After reading Tess

Thomas Hardy is the last important novelist of the Victorian Age. In his Wessex novels, he vividly and truthfully describes the tragic lives of the tenants. He is pessimistic in his view of life. So his philosophy is that everything in the universe is determined by the Immanent Will, and it is reflected in the theme of his novels: the futility of man's effort to struggle against cruel and unintelligible Fate, Chance, and Circumstance, which are all predetermined by the Immanent Will. His work Tess of D'Urbervilles shows his writing philosophy. J.Hillis Miller also thinks “Hardy's feelings for her (Tess) were strong, perhaps stronger than for any of his other invented personages". Tess of D'Urbervilles tells a tragic story of Tess. Tess was a country girl. Her father learned that he was the last lineal descendent of the D’Urbervilles-one of the oldest, most aristocratic, families in all of England, so he let Tess went to D’Urbervilles' home. Then Tess was seduced by Alec D'Urbervilles and gave birth to a baby who died later. To bring up her family, she worked at a dairy farm and felt in love with AngelClare. Before their wedding, Tess told Angel about her past, but| Angel couldn't forgive her and went to South America. So Tess became Alec's mistress in order to support her family. Tess couldn't bear Alec and killed him when Angel realized his fault and came back. After several happy days with Angel, Tes was caught and hanged. Tess is not only our protagonist, but also the moral center of the novel--the narrator consistently sympathizes with her. She is a kind, pure and noble rural girl, and all she wants is a happy life and a beloved, but Fate teases her again and again. She is an epitome of that time: a woman is a belonging of man and has to be restrained by so-called morality.Actually her tragic fate is caused by the corrupt and hypocritical moral value and society. Additionally, the name of Angel Clare has a profound meaning: Angel means angel, and Clare hints light, so Angel Clare is Tess’ angel and brings light of life to her. Though under the traditional value, once he left Tess , he is a good and noble man because he comes back, loves Tess wholeheartedly and gives Tess a happy end to life. Hardy depicts Alec under the racial stereotype. Alec represents the hypocritical utter class and Christian. This novel is full of contrast. The title is ironic as“Tess ofD'Urberville", while Tess’ family name is Durbeyfield. Actually, this is a bitter irony. The country girl Tess has a noble soul, kindness and pure heart, while the aristocrat have wicked and low morals. The true aristocrat is Tess-like people, but not those who have high status with evil souls. What's more, Angel and Alec are two men who influence Tess totally,| while one is apparently good, the other totally evil. Angel is from a clergyman's family, but he doesn't want to serve God and he doesn't lose any virtues of himself. While on the contrary, though Alec becomes a Christian, his soul is still evil, and the religion doesn't guide him to be agood man. After being seduced by Alec and giving birth to a baby, Tess is regarded as an immoral, shameless woman. However, Tess doesn't destroy herself, but struggles to live a normal life. While when Christian meets Tess again, his beast-like heart appears.