Questions on this topic? Just ask!

Tess and Fate

Summary:   throughout "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" Thomas Hardy creates a sense that there is a `malevolent' fate guiding each of the characters. Artistic word associations suggest a not altogether pleasant future, but are contrasted with the pleasant situation Tess is currently in, like the calm before the storm.

I feel that throughout "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" Thomas Hardy creates a sense that there is a 'malevolent' fate guiding each of the characters, often for the worse, to an inevitable end. However, this is intermingled with the actions of the characters and the to the point that for them to avoid such fate they would have to remain inert, and be as good as dead. It has been said that characters "cannot choose their own fate but can choose their own path to disaster." I feel this illustrates the interlinking way in which Hardy uses fate an choice to create the poignant story of Tess, her family and her relationships illustrating, throughout, how his characters get a lot worse than they deserve. Perhaps with the omission of Mr Angel Clare.

From the beginning Hardy uses recurring themes to illustrate that Tess's death has been pre-determined, giving us the notion that whatever path she chooses she will end up killing Alec. However, at each point where this is indicated there is an aspect of her character that influences what occurs next. On behalf of this, it could be argued that her choices are the sole influence in her life but I feel that from the moment she was born, or her character developed, her end was virtually decided. Or, at least, this is what Hardy wants us to feel. Whilst she could be considered responsible for her actions it is due to some fault of her character that she manages to come off worst in nearly every situation. Her character is destined to drag her down even though she constantly endeavours to be the best she can be: going to the market when her father is too drunk to do so; not accepting to be "his creature" (referring to Alec Stoke-d'Urberville); telling the truth to Angel Clare, despite her mother's warning not to; and many further situations. This is undeniably the reason why, despite the indignation of people who held more conventional views a the time, Hardy called it the story of "a pure woman."

This reference to her character is supported throughout the book and only further promotes the idea of a malevolent fate: someone this conscientious should surely have someone or something working against her to come into so much ill fortune? In fact, her conscience and honesty seem rather to add to the tragedy of her life. First of all, consider the night she takes prince, the horse, to market with her sister. She does this because her father is has been drinking and unable to get up for the four-o'clock start that morning, illustrating one of the key elements in her demise: her parents. Throughout her life they contribute heavily to her hardship despite the love she shows for them and the ways in which she tries to help them. Her father is shown to be a serious drinker and lazy worker; her mother to be ignorant and in some ways very 'simple'. For example, when leaving the cottage to meet Alec for the second time Joan dresses up Tess solely for the purpose of making Alec want to marry her. But, as Tess later says, reproachfully:

"you didn't warn me of the dangers of men"

with Alec saying later, knowingly ironic:

"it is a shame for parents to bring up their girls in such ignorance of the gins and nets that the wicked may set for them"

The fact that Joan Durbeyfeild is too eager to get Tess married, and therefore does not stop to consider the consequences of relationship without marriage, is just another strike against her name. Hardy shows her simplicity to be closely linked to Tess's problems at crucial points in her life. However, she does have some redeeming moments towards the end of the book which show, contrary to what she feels, that she is at last seeing where she may have gone wrong:

"I never really understood her"

This is verging on a wise thought and is a credit to her, for whilst it does not fully redeem her for what she has done over the years it shows that she now understands Tess better than she ever did, though it is too late to put things right. I think that because it is too late for Joan to do anything further for or against Tess, she is no longer connected with her fate, a loose thread. She is only now free to see Tess the way she should have done from the beginning because there is no longer a malevolent presence influencing her actions regarding Tess. For anyone who does not believe fate is the overriding authority in "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" this could be regarded as plain irony but regarding the whole picture I think this unlikely to be Hardy's aim.

Hardy shows Tess's father to be equally influential but in more public ways. Rather than taking the parson's advice (the parson must be held slightly responsible) and forgetting the matter of his lineage, John decides to spend a lot of money broadcasting it and laying claim to further riches. Combined with the matter of prince, and the way he spends Tess's money later in the novel, this shows him to be selfish, inconsiderate, impulsive for all the wrong reasons and reckless. Overall, Hardy conveys the point that Tess's Parents do nothing to alleviate Thomas Hardy positions she finds herself in and, essentially, only add to her feeling of guilt and unhappiness until, eventually, she wishes she had never been born.

The subject of suicide runs throughout the novel:

"why am I on the wrong side of this door!"

so it seems fitting that she should die unnaturally and by a deliberate method. The same in fact that she considered using to end her life after her marriage to Angel. It is selflessness that stops her though, another indication of how she is a 'good' person, as both considers killing herself for Angels sake then stopping herself again because of the scandal it would cause him, never once thinking about what is best for her.

"I'll obey you, like your wretched slave, even if it is to lie down and die"

It is, in fact, this utter devotion and obedience that contributes to her final downfall, for, if she should be able to kill herself for Angel there's reason for her to kill someone else if she feels it will make a difference to their relationship. Especially someone who she has a deep seated loathing for, like Alec. I think that when Angel said:

"If he were dead it might be different"

Tess remembered it and it gave her what she felt to be good reason, as well as a sense of foreboding to the reader.

Hardy is very good at dropping hints throughout his novels which helps to link preceding events with the final outcome. This, in particular, adds to the sense that the character's fate is pre-decided, teasing the reader along the way with often exaggerated images, symbols or phrases from unsuspecting characters:

"all this good fortune may be scourged out of me afterwards by a lot of ill. That's how heaven mostly does."

Here Hardy uses Tess herself to convey a sense of fate with her being painfully aware that good and bad usually go together in some form. She is still blissful though and could hardly think that things could turn as bad as they do in the end but it is an example of the range of techniques Hardy uses to carry over one theme.

Finally I think that one of the most foreboding techniques he uses is symbolism, especially that of blood. The first reference is when Tess has Prince's blood on her petticoat after colliding with the other carriage and having him killed. Ominously, Tess considers it more her fault than an accident and in her eyes this makes her a murderess. I like to argue that already considering herself in this way, as well as having drawn blood from Alec later in the novel, makes it easier for her to kill him at the end. The next time a red mark is described as being upon her skirt is at another important stage in her life - just before telling Angel about her past. This suggests that each time this happens it is not just a long term association but related individually to catastrophic events of the moment. This is how Hardy never allows us to forget that Tess's future is not bright, however happy she may seem at the time. At the climax of this chapter and phase he leaves us with a virtually demonic last paragraph in which he uses words like 'torrid waste', suggesting something inhospitable and bitter; 'luridness', bright in an unnatural or revealing way; and describes the diamonds on Tess's necklace winking like toads, almost witchlike like the portraits at the top of the stairs. All these word associations suggest a not altogether pleasant future but are contrasted with the pleasant situation Tess is currently in, like the calm before the storm.

Overall I feel that Tess's actions, and those of the characters around her, effect her constantly but that Hardy wants us to feel that those too, are part of an imminent fate. Malevolent but also cruel and ironic, it is not a god that decides Tess's end but a overriding presence, disregardful of the pure nature of Tess's being. Despite constantly striving to do the right thing she does seem to get not "what she deserves but a great deal worse."