LIT/A/3: Tess of the d’Urbervilles By Thomas Hardy

Tess of the D'Urbervilles is generally regarded as Hardy's tragic masterpiece, and certainly it is his most ambitious tragic novel. It is a story of innocence and sophistication, of man and nature, and of history and its relation to the present, concentrated on the fate of a simple country girl. Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy Despite certain weaknesses in its thought and plot-construction, as well as the frank treatment of sex in it, it has never ceased to appeal to readers, nor forfeited its claim to being one of the greatest of English novels. Much of the poignancy of this novel is due to its depiction of the helplessness of the condition of its central figure, Tess, in the face of Fate or Providence, which forms one of Hardy's recurring themes. The story of the novel centers round the major character Tess Durbeyfield whose father, a farmer living in the village of Marlott in the Blackmoor Vale, grows crazy about learning from a person that he is a descendent of the ancient manorial family of the D'Urbervilles. She has to go, on the insistence of her mother and much against her will, to a lady of the newly-rich family at D'Urbervilles living in the neighborhood to claim her relationship with it and get some help from the lady. There she comes across the lady's son, Alec D'Urbervilles, and is seduced by him much against her wish. She then comes back to her home where she gives birth to a child who dies soon after.