Classics and the Western Canon discussion
This topic is about
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Hardy, Tess of the D'Urbervilles
>
Week 2: Chapters 9-15
date
newest »
newest »
Hardy sets up a series of coincidences and unfortunate circumstances that seem to conspire against Tess. For example, she falls asleep on her way to market and has an accident which results in the death of their only horse. She is singled out for attack by Car Darch and so feels compelled to take Alec up on his offer to take her home. She falls asleep in the woods and is assaulted. Terrible things happen to her when she falls asleep. She has a baby who dies. It seems as if one thing leads to another and Tess is tossed about in circumstances beyond her control. Why is Hardy setting her up in this way? Is Tess responsible for what happens to her?
Hardy never comes right out and says Tess was raped. But we know Tess heads home as a changed woman, unhappy and angry with Alec. We know Alec follows her, admits he’s been bad, and tries to deflect what he did by blaming fate. The crucial scene in the woods reminds me of Greek tragedy where violence takes place off stage. (I’m thinking of Jocasta’s suicide, Oedipus’ blinding, and the violent scenes in Medea to name a few examples.) Was Tess raped or was she seduced? Why does Hardy avoid making it clear either way?
Chapter 14 was one of the most devastating chapters I've ever read in all of literature. I rarely cry over books, but the the scene that was set of Tess baptizing her own baby with only her younger brothers and sisters present did me in. Of course Tess was raped. She would never had given in to a seduction. I'm sure she never imagined that her rape would result in a pregnancy (although she had probably heard of such things), but Alec has forced many harsh realities on her since she met him. She tries to do the right thing--baptizing her baby and seeking a Christian burial--within her repertoire of what "the right thing" is. Her childlike faith is no match for the cruel world she finds herself in, however.
Jan wrote: "but the the scene that was set of Tess baptizing her own baby with only her younger brothers and sisters present did me in. .."That scene got to me, as well, Jan.
Does Tess know she is pregnant when she leaves Alec?
Roger wrote: "Does Tess know she is pregnant when she leaves Alec?"Good question. I don't know. And I'm not sure it is ever made clear.
Some of the details suggest a level of ambiguity in Tess’ situation. Does she leave right after the Chase or some time later? And if she leaves some time after the Chase, what happens in the interim?
Here's what we do know:
After she returns home, her neighbors notice her expensive dress: How pretty she is; and how that best frock do set her off! I believe it cost an immense deal, and that it was a gift from him (Chapt. 14). We are told later she makes clothes for her sisters and brothers out of some finery which D’Urberville had given her, and she had put by with contempt (Chapt. 15). Obviously, Tess has accepted gifts from Alec, but was this before or after what happens in the Chase?
When Alec follows her as she is heading home, she says:
If I had gone for love o’ you, if I had ever really loved ‘ee, if I loved you still, I should not so loathe and hate myself for my weakness as I do now.
“Gone” where? What “weakness” is she referring to? I see a couple of possibilities:
She accepts Alec’s gifts before the events in the Chase which then makes him think he is entitled to her body. In Chapter 13, the women who work with her in the fields note they heard a sobbing one night last year in the Chase. Was that Tess crying after being violated? Had she naively accepted Alec’s gifts and realized only too late that there were strings attached? Is that why she says to him, I didn’t understand your meaning until it was too late (Chapt. 12). Does she leave right after the Chase carrying his child?
A second possibility is she gives in to Alec’s sexual advances after the Chase, accepts his gifts, and stays with him as his mistress hoping he will marry her. When she realizes his intention is not marriage, she leaves. Is that why she claims not to understand his meaning until it is too late?
I don’t have the answer. I’m just piecing together the details and trying to figure it out. I may have missed some of the relevant details. Anyone figure it out?
I wasn’t going to say it but since it has already been brought up, chapter 14 also got a tear in my eye.
It might come up later in the book but at this point does Alec have any idea that he fathered a child with Tess? I did not notice anything but I might have missed something small.
Mike wrote: "It might come up later in the book but at this point does Alec have any idea that he fathered a child with Tess? I did not notice anything but I might have missed something small."No, you didn't miss anything, Mike. It hasn't come up yet.
My reading is that she was raped, perhaps not violently though, then lives with him in apathy and self-disgust for a while, then leaves.I think part of the ambiguity is down to censorship and the book's odd route to publication. I read that at one point there was a scene where Alec tricks Tess into a sham wedding and gets her that way; but Hardy has ultimately done away with that and heightened Tess's intrinsic dislike of him. Even so there are still differences between the serialized version (where he appears to drug or inebriate her with a "chemist´s bottle") and the final 1892 revision which has no mention of this, and therefore it's even more ambiguous. They're both readily available, so some of us might be reading different versions...
The death of Tess's baby is incredibly sad, and yet you can't help but feel a prick of hope for her being able to move on with her life unencumbered and with no visible reminder of her "guilt" or "shame" at the end of this section.One bit I particularly love is the end of Chapter 13, when Tess walks among nature propagating itself:
"Walking among the sleeping birds in the hedges, watching the skipping rabbits on a moonlit warren, or standing under a pheasant-laden bough, she looked upon herself as a figure of Guilt intruding into the haunts of Innocence. But all the while she was making a distinction where there was no difference. Feeling herself in antagonism, she was quite in accord. She had been made to break an accepted social law, but no law known to the environment in which she fancied herself such an anomaly."
Emily wrote: "My reading is that she was raped, perhaps not violently though, then lives with him in apathy and self-disgust for a while, then leaves.I'm not quite sure how rape can be anything other than violent.
Emily wrote: "I think part of the ambiguity is down to censorship and the book's odd route to publication. .."
Yes, Hardy was upset about the censorship when it was serialized. He pieced it together when he published it as a novel. So that probably does account for some of textual confusion/ambiguity.
Emily wrote: " One bit I particularly love is the end of Chapter 13, when Tess walks among nature propagating itself:"Walking among the sleeping birds ..."
The passage you cite is lovely and also interesting because Hardy openly inserts his views and contrasts them with Tess' self-image. He draws a distinction between how Tess views herself, as a figure of guilt intruding into the haunts of innocence and his assessment that Tess was quite in accord with nature, not antagonistic to it. Tess, he tells us, broke a socially constructed law, not a natural one.
Tamara wrote: "I'm not quite sure how rape can be anything other than violent.Yes, Hardy was upset about the censorship when it was serialized. He pieced it together when he published it as a novel. So that probably does account for some of textual confusion/ambiguity."
I mean that it may be coercive rape as opposed to pinned-to-the-floor rape. The kind of thing were the man claims it was consensual but the woman was actually too scared to protest. I'm not suggesting it wasn't violent for Tess, but a paragraph later it says her own ancestors had likely inflicted the same thing "far more ruthlessly" on peasant girls of the past. If it's coercive and a case of she-didn't-say-yes-but-Alec-didn't-hear/understand/believe her-no, then it can explain their attitudes to each other later. He doesn't see what her problem is, she can't stand him.
The interesting thing with Hardy and the rewrites is that he actually makes it more ambiguous by removing Alec's little date-rape bottle.
I’m sorry, Emily, but I don’t see the distinction.
I really don't see how what I'm saying is at all controversial, and in fact I'd say it's pretty central to the very nature of the way the scene is presented to the reader. We are asking, "was she raped or was she seduced?" and I'm proposing that she may have been raped in a way that makes those around her, and perhaps even herself, think she's been seduced. There are court cases about these very things every year. There's the famous "No means No" campaign that lists all the things (turning away, being passed out, crying, being drunk) that also mean no. And that campaign exists because plenty of people, among them Alec d'Urberville, did not have the message that nothing but Yes means yes.
I feel like with this ambiguity Hardy is playing with the reader to see if they have more sympathy with Tess's subsequent wretchedness if she was raped (i.e. not her fault) than if she was seduced (also in my opinion not her fault, or in any case why should she bear all the consequences).
Roger wrote: "Does Tess know she is pregnant when she leaves Alec?"In response to Roger's questions, I noticed this interesting exchange between Tess and her mother when she returns home. Her mother chastises her for not being more careful if she didn’t intend to make Alec her husband. The mother engages in victim-blaming.
Tess’ response:
”O mother, my mother!” cried the agonized girl, turning passionately upon her parent as if her poor heart would break. “How could I be expected to know? I was a child when I left this house four months ago. Why didn’t you tell me there was danger? Why didn’t you warn me? Ladies know what to guard against, because they read novels that tell of these tricks; but I never had the chance of discovering in that way, and you did not help me!”
Her mother was subdued.
“I thought if I spoke of his fond feelings and what they might lead to, you would dislike him and lose your chance,” she murmured, wiping her eyes with her apron. “Well, we must make the best of it, I suppose. ‘Tis nater, after all, and what pleases God.” (Chapter 12)
This exchange, especially making the best of it, it being nature and pleasing God, suggests to me they know she is pregnant. The “tricks” which ladies know how to guard against that Tess mentions may be a reference to methods of avoiding pregnancy. Her mother is upset with her because she didn’t take preventive measures.
Any other ways of reading this?
I think it could be about pregnancy but also potentially about seduction or "deflowering." I took the "tricks" that the ladies know to be merely ways of putting off people like Alec, of defusing the situation, of not falling into his power.Tess's mother wanted her to lead Alec along until she had captured his heart and then marry him.
In the following chapter this hints that she may know she's pregnant. Waking up the day after her return:
In place of the excitement of her return, and the interest it had inspired, she saw before her a long and stony highway which she had to tread, without aid, and with little sympathy. Her depression was then terrible, and she could have hidden herself in a tomb.
Alec certainly does not know of the pregnancy, for he says:
Well, Tess, dear, I can say no more. I suppose I am a bad fellow—a damn bad fellow. I was born bad, and I have lived bad, and I shall die bad in all probability. But, upon my lost soul, I won’t be bad towards you again, Tess. And if certain circumstances should arise—you understand—in which you are in the least need, the least difficulty, send me one line, and you shall have by return whatever you require. I may not be at Trantridge—I am going to London for a time—I can’t stand the old woman. But all letters will be forwarded.
Emily wrote: "I think it could be about pregnancy but also potentially about seduction or "deflowering." I took the "tricks" that the ladies know to be merely ways of putting off people like Alec, of defusing th..."That works, too. I think it's interesting how Hardy seems to cultivate ambiguity to allow for alternative readings.
Tamara wrote: "Roger wrote: "Does Tess know she is pregnant when she leaves Alec?"In response to Roger's questions, I noticed this interesting exchange between Tess and her mother when she returns home. Her mot..."
Novels in Hardy's time did not tell of "tricks" to avoid pregnancy, other than by avoiding intercourse.
Emily wrote: "I think it could be about pregnancy but also potentially about seduction or "deflowering." I took the "tricks" that the ladies know to be merely ways of putting off people like Alec, of defusing th..."And yet Tess does not notify Alec when "certain circumstances" arise. I wonder why not. Perhaps she just detests him so much. Perhaps she blames herself for her situation.
Roger wrote: "Novels in Hardy's time did not tell of "tricks" to avoid pregnancy, other than by avoiding intercourse.Tess is wrong in assuming she would have found "tricks" to avoid pregnancy in the novels of the time. But she would have found them elsewhere because women have known about homemade methods for birth control for centuries. Most methods were probably transmitted by word of mouth.
Papyrus scrolls giving directions on various methods of birth control have been found in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. One reason women were persecuted as witches during the Middle Ages was because they were accused of giving contraceptive aids to women who wanted to avoid pregnancy.
Tess wouldn't have found the "tricks" she needed in novels. She would have found it by talking to other women or to the local midwife.
My assumption is that Tess would not have been included in whispers about homegrown birth control methods that took place among village women. Wasn’t she considered a child until she left home?
Jan wrote: "My assumption is that Tess would not have been included in whispers about homegrown birth control methods that took place among village women. Wasn’t she considered a child until she left home?"Yes, she is considered a child. She expresses her anger at her mother for not teaching her what to guard against and/or for not warning her of the dangers. On the one hand, she is considered a child and treated as such. On the other hand, she is blamed for being a child and getting in over her head.
Her mother can’t be seen as much of an expert in birth control anyway!
Emily wrote: "Her mother can’t be seen as much of an expert in birth control anyway!"It's possible her mother intentionally had a lot of children since children were considered assets. They were perceived as future unpaid laborers to help with work in the fields, thereby increasing family income.
One thing that struck me in this week’s reading is that Tess is always being abandoned. She has absolutely no one on her side. Her parents have abdicated their responsibilities as parents. She is hounded by Alec D’Urberville. And then we get this disturbing scene with her so-called drunken friends after their night on the town. We are told Car Dartch, “till lately a favorite of D’Urberville’s” wants to fight Tess, presumably because Tess has usurped her position as Alec’s favorite. But why would the others abandon her? She is a young, defenseless girl; he is a sexual predator. Why didn’t someone warn her about his intentions before she rides off with him? It’s obvious they know something bad is going to happen to her. They laugh as she rides off, and Car Dartch’s mother says, “Out of the frying pan, into the fire!”
It seems to me as if Hardy is going out of his way to systematically strip Tess of any kind of support structure or advocate. She is totally alone, always abandoned to fend for herself, and deprived of friends or family to advise and protect her. I wonder why Hardy sets her up in this way. Is it to generate more sympathy for her? Or is there some other reason?
About the rape that’s been discussed above (for those who are uncertain it was rape, it was certainly sexual exploitation), Hardy writes, “She had dreaded him, winced before him, succumbed to to a cruel advantage he took of her helplessness; then, temporarily blinded by his flash manners, had been stirred to confused surrender awhile; had suddenly despised and disliked him, and had run away.”I agree that the exact nature of Alec’s exploitation is open to interpretation, but I submit that Hardy—master writer that he is—set this up intentionally. As the nature of what happened might be confusing to readers, so too was it confusing to 16-year old Tess.
It’s pretty clear that a theme in Tess is that life for her and others like her is a pained ordeal. In Chapter 13 Hardy calls it “the plight of being alive.” As Tess finds her way back home “her sole idea seemed to be to shun mankind—or rather that cold accretion called the world, which so terrible in the mass, is so unformidable, even pitiable, in its units.”Mankind is a cold and terrible accretion; and here stands Tess, “unformidable, even pitiable.”
Indeed it seems like disaster after disaster is heaped upon Tess, and all she can do is quietly endure. She is oppressed and she is afflicted, yet she does not open her mouth; she is led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
I’ve heard people criticize Tess’s passivity before, but it’s never been clear to me how she is supposed to fight back.
Emily wrote: "I’ve heard people criticize Tess’s passivity before, but it’s never been clear to me how she is supposed to fight back."For me, it’s a question of her attitude and self-perception. She is full of self-blame and self-recrimination. She blames herself for Prince’s death and allows her parents to exploit her guilt. She doesn’t lay the blame where it belongs: a father who is too drunk to meet his responsibilities; a mother who wakes up her exhausted child and guilts her into assuming the role of an adult.
Additionally, Tess has absorbed the insidious sexism of her society which faults the woman for having sex—whether she was raped or seduced—and allows the man to escape relatively unscathed. She behaves as if she is no longer in charge of her own body. She perceives Alec as having planted his flag on her body which, she thinks, gives him the right to claim it as his territory. She even tells him, “See how you’ve mastered me!” She is complicit with society’s view that she is now damaged goods. She feels shame and, as Gary points out (#30), she wants to shun society because of it.
By contrast, take a look at Car Dartch. She is a product of the same sexist climate as Tess, and yet one doesn’t get the sense she has internalized it. She exhibits a fighting spirit. Granted, her anger is misdirected when she wants to fight Tess. But it is always easier to go after the weak and helpless rather than to direct one’s anger where it rightly belongs—at the powerful Alec D’Urbervilles of this world. In spite of this, Car Dartch does not come across as a passive wallflower.
I wish Tess exhibited more of a fighting spirit. But perhaps that is too much to expect of a young girl forced into the role of an adult while simultaneously being deprived of the support structure and tools she needs to navigate a world that conspires against her.
I feel it would be unrealistic for Tess to display much more fighting spirit, and possibly counter-productive to Hardy's aims in writing the book. She is very young. She is used to being the "responsible" child, because her parents are childlike, so while it's frustrating that she blames herself over the horse, it feels in character to me. Nowadays we consider her a child, but I doubt her community considered her one.Car is an interesting counterpoint, and yes, has more spirit. But my suspicion is that she enjoyed her time with Alec rather more than Tess did, and may even have welcomed it. So what she's dealing with is traditional jealousy, rather than abuse. And she didn't have a baby! I think of poor Tess discovering she's pregnant, having to hide away for six months or so, then the shame of the baby as well as the love of it. Actually I think she shows some spirit with the baptism.
My feeling is Hardy is trying to create a woman most people of his time would have to admit is "good." She is not what Victorian society might imagine of a "fallen woman;" she is the victim of circumstance. He certainly didn't shy away from writing spiritied women elsewhere (Far From the Madding Crowd, The Return of the Native, The Hand of Ethelberta). Tess is very different, but I find her realistic and quite luminous.
Hardy is sympathetic to Tess’ messy situation. He opines that Tess (and everyone else) could benefit from the wisdom of “sundry gnomic texts and phrases” (by which I believe he means the Bible) but that no one “feel[s] the whole truth of golden opinions when it is possible to benefit by them.”The next line I think is just great … “She—and how many more—might have ironically, said to God with Saint Augustine, ‘Thou hast counselled a better course than Thou hast permitted.’” Tess gets the short end of the proverbial stick no matter how you figure it. Religion, and God even, would not save her from her place and from exploitation.
Are we talking fatalism here? Does Tess, do we all of us, really have meaningful choices? It’s a big question and not a new one. I’m looking to hearing more from Hardy about it.
Gary wrote: "About the rape that’s been discussed above (for those who are uncertain it was rape, it was certainly sexual exploitation), Hardy writes, “She had dreaded him, winced before him, succumbed to to a ..."This is the passage that stuck out to me, too, Gary. I may have a different take than others on the rape/seduction question and whether Tess is passive. It was clearly rape, as others have elaborated in several comments above, but as I read, I was blaming Hardy for not naming it and instead using ambiguous language that suggested Tess was partially to blame. It seemed to me a shortcoming in his own ability as an author to call a spade a spade, instead making Tess culpable to some extent for what she, as an innocent girl in a bad situation, most certainly was not responsible for.
On the other hand, what I like about Hardy's handling of the story is that he's doing something a bit unexpected here. We get to see Tess take control of her situation--baptizing the baby herself, for example--and become a complex, interesting, mature young woman. Hardy could have written a novel all about a young girl's "fall," but instead that turns out only to be the setup for a story about how she will attempt to overcome it. Whether that's going to be possible remains to be seen.
I feel that Hardy has made Fate a character in the novel and Tess's passivity emphasizes that. Wasn't that a common thinking of the times that where your life goes was all fate or destiny. A woman of her social status has few options and Tess feels a real obligation to try to take actions that will help her family. Most of that certainly stems from her guilt over the death of Prince that occurs when she falls asleep. The description of the dark Chase and fog is quite foreboding. Interesting that it is when she is asleep again that Alec takes full advantage of her vulnerability, rape or the final act of a long seduction. It is another catalyzing event for Tess.
A few chapter specific comments:Chap 9. Alec makes up a job to lure Tess to the estate which is the beginning of the seduction. It also socially isolates Tess. Her enjoyment of working with the chickens and singing with the birds is in line with Tess's connection to nature and her characterization as a "pagan goddess" And of course as had been discussed it shines a light on the relationship between Alec & his mother.
Chap 10. is it Fate or Alec's plan to be in the area when Tess seeks a way to leave the group who mocks her. She doesn't seem to fit in. This wild rowdy group is quite a contrast to the restrained traditional celebrations of the white-clad dancers of her home in Marlott. And what a telling comment from the women when Tess leaves with Alec moving from out of the frying pan into the fire
Chap 11. I don't have anything else to add to this most discussed chapter.
Chaps 12-13 short chapters that makes the reader see how much of a double standard there is for men and women. She worries about being known as a fallen woman or damaged goods. At church everyone looks at her, did that really happen or did just feel like it did to her? She hides away, this time socially isolating herself.
Chap 14. I agree with everyone who thought this was the saddest chapter. It tore at my heart. Her naming of the baby "Sorrow" was certainly a window into Tess's own spirit. Yet she shows resiliency & a little fighting spirit in both her work and her efforts to do right by the baby with the baptism and burial.
Tess is too sleepy to notice Alec has not taken the road home. He takes her to the Chase, a wooded area. Tess wants to walk home, but Alec convinces her to rest while he gets his bearings on their location. He returns to find Tess fast asleep. Hardy describes the wood shrouded in darkness and wonders why Tess’ guardian angel isn’t there to protect her. His diction strongly suggests Tess is raped although he doesn’t use the word “rape.”
A changed Tess is heading home when Alec catches up with her. He dismisses his assault on her by blaming fate. A downcast and defeated Tess thinks the words from scripture painted on a wooden stile are aimed at her. The narrator asserts her innocence, points out the double standard, and claims it is only in the eyes of society that Tess has done wrong.
Tess is next seen at harvest time, working alongside other women as they bind the corn. She is joined by her siblings, one of whom carries her baby. Suspecting her baby is dying, she wants to send for the parson to baptize him, but her father won’t allow it. She improvises a baptism with her siblings. Tess bribes the sexton to let her bury her son in the churchyard. Her mother’s friend invites her to work in his dairy near the D’Urberville’s family vaults. She is hopeful at the opportunity to begin anew.