Tess of the d'Urbervilles
As a person who believes that many things are un-avoidable, no matter how careful you
are to avoid them, I believe that Tess's life was tragically destroyed by the hand of
fate. It is obvious through the words and actions of Tess that she only wanted to have a
calm, normal life. However, it seems that she was chosen, for whatever reason, to be on
the receiving end of continuous hardships.
From the very beginning of the novel, Tess receives ?the short end of the stick? in
almost every scene. She is one of the girls who doesn't get to dance with the strange
young man before he returns to his brothers. Although they exchange looks at each other,
he runs off into the night without a word spoken between them. This is our first glimpse
of Tess, and even before we learn more about her, we know that her family is not well off
and that her father seems to be a bit of a drunk. Next, she is, to a degree, railroaded
into going to claim kinship to the d'Urbervilles.
??Well, as I killed the horse, mother,' she
said mournfully, ?I suppose I ought to do
something. I don't mind going and seeing
her, but you must leave it to me about
asking for help.?
Tess was very reluctant to go to the d'Urberville house and ask for help, but for some
reason, her parents chose her. At the d'Urberville's house, Alec first harasses Tess
when they go horseback riding, forcing her to let him kiss her. After that, another
event occurs that shows the vulnerability of innocent Tess. The event is written about
with a air that could make fate seem a definite cause for the actions against her well
being.
?One may, indeed, admit the possibility of a retribution lurking in the present
catastro-
phe. Doubtless some of Tess d'Urberville's
mailed ancestors rollicking home from a fray
had dealt the same measure even more ruth-
lessly towards peasant girls of their time.
But though to visit the sins of the fathers
upon the children may be a morality good
enough for divinities, it is scorned by
average human nature; and it therefore does
not mend the matter?
This passage shows that it was not because of Tess's actions that this outrageous cruelty
occurred to her. It shows that it was to have happened as a pay back for the wrong
doings of her ancestors. This can only be viewed as a form of fate, for it was
determined before the birth of Tess or any of her immediate family that somewhere in the
lineage of the d'Urbervilles, there must be a type of retribution that will occur for
past crimes.
Another example of fate causing problems in Tess's life occurs when she tries to tell
Angel about the incident that occurred before she met up with him at the dairy. She is
very sincere in her attempt to let him know of this devastating event during which her
virginity was lost. Unfortunately, the letter detailing Tess's past, when slipped under
the door of Angel's room also slipped under the rug on his floor. Angel never got to
read the letter, and therefor doesn't know about Tess's past. Angle and Tess go ahead
with their marriage and the pasts of both of them come back to disrupt both of their
lives.
?The carpet reached close to the sill, and
under the edge of the carpet she discerned
the faint white margin of the envelope containing her letter to him...she
withdrew
the letter. There it was-sealed up, just
as it had left her hands...she could not
let him read it now.?
There is ,if not fate, at least an irony in that many times she tried to tell Angel of
that night, and every time she could not bring herself to do it. However, the one time
that she was able to complete her thoughts and commit herself to telling the truth,
something as simple and harmless as a rug prevented her from communicating her thoughts.
Fate comes into the picture again after Angel leaves for South America. With nowhere
left to go, she must return to the person with who her problems began; Alec d'Urberville.
It seems that in the last part of this novel, fate comes down upon all three main
characters. Undoubtedly, Alec suffers the hand of fate by meeting his death from the
woman whose life he destroyed. Tess, of course, is fated to die for the murder of Alec
d'Urberville and Angel is crushed by the knowledge that if he could have forgiven Tess
when she told him of her loss of innocence, that they would be together.
Fate, along with tragic irony play a large part in this novel. As stated before, some
events are out of our control and cannot be prevented by any amount of planning. It
seems hard to believe that all of this could happen to one purpose without there being a
purpose. Perhaps the purpose was that of Angel and Liza-Lu to become involved.
Possibly, that was not the purpose, but there must be one.
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