Tess of the D'Urbervilles- Hardy

“A Pure Woman”

Introduction

Important theme of the novel is the sexual double standard to which Tess falls victim; despite being, in Hardy's view, a truly good woman, she is despised by society after losing her virginity before marriage. Hardy performances the role of Tess' only factual ally and support, pointedly subtitling the book "a untainted woman very reliably presented" and prefacing it with Shakespeare's phrases from The Two Gentlemen of Verona: "Poor wounded title! My bosom as a bed shall lodge thee." However, while Hardy evidently entails to admonish Victorian notions of feminine purity, the two times standard furthermore makes the heroine's tragedy expected, and therefore assists as a means of Tess's broader fate. Hardy variously signs that Tess should bear either to atone for the misdeeds of her ancestors, or to supply provisional amusement for the gods, or because she possesses some little but lethal feature flaw inherited from the very vintage clan. (Wulf, 27)

The subtitle, A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented, makes a powerful declaration which became the contentious topic of this Victorian book. That Hardy would call a young female ``pure'' who had been seduced and had an illegitimate progeny was alarming in his day. In managing so, he attacks Victorian twice standards. We glimpse, for example, that whereas Angel has him transgressed, he will not disregard a lesser proceed in Tess. As an outcome she bears much, but habitually keeps her conviction in herself as a ``pure woman.'' Faced with nearly direct disillusionment and extending strife, she develops in power and conclusion and battles anything happens her. She is profoundly cognizant of her position and all its significances yet makes attentive alternatives, not out of desperation, but because of a sense of herself. Hardy additions up his issue when he states of Tess that “the attractiveness or ugliness of a feature lays "not amidst things finished, but amidst things willed.

Thesis Statement

Women mislaying virginity before wedding ceremony are despised by the society.

Analysis and Evidence

Critics today glimpse Tess of the d'Urbervilles as embodying some significant themes. The prominence of the rural areas in Hardy's works is of foremost import. Landscape assists not only as a backdrop, but is an inextricable part of the book. So methodically is the locality of ``Wessex'' interwoven into the article that it supposes much the identical focus as its characters. Hardy has assembled a myth of the locality, created of genuine as ...