THOMAS
HARDY (1840 - 1928)
Hardy has been from time to
time defined as a regionalist, a pessimist, as well as a realist, a romantic
and a naturalist. Romanticism: the
total immersion in nature and his belief that only in rustic life men can
express their passions to the full, make Hardy a romantic. But, while for the
Romantics Nature usually meant joy and consolation, for Hardy it came to mean
something else, that is an hostile power, indifferent to men's destiny. Love,
which is the basis of all his novels,
and which is another romantic content, quite often ends in disillusion and
failure, destroyed by institutions like marriage or by society and by Fate. Pessimism: the influence of the latter
scientific discoveries and the reading of philosophers such as Darwin and
Shopenhauer led him to work out a pessimistic theory, according to which man is
an insignificant insect in an indifferent universe. Man is therefore the victim
of an obscure fate; this led Hardy to work out the idea of a kind of
predestination. The Wessex, which is the land of much of his novels is
presented as a world in decline, in fact mechanization is destroyng isolation and rhythmos of country life. Tess is mainly a rich portrait of
country dile disruped by the economic
and social changes brought by the industrial revolution. The downfall of
country life is not only a historical consequence of industrialisation, but
embodies a deeper vision of the negative forces shaping human life and destiny.
Tess's fall is simbolically linked with disappearence of the idealized country
life. Tess is the victim male-dominated society with unjust moral code. Tess is
the victim both of Alec and of Angel, in fact Alec blakmails and seduces her
without thought of marrying her. On the other hand Angel, whom Tess truly
loves, abandons her, overcome by traditional values and ordinary prejudices. A
web of symbols envelopes the whole
novel (she is often described in terms of plants, compared to a small
defenceless bird to suggest her grace and the association with a serpent simbolizes her corruption by Alec). The
recurrence of white and red in the novel emphasizes Tess's innocence and
passion, besides red is the colour, together with black, of the mechanical
world. But Tess is also the victim of fate and a disordered world. Tess is as
relic from the past who is unable to find her own place in the evolution of
modern civilization. She is split between two contrasting worlds: the old
aristocratic order and the new bourgeoisie; the agricoltural world and the new
world of money and commerce. The final words 'justice was done'
ironically epitomize the fatalistic concept present in all the book. Plot: it tells the story of a young
girl of a poor Wessex family, who finds out of being th descendant of a famous
ancient family, the D'Ubervilles. Then Tess goes for help to a rich supposed
relative, Alec, who seduces and gets her pregnant. Some years later, while
working as a milkmaid, Tess falls in love with Angel and accepts his proposal
of marriage. After their marriage on the wedding night, she confesses her past
experience to him. Angel, shocket and disillusioned, abandons her and goes to
Brazil. Alone and poor, she becomes a field worker, always hoping for his
returne. But one day she meets Alec and becomes his mistress. When Angel
returns she murders Alec, later she is finally arrested ( while simbolically
sleeping on the stone of sacrifice at Stonehenge).
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