What is the theme in Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy?

One of the more important themes of this book is sex. Victorian society shied away from it as if it did not even take place. Hardy faces the issues of sex head on. He equates it with nature. Sex, for Tess, becomes both gentle and forced. Patriarchal and even misogynist ideas about sex are also very much a part of this book.