic in point of contenl characten, and atn0osphere, which

also verges the Gothic; also Victorian,

generation of characters and

in point of

theme (second

tleir

serene love) and modem, in point

of

form (the Chinese boxes techaique):

The novel opens with the meeting oftwo characters, boti major narrato.s in the book: Lockwood, the initial narrator and an unreliable narrator, who
tends to jump to conclusions as far as the landiord at Wuthering Heights and the estate as expressive of its master's aggression, are concemed, and

Heathcliff- one of the protagonists ofthe story. Lockwood has come to Heights to arrange accommodation at Thrushcross Crange, which is also
owned by Heathcliff, who, thus, enters the story as a iandlord and not as a

lover Both socially and geographically, Lockwood and Heathcliff belong to completely different worlds. It is a confrontation of language and
attitude. Their first meeting takes place across a significant barrier (the
gate on which Heathcliff leans), so tiere are different kinds of distances

civiliation in a fit of fashionable melancholy, however, he belongs io the "civilized" world

between them- Lockwood banished himself from the

Heathcliff is a symbol ofthe wild forces in man: he lives in the civilized wo.ld but does not belong to it;

While Lockwood's first meetirg with Heaihcliff rs in talkins, his first

meeting with Catherine, the female protagonist, is in writing. Lockwood is

put to bed, because of bad weather, at Heights, in a room where he finds

Catherine's books and he has a ve.y strange dream, both being revelatory
as far as Catherine's characte. is concerned. Discus chapter

III

she enters

the story through the margin

ofa "legitimare" text on which

she had made

notes (the Bible); similarly, to

Heathclifl Catherine is marginalized; the

family names: Eamshaw, Linton and Heathcliff (Catherine Eamshaw marries Edgar Linton; her daughter, Cath], Linton mellies Linton
Ileathcli&, who is Heatlcliff and Isabella Linton's son and who dies young; then, young Cathy marr;es Hareton Eamshaw and becomes
Catherine Earnshaw and the novel gets circular). AAer reading Catheri.e's

diary, Lockwood encounters her in a dream. Or is

it a dream?

k it a

;sitation fiom

a ghost? The transition

fiom a dream staie to a wide-awake

one is smooth (there are verbs

tlat

chamcterize the speaker's actions and

:

the emergence of the fantastic). Catherine describes herself as a ..waif

her appearance is thai

ofa child)

and her chaacter is that

ofan outsider,

femaie outiaw,just like Heathcliff

Lockwood is taken ill and has to spend some time in bed at Thrushcross
Crrange Nelly Dean, the housekeeper, takes care of him and telis him the

tragic love story between Cather;ne and Heathcliff, thus becoming

.econd major ndfia'or.

Heathcliffis described

as a child as a "gypsy

bat", found in the streeis ol

Liverpool, homeless and starving, by Mr. Eamshaw, Carherine and

Hrndley's fathel and brought home Supposedly an Insh child (in the
1840s, in the streets because

ofliverpool

there were hish children leaving Ireland

ofthe potato famine); he is named Heathcliff and raised by the

family though he is not welcome in the house. A very strong attaGhment

grows betweerr atherine arrd 'him: Their

mify-is

disrupted by an

incidentalvisit to Tlrushcross Grange, the Linions' estate, by Catherine's

accident and her spending some time there Catherine is fascinated by the splendo.rr sho sees there.

Discuss chapter \al: similar approach of introduction to the two places

the reader ls introduced to Wuthe.ing Heights through the eyes of

stranger, Thrushcross Grange is first seen by the outsiders, Catherine and

Heaihcliff, through a window, who discover Edgar and Isabella Linton,

brother and sister, fighting over a puppy

primeval instinct at the heart

of

the "civiiized world"; while Heathcliff keeps a lucid eye, Cathrine is

fascinated by what she sees at the Grange and, following her having been

bitten by the dog, she remains there for a while; Catherine undergoes an incomplete transformation; she is only half-tumed into a lady, yet, this

will trigger

marriage to Linton

ald

a sepamtion from Heathcliff, though

help Heathcliffagainst Hindtey.

she secretly hopes

tiat her decision will

Discuss chapter D(: Catherine confesses to Nelly her feelings and her decisions; Nelly Dean proves incapable to understand the protagonist's
passion and give the right advice; Catherine deceives herselfand ignores

reaiity: the consequences

of a

separation from Heathcliff and her

responsibility as Edgar's wlfe; Catherine describes her relationship with Edgar through clichds and ihrough an analogy with transitory "foliage",
whereas, her identification with Heathcliff is timeless and enduring like

"rocks"; Catherine cannot harmon;e her two divided selves.

Heathcliff ieaves afler hearjng Catierine's decision and comes back

planning to revenge fot aii
edr-rcated, elopes

tie misfortunes he had to suffer He

returns

with Isabella and treats her badly. When Catierine dies,

Heathcliff prays that she may not have rest urtil he himself id dead. He
begs her to haunt him and predicts an existence of

living death for himself

Catherine dies because this seems the only way to renew her absolute
bond with him, which is worth sacrificing anlthing

"

The ending ofthe novel atternpts to reestablish the settlernent: Heathcliff

a'nd Caih6iinii-are

ieunjiei

in d-eaih-airdyoune Cathy manies Hareton. The

second generation seems

to reach the

happiness the

first craved for

However, the setdement is not as peaceful as it may appear; there are

rumours thai Heathcliffand Cather;ne may have survived as ghosts in the

i;fe ofthe other characters. This is one more mystery, adding to the others

in the other ones, i.e Catherine s apparition in Lockwood's dream and

Hindley's death or murder.

One

ofthe striking aspects cfthe novel is the large number ofnarrators

two major ones, Lockwood and Nelly Dean; three narrators: Heathclifl
Isabella and Catherine

in her diary,

whose points

of view are

also

important for the understanding of the events, and two minor nanators:
young Catherine and Zillah, whose reports do not affect the development

oi tle nar.ntive. Lockwood's repod opens and closes the narrative. He is

an ouisider, offering an "objective" account. He seems unable

to

understand real passion or, at least, he is reluctant to express such feelings

other than through siereotypes. He listens to Mrs. Dean's story as to

fiction. Nelly Dezn, the second major narrator, is more involved in the
events. She considers herselfreasonable and wise, as a consequence

ofher
Cathy,

severe education; so, she carmot sl.rnpathise wrth Heathcliff

whose passion challenges her principles.

or

Djscuss Mengham's study,

ch 7: k Heathcliff a demonic figure or

is he a

r.lrongly marginalized boy who tumed into an utterly &ustated man? Djd

Heathcliffcommit the cruelest crime ofall, murder? Nelly Dean receives three accounts ol Hindley's death: Mr. Kenneth's - ihe apothecary,

Heathclifs and Joseph's

rhe manservant at Wuthering Heights The

rrr..iter's merit is to have lefl us with a fascinating enigma Djd Heathcliff

stifle Hindley? Did ne watch tle man die without helping him? Or was
Heathcliff an innocent witness to lljndley's self-destruction?

Devilish features

of

Heathcliff: the p.ejudices

of the other
for
cathy,
dogs);

characters and because

ofhis

acts. Lockwood's peNpective: based

on

appeaErnc!,s, paradoxicl

halsh but tender

uafriendJy an&{erocious ("diabolical sneei',

like his

Nellys's perspective: unknown origils (less human, ,.as dark as

if

it

came from the devil"), rejected because

of his language
in Heathclills

("gibberish"), narginalized as

"if',

'thing", campaigned against by

Ne)ly and Hindley; vindictiveness was always

nature; he remains devilish in Nelly's eyes since she connecis this

attribute to his mistrust but the thought of revenge is planted by

Nelly herself in him; Hindley labels Heathcliff as "imp of Saran"

because

of his unnatural powers of endurance and because of his

cunning; he

is described as "a fierce, pitiless, wolfish

man,'

inflicting mechanical brutality on Isabella. He uses his maniage to

Isabella as a materral advantage and to hit back at Edgar

Heathcliff is trustrated in Catherine's absence; he is sad, enraged;

Nelly's final assessmentt he may be a ghost, anyway, he is hard to fit into a category; Heathciiffassumes his fiendishness and looks at
it with wry homour and he knows he does not fir into a pattem.

Both Heathcliff and Rochester a.e represented through classic V;ctorian images ofracial difference When they are characterized
as oppressed, outcast, or "othei', ttrey are associated with mid-

nineteenth century stereotypes

of the

simianized kish. ptutch

(1862): "A creature manifestly berween the Gorilla and the Negro

is to be met with in some ofthe Iowest districts of London and

Liverpool by adventurous explorers. It comes from Ireland. whence it has contrived to migrate; it belongs in fact to a tribe of

Irish savages: the lowest species of the Irish yahoo. When conversing with its kind ir talks a sod oI gibberish,,.
When they are in a position ofdominance, they are characterized

as "o.iental despots". Heathclilf is described as an Indian or

Chinese pnnce. Rochester is called an emir, a sultan, the Grand

'Iurk. So, there are over

references

to orientalism.

Rochester,s

description depicts a dark,skinned and ugly man, unlike the true

"English twe". Also, the intensify ofHeathcliffs and Rochester's

attachments represents a Victorian stereot,?e

oflrish behaviour.

Bibliography

Bronte, Emily. mtthering Heights. Londoni Wordsworth, 1992. Bronie, Charlotte. Ja,e

r/e.

London: Penguin, 1994.

Ciugureanu, Adina yictoian Selves (A Stt(b) in the Lherahte

ol the Viclorian Agc)

"Lady Novelists and the Female Self', pp. 87-116. Constantar Ovidius Universrry
Press, 2004

Mengham. Rod.

Enily Brone - Witheing Heights. Pengutn Critical

Studies,

Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, i983.

Michie,

B. Elsie. "'The Yahoo, Not the Demon': Heathcliff,

tlictoian

Rochester and the

Simianization of the Irish". pp. 46-'78. Atltide the Pale.

Gender Diflerence and the
1993.

Aintral

Exchtsnn,

Woman Writer. Comell University press,

Sudrerland, John. "Is Heathcliff a Murderc{|", pp. 53-65. Ptzzles in Nineteenth-Cenfitry

Literaturc.

Oxlo

Oxford Un iversity Press, 1996.

I,ECTI,'RE 3
Thonas Hardy (1840-!928)

Background: bom Dorset, in the south of England; his father

an independent

masoni his mother was well-educated and will provide for her son,s educatron, Thomas Hardy was an out-of-wedlock child (a detail rhat marked his writings.

together with a sense

of pessimism and of lack of fiee wtll.

'l'e.ts

af

the

D'Urben,illes, Jude rhe Obsate), he was trained as an architect and he went to London but, in 1867, he retumed to Dorset to take up $riting; he married twice

lst wife, Emma Giford he became estranged fiom

1914-

her and she died

in l9l2;

wrfe, his secretary, Fiorence Dugdale, though married to her, Hardy

seemed to have moumed Emma's death;

Unlike Dickens, who focuses on town life, Hardy is interested in rural life,
tmditional crafts, the seasons and deep-rooted passions and love; his novels are set in Wessex, an are in the soutl-west ofEngland (the Anglo-Saxon name of the kingdom); the similarity between the two writers consists in their agreement conceming the bad side of industrial progress Dickens describes the evils of industrialization in cities, whereas Hardy emphasizes infemal places, because of industrial progress, in the countryside;

Most popular novels: Desperate Remedies (1871); A pab of Bhte Eyes (1873), Far lron the Madding Ctu\,d (1874), The Retum of the Narite (1878), ?he Mayor
o1l

Casterbridge (t886), Te$ ol.the

D'Llrbeni es (1891.1 anct Jutte

rhe

Obsc re (1896);

Hardy started his career as a novelist in

i87l

and e.ded it in 1896, between 1892

and 1928 he published several volumes of po efly.. We.rsex poems, poems oJ past and Pre.tent, Winter Words: Hatdy took to poelry l\riting because ofthe troubles
he had in publishing his lasi two novels

Tess o:f the

D'Llrbenil/er

was cut for

serialization so that the navel prepared for the first edition, which llardy revised,
was &-..l0OpagesirnplHc-nrelodrar':la:Jfid7he-Obsa,re was banned and rejected

because

ofthe Jude's incestuous relationship with his cousin

Sue and what was

considered as an improbable murder ofJude's children by Sue by his child by his

first w;ie.

.
a)

Themes:

the nature

theme

naiure becomes a cha.acter, woven into the textu.e ofthe plot

in

]n

7b.r.t

a/ the D'th.ben'illes, there are two symbolic settings (farms) set

contrast: Talbothays (the romantic pasto.al) and Flintcomb-Ash (the scientific

battleground). The two settings are representative ofgood and evjl, Eden and the

Inferno. Key terms for Talbolhays: humidity, perfume, brimfulness, lrrxury and
drowsiness; Tess feels at home, being a daughter

of

nature; the atmosphere is

pleasant; people milk cows and make butter; there is no hierarchy and no hatred

or revenge; the girls behave nicely towards each orier yet, thjs ferlility seeEs excessive and maddens the characters, triggering their passionate sides. In
contrast, Flintcomb Ash is depicted as an tnlbmo; a\&ful wearAer, bad people;

rle

girls are lonely; Alec enters the scene again; the int.oduction ofmachines, seen as monsters, is held responsible for people,s miserable lives. Traditional farming rs
seen as Paradise, whereas modem farming is associated with Hell. Form a

Marxist

perspective, the two farms are symbolical ofgood and evii ir) social te.mst classes

villages, continuity and survival are opposed to class division, decay and rurn, causing failure and tlagedy.

There is also Stonehenge

the heathen temple, where Tess is found by the police.

Hardy describes instances

of l9u

century English countryJife, imbued with

paganism: the May Day women dance in the field at the beginning

ofthe novel

On the other hand, the country iife is rooted in the presenl as Hardy ironically
relers to a Sunday moming local custom, i.e. all the people in the parish go to tjle pub for a drink after the mass. The conclusion would be that nature may seen as either reflecting the protagonist's siate or atemporal, ahistorical, infinite perennial

and insensitive to characters' suffering, the latter symbolizing the opposiie, the
temporal,
fi

nite, ephemerous, insignifi cant;

studres-

b) lhe fate theme - Darwin's

grEfr ihpact on Hardy's

Orr, s ofspecies

and Descent

of Man have a

noveliffiii iirilike Darwin, who is optimistjC in Fia

conception of the evolution of the being into superio. fo.ms, Hardy reads the

a 'defective evolution' in a climate of doubt and asnosticism and denies an], kind of evollrtion of the consciousness towards happiness. Hardy's cha.acters are eventually victims of chance (of "Blind
evolution
species as

of

Destiny" or "the purblind Doomster", as Iturdy calls it in a poem, which govem

the universe) Besides determinism and agnosticism, Hardy's writings are also
characierized
George

by epicurianism, by the epicurean living of he moment; unlike

ofthem being strong; therefore,

Eliofs chamcters, who are characterized by intellectual passions, Hardy's

always rragic:

characters are passionate, sensual, the animal side

plol wrth Hard)

rs

c)

a sub-theme of the theme of fate: coincidence

most coincidenral happenin-qs in

Hardy's novels have a profounci influence on the development ofthe plot. In fers

of the D'Urbervilles, rhe story is triggered by John Durbeyfield meeting the

parsoa and by the laiter's confession to John rcgarding his noble ancestors. Aiso,

the series ofmishaps in Tess's life after her marriage to Angel Clare could have
been stopped

if her letter of confession had ,ot gone under the carpet and Angel

had been able ro read rt,

d) the

woman-as-a-victim fieme

womon as victims of heredity, fate, want of

morey, few opportunities to accede to culture, her secondary position to man. In Tess o:f the D Urben,illes, the protagonisr,s joumey througl life consists of a
series of payments: she pays

for her own

sense

of guilt over the death ofthe

family horse, Prince; she pays for the loss ofinnocence and ofher child; she pays with he. hard work at Flinrcomb-Ash; she pays with humility and pride when she
visirs Angei's parents; she pays by selling herselffor her family and she pays wirh
her lrfe lor krllrng Ale,

The pattern

ofllardy's novels: the triangle either

one woman and two

men, Tess and Alec and

Angel

or one man and two women, Jude and

Arabeila and Sue; Tess js drawn to Alec by her passionate side and to

Argle by her spi.itualized side; Jude also depicts the two facets of the
same

coin

Jude is stiracted to Arabella by h,s passionate side and to Sue

. _

_*_5y-his-refirred-side*., -_.,. _._ , .- ..

Tess

ol the D'Urberyilles (189 t)

Phase the

Fi$t: The Maiden

Tess is the eldest daughter ofJohn and Joan Durbe,field; they were peasanis One
day, on his way home to the village of Marlott. John he meets parson Tringham, who
addresses him as "Sir

John" Wlen he asks for an explanation, Tringham informs hrm

that he has noble blood, 'Durbeyfield, is a corruption of ,D'Urberville,, the sumame

of

noble Norman family, nolv extinct. The news ha desastrous consequences Meanwhile, Tess is on her way to the village May Dance when she sees her father

iding

past in a carriage, singi.g about his noble ancestors. Embarrassed, she makes

an excuse for him a,1d cont;nues on her

way At the

dance, she b.iefly meets Angel

Clare, the youngest so, ofReverend James Clare, who is on a walking tour with his

two brothers He stops to join the dance and dances with other girls. On leaving, he
notices Tess, and though wishing to dance with her, hejoins his brothers.

Later, at home, Tess leams the rcason for her fathe/s behaviour when she is info.med ol rhe family,s noble lineage. Hoping to find Tess a rich husband, Joan
decides to send her to ,,claim kin,,with a weahhy frmily, the Stoke_durbervilles, in Trantridge. That night, Tess iblls asleep while driving io market her father being too dnrnk to undertake thejoumey himself- and

tie family,s only

horse, prince, wanders

into the path of anotler vehicle and is killed Feiling guitly, Tess agrees to her
mother's plan.

In reaiity, the blind N{rs. d,Urberville is not relared to rhe Durbeyfields or the
original d'Urbervilles; her husbard, Simon Stoke simply bought tie title However, her son, AIec d'Urberville, Iikes Tess and offe.s her a posifion as poultry kceper on
the d'Urbervilie estate. He immediately begins rnaking advances; although flattered by the attention, she resists. Late one night, however, whlle waiking home Iiom town

with some other Trantridge work folk, Tess upsets Alec's latest favourite, and finds herself in conflict with her When Alec rides up and offers to tescue, her Jiom the
situation, she accepts. He does not take ber irome, howevel but rides at random -lhroogt the- Fog until tley reach an anelEnt ,,The Chase". ffe-re, AIec ltidve called

informs her that he is lost and he leaves on foot to look for help as Tess falls asleep
undemeath the coat he's lent her.

Affer Alec

comes back, there the seduction/ rape

Phase the Second: Maiden No More

After a lew rveeks ofconfusion, Tess begins to despise Alec. Against his wishes, she
goes home. The nexi summer, she gives birth to sickly boy who lives only a week. On

his last night alive, Tess baptises him herselland christens him'Sonow', her father
having locked the door because he does not want her to send for the parson. Tess has
to bury Sorrow in unconsecrated ground, and lays flowers by him in an empry jar. Phase the

Third: The Rally

Alier more than two years Tess, now twenty, is ready to make a new start. She looks
for ajob ouiside ihe viilagq where her past is not known, and finds one as a milkmaid ai Talbothays Dairy in a fertile valley some miles off, working for the Cricks. There,

she befriends tlrree

of her fellow

milkmaids, Izz, Retty, and Marian, and re-

encoulters Angel Clare, who is now an apprentice farmer and has come to Talbothays

to Ieam dairy managoment. Although the other tlree milkmaids are m love for him,
Angel chooses Tess and the two gradually fall in love
Phas the Foufth: The Consequence

Angel decides to spend a few days away from the dairy visiiing his family

ar

Eominster. He discusses his marriage prospects with his father The Clares have
hoped that Angel \.\.ill marry Mercy Chant, a schoolmistress in their village, but Angej argues that a wife who understands farm

life would be a more pmctical choice He

tells his parents about Tess, and they agree to meet her. His li.ther also says he will

give Angel ihe money saved for his university education to buy some land_ Before

Angel leaves, ihe Reverend James Clare tells him about his effons to convert the Iocal population, and mentions his failure to tame a young man named Alec
d'Urberville.

Angel retums to Talbothays and asks Tess to marry him This puls Tess in a paiaful dilemma. She does not want to deceive him but postpones confessing for lear oflosing his love. Such is her passion for him that she finally agrees to the marriage,
explainiog-drat.she hesitated-beoauseshdha&heaidfie

lsted old famihes

and thought

he would not approve of her d'Urberville ancestry_ He is pleased by her mock

confession, however, because he tlrinks it
his family

will make her more suitable in the eyes of

As the maniage approaches, Tess grows increasingly troubled She writes to her

mother for advice; Joan tells he. to keep silent about her past Tess resolves to
deceive him no more, and on the night before the wedding, she writes a letter
describing her past and slips it under his door. FIe greets her with the usual affection the next moming; however, she tlen discovers the letter unde. his carpet and realises
he hds not seen ir. She destroys Ihe

lener

The wedding goes smoothly They spend their wedding night at the old
d'Urberville family mansion, where Aagel gives Tess some diamonds that belonged

to his godmother. Angel then confesses to an affair he had wrth an older woman
relationship with AJec.
Phase the

Ln

London; when she hears t}is, sure ofhis forgiveness, Tess finally tells him about her

Fifth: The Woman Pays

Although Tess forgives Angei's past, he is so affected by hers that he spends the wedding night on a sofa. Tess, although devastated, accep8 the sudden estrangement
as a punishment.

Aier

a few

a*{ui days, she

suggests that they separate, teliing her money and tells her ire
to

husband she

will retum to her parents. Angel gives her some

will try to reconcile himself to her past, but wams her not to try

join him until he iife

sends for her. Aiter a quick visit to his parenis, he goes to Blazil to stad a new

Before he leaves, he encounteB Izz Huett and impulsively asks her to come to Brazil

with him. She accepts, but when he asks her how much she loves him. she admib that no more than Tess. Hearing this, he abandons the rdea, and Izz goes home weeping

biterly life begins She retums home for a time but, finding this unbearable, decides to join Marian a,.rd Izz at Flintcombe-Ash. On the
Tess's road, she is recognised and insulted by a farmer named Groby (the same man who insulted her in front ofAngel); this man proves to be her new employer At the famr,
the three

A very djficult period in

fomer milkmaids perform very hard physical Iabour.

One day, Tess attempts to visit Argel's family in Emminster. As she draws near

her destination, she encounters his older brothers and the woman his parents once
hoped he wc'Jld rxani,, tr-{ercy Chant They do not recognise heq but she o'"eihcais

them discussing Angel's unwise marriage; shamed, she tums back. On the way, she overhears

wandering preacher and

is

shocked

to

discover that he

is

Alec

d'Urberville, who has been converted to Christianity under the Reverend

Clare's inflL:ence. Phase the Sixth: The Convert

James

Alec and Tess are each shaken by their encounter, and Alec begs Tess never to tempt him again. However, Alec soon comes to Flintcomb-Ash to ask Tess to marry him.
She tells him she is already married. He refums in early spring when Tess is at work

feeding a fireshing machine. He tells her he is no longer a preacher and wants her to
be with him. She slaps him when he insults Angel. Tess then leams 1iom her sisiet

Liza-Lu, that her mother, Joan, is dying and her father is very

ili

Tess rushes home to

look after them; her mother soon recovers, but herfather unexpectedly dies.
The family is now evicred from their home as Durbeyfield had only a life iease on

the family cottage. Alec tells Tess her husband is never coming back, and offe.s to
house the Durbeyfields on his estate and send the children to school. Tess refuses his assjstance. Tess has previously written Angel a letter,

full oflove

aad self-abasementi

now, however, she finally admits to herselftiat Angel has wronged her and scribbles a hasty note saying she

will do all she can to forget him, since he has treated hei so

unjustly.

Nexl day, they load their belongings onio a hired cart and leave lor Kingsbere, home of the d'Urbervilles, where Joan has rcserved some rooms When they arivc,
the Durbeyfields find that their rooms have already been rented a.1d are forced to take

shelter in the chu.chyard_ Here, AJec reappears. In the meantime, Angel has been

ill in Bmzil and, his faming venture having failed, he heads home for England. Aier a long meditation oD the words of a stanger to whom he confessed his
very
treatment ofhis wife, Angel repents.

Phase the Seventh:

Fulfilment

On his retum to his family homq Angel receives two letters: Tess,s angry note and a

lew lines lioni two well-wisheis' (izz and Marian), waming hiiil io pro1e.1 his wife

from "an enemy in the shape ofa fiiend." He sets out to find Tess and eventually
locates Joan, now well-dressed and

iiving in a pleasant cottage. Afier responding

evasively to his inquiries, she finally tells him her daughter has gone to Iive in
Sandbourne, a fashionable seaside resod. There, he tracks Tess down to ao expensr!,e house, where she is living under the name "Mrs. d,Urbervilie.,, He asks for her; she comes downstairs, startling him with her eiegant clothing and she is cold and distant

He tenderly asks her forgiveness; Tess, in anguish, tells him he is late

thinking he would never retum, she yielded at last to Alec d,Urberville,s persuasron
and has become his mistress. She gently asks Angel to leave and never come back
He departs, and Tess retums to her aparh.nent, where she falls to her knees and begins
a lamentation. When Alec asks her what's wiong- she tells him about Argel,s visit and

that,

wails that now she has lost him forever because she beiieved his lies
husband would never come back

that her

for her. Later, the landlady

sees Tess leave

tle

house, then notices a spreading red spot on the

cilhg that resembles a bloodstarn.

She summons help and Alec is soon found stabbed to death in his bed. Tess

huries after Algeland tells him that she hasjust kjiied AIec, saying now she

hopes she has won his forgiveness by murdering the man who spoiled both their lives.

Angel doesn't believe her at fiIst, but grants his forgiveness and tells her tlrat he lovcs

her Rather than head for the coast, they walk inland, vaguely planning to hide
somewhere until the search fo. Tess is ended and they can escape ab.oad from a pofl

They find an empty mansion and stay there for five days in blisstul happiiress until theirpresence is discovered one day by the cleaning woman. They leave at once and arrive that evening at Stonehenge. Tess lies down to rest
on an ancient altar Before she falls asieep, she asks Angel to iook alier her younger sister, Liza-Lu, saying she hopes Angel

will marry her after she is dead. At

dawrr,

Argel

sees that they are surrounded; policemen a.e moving

in fiom all sides. He

finally realises that Tess really has committed murder, and asks the men in a whisper
to let her awaken naturally before they arest her.

Tess is escorted to Winchester prison. The novel closes with Argel and Liza-LLr

watching Fom a nearby

hill

as the black flag signalling Tess's execution is raised

over the p.ison. The tu,c fien

jcin hands and go on their

-,\,ai,.

Title, subtitle and sttucture: Hardy revised rhe first edition for publication and
added a subtitle

"A

Pure Woman";

if

the title of the novel shows us that the

10 emphasize

protagonist is Tess, Hardy's intention, in using the subtitle, is

Tess's

purity and her position as a victjm. The novel is structured in phases (The Maiderr, Maiden no More, The Rally, The Consequence, The Woman pays, The Conven,

Fulfillment) Tess's life

starts, develops and ends within these phases (each

phase, except for the 6d concerlle.t \,,,ith AIec, who has become temporarily a preacher, being convefted to Christianity by Aneel's father. focuses on her iife

The movement

oftle

novel is rhlthmical, structured on a pattem

of.fall,

and

'rally' The last phase is'Fulfiilment'

a) of fate and of gods' wrll ("Justice was done and rhe president of the
Immortals had ended his sport with Tess"); Tess is a toy in the hands of a pagan

divinity (she is found by the police at Sronehenge) and her dearh represents the fulfi lll,ent of her destiny; with Angel (her words before being taken by ihe police: ..I,m almost glad. This
happiness could not have lasted");

b) olTess's happiness

she realizes she probably wouldn't have been happy

c) Angel's life

will

be

fuifilled by marrying Tess's sister,

as he had promised Tess

(Text

l: Liza-Lu's

description: she look like Tess, only slimmer, purer, lacking

Tess's passion, a surogate image of Tess, more suiiable to Angel than the protagonist; the key to tie future of the relationship iies probably in the rerm 'spiritualized' attached to Liza Lu - 'fess,s younger sister will remain a
spiritualized versron ofher sister, the 'pure woman's, essence). Tess's po.traii: Tess can be chamcterized as split between .spirit, (through which
she is drawn to Angel) and 'flesh' (through which she is drawn ro Alec),

identification and discussion ofthe red colour imagery: tex12: peony mouth, the red ribbon, innocent eyes and white dress; tex13: the blood ofthe injured horse splashes'IeSS;

text 4: roses and strawbenies, Tess is pricked by a thom, this is seen as

ill

omen:

len 5' her moulh

as a rose. red

full

trps.

text 6: her red mouth as a snake's references to ihe first couple _ a biblical
read ingj

iext 7i the red stains on her skin made by the weeds in the garden scene;

text 8: Tess's face, the blood &om Alec's mouth when Tess hits him with
gauntiet;

conclusions: Tess's passionate side is slarbolized by this pattem ofimagery; the

red colour is associated with blood and life, rhe loss of blood and death, Iinking moment of crisis in Tess's life. Tess s position as a victim of her passion aad sexuality is foreshadowed.
Tess as a daughter of nature: a peasant

girl (.a daughter of the soil'),

seen as a
is

goddess ('a pagan', 'a heathen', 'the blue veins

ofher temple,); her appearance

descdbed in terms cf.,,egetal imagery (.peony rnouth,, .ioses ai her b.easi, ioses

in her baskei to the bim,, .a sapiing ); her behaviour is described in terms ofanimal imagery (.she was warm as a sunned
strawberries

in her hat, roses and

cat', 'she went stealthily

animal').

as a

cat', 'like a fascinated bird', wo.e the look ola wa.v

Feminist perspectivet Tess is unconscious ofher sexuality (when Alec watches her munching strawberries; when she Iistens to Argel playing etc.), we are not

told what Tess thinks

she is silenced in key momeni: when she discovers she is

pregnan! when she gives birth to her baby, when she is executed; stereory?es of the feminine: she is Inute, she blushes, she does not look directly, she is silent,
submissive, reluctant, beautiful and passionate; the binary opposition: pure,

innocent fallen,

sinaer and murder is deconstmcterl

A deterministic approach would discuss Hardy,s possible use, as a source of inspiration, of folktales and of the superstitious and fataljsric attitude to life
they contain. There is a series ofcoincidences and accidents that make up the
namative systern: John Durbeyfield meeting the parson at the beginn;ng

olthe

novel, Angel's failure to meet Tbaj at the .Club Walking,, the Ietter to Angel that accidentally slips under the carpet, the loss ofher shoes I'&fien she tries to

10

visit her in-laws, Marian telling her about Angel's invitation to Izz to join him
rn Brazil, the family porkaits on

tle walls oftheir honelmoon dwelling Life

may be rnade of 3ccident, chsnce, coincidences, rnishaps and art's role js to

order li{b.

ln Hardy's

case,

life is cast in a profoundly dark univerue, an

accidental one (when the horse accident occurs, Tess is asleep), the whole
system ofaccidents described is a function ofcosmic blindness

- in connection to the fate theme, Hardy attaches geat irnportance to the rnetaphor

of'the road'

On the road: John Durbeyfield meets

tie

parson; there is the girls'

dancing; the accident happens and the family horse dies; there is the seduction
scenei Angel leaves Tess; Tess fails in her visit to Angel's parents; Tess's family

is evacuated; Tess hean Alec preaching; Tess and Angel nrn army and she
anested; Angel and Liza-Lu go hand-in-hand after Tess's death, as

is

ifto

prove

tiat

life goes on in a cyclical novel. Tess is constantly on the road. Each time the road
appears,

it brings about a change in

the heroine s Lfe.

lt
it

l5 intertwined wlth the

causes misfortunes, 1t rs

themes offate and coincidence. The road is a iablrjnth;

infinite, unlike the characten' lives. Bibliography

Ciugureanu, Adina "The Tragic Self,, pp. 165-131. yictorian Sehes (A Shkb) in lhe Literature ofthe Victorian Age). Constanta: Ovidius University press, 2OO4 Hardy, Thomas. Tess oJthe D'tlrbenille,r London: penguin, 1994. Harvey, Geoffrey- "Tess ofthe d'Urbervilles,,, pp. 82-88 The Conptete Criti.al Gtide to
Thonas Hardy. London and New york: Routledge,2003

Sutlrerland, John "Thomas Hardy: Tess oJ the D,ttrbeniltes. Who

wli

Angei many

nexl?". pp 43447 The Literary Detecti,e: )00 plzzles in Cla.rsic Fictiok. OUP,
2000

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