Works of Thomas Hardy discussion
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Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Tess of the d'Urbervilles
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Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Phase the Sixth: Chapter 45 - 52
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Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
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At the beginning of the Phase the Fourth thread, there is a photograph of Gertrude Bugler, Thomas Hardy’s inspiration for Tess Durbeyfield. As mentioned, Thomas Hardy did not met Augusta, the local milkmaid he had admired again until 1913, when he was 72.
By this time, Augusta was married and was running a hotel, where Thomas Hardy set up house, and used as a headquarters for his theatrical troupe called “The Hardy Players�. It was made up of local amateur actors, and Augusta’s daughter, Gertrude Bugler, then 16 and an aspiring actress, joined the troupe. Thomas Hardy was quickly smitten with the beautiful young girl who reportedly bore a strong resemblance to her mother, and he cast her in a role in The Woodlanders.
Even though the play was staged locally in Dorset, drama critics came from London to preview the play. They gave Gertrude Bugler glowing reviews for her angelic beauty and her naturalistic acting style. Returning in 1921, Thomas Hardy cast her in a lead role in The Return of the Native again receiving excellent reviews. In 1924, he adapted his Tess of the D’Urbervilles and once again cast Gertrude Bugler with similar extravagant praise.
Thomas Hardy made plans to take the play to London with Gertrude Bugler as the lead role, but his wife, Florence Dugdale-Hardy, was controlling and forbade it. Florence had been jealous of Thomas Hardy’s affection for Gertrude Bugler, even though he was now 83 years old and Gertrude Bugler was 26 - and married. Florence flatly refused to let her husband bring the Buglers to the London production, which not only disappointed himself, but also those critics who had seen Gertrude Bugler play the role.
However, there is a codicil to the story, which I’ll put on the final thread :) And how marvellous that we have a photograph extant from his original production of Tess of the D’Urbervilles, with the actress who had inspired him.
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Tess cannot help being afraid when she sees Alec, and it feels grotesque to watch him speak the words of Scripture. His passion and sensuality seem to have been transformed into religious devotion, although faithfulness looks unfitted for his bestial features. Tess thinks of other great sinners that have been converted, and tries not to feel angry.
Tess decides to leave immediately, but when she moves again Alec notices her. The passion of his sermon is suddenly extinguished, and he hesitates. Tess keeps walking, thinking how unfair it is that now God is on the side of her attacker, while she remains â€Îв԰ů±đ˛µ±đ˛Ô±đ°ů˛ąłŮ±đâ€�. She can feel the physicality of the past following her as she walks.
She hears footsteps behind her and Alec approaches, agitated. Tess wishes he had not followed her, and speaks to him with scorn. Alec disparages his former self and tells the story of his conversion by Reverend Clare, who bore his insults with such grace that Alec began to reconsider his life, especially after his mother died.
He tries to both apologise and preach to Tess, who becomes enraged, pointing out the horror that Alec should be able to use her as he did and then just change his mind and have everything forgiven. She won’t accept that Alec has really been converted because as she says “a better man� than he is does not believe. Tess says that Alec’s fickle passions don’t usually last.
Alec asks Tess to put down her veil, as she is tempting him, and she can’t help feeling her old guilt just for being as she is. Alec does not want to remember his old ways. They walk together and pass more fences painted with Bible quotes, and Alec says the man who paints them works with him.
They reach “Cross-in-Hand� again, which is a bleak land with a single stone monolith carved with a human hand, rumoured to once have held a holy cross. The place seems ancient and sinister. Alec says he has to leave and asks Tess about her improved way of speaking, and the trouble she had mentioned. She tells him about the baby, and he is distressed.
Alec says they will meet again, but Tess warns him not to come near her. Alec says he fears Tess now, and he asks her to place her hand upon the stone hand and swear that she will not tempt him again. Tess is offended, but complies. Alec says he will pray for her and leaves. He is disturbed as he walks, and often rereads a letter from Reverend Clare to give him strength.
Tess meets a shepherd and asks him about Cross-in-Hand. He says it is not holy, but haunted; a place where a criminal was tortured long ago. Tess later approaches a young couple, and then sees that the girl is Izz. Izz says the man is from Talbothays, and followed her here, but that she hasn’t answered his proposal yet.
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Here is the real Cross and Hand in Dorset, for those who are interested:
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Yet again we see the horrible unfairness of the double standard, and “victim blaming�. Tess must feel guilty just for being attractive to men, as if her very existence was inherently sinful, when really the sin is in Alec for his lack of morals, decency, or self-restraint.
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Tess cannot escape the past, and it keeps returning in grotesque ways like this. Their closely interwoven lives are shown by the connection to Reverend Clare. However we can cheer for Tess, whose dignity shines through in this meeting, where she is cold and scornful to waffling Alec. The oath he made her swear summarises well the novel’s themes. Tess is seen as actively “tempting� the cruel, dominant man just by existing, and the idea is so ingrained in her by society that she can’t help believing it. It sees a cruel twist of fate that she swears the oath on an ancient pagan monument, alone in the bleakness of Nature.
But what did you make of Alec’s behaviour afterwards?
I thought Alec's behavior was totally a fraught � claiming that he has been saved and is now religious but also claiming that Tess is tempting him. How he could come up and talk to her also seems particularly cruel. He can't even take the blame and say how blameless she was. How dare he approach her for doing so and then once again putting her in the defensive.
I completely agree, Pamela. It reminded me very much of men nowadays who blame women for wearing mini-skirts or such, when he says why she doesn´t cover her face and why she looks at him "like this".
Thanks for the picture of the real â€Cross in Handâ€�, Jean.I imagined something much taller!
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When Alec first notices Tess, Hardy writes that, "as in the legend, it had resulted that her Cyprian image had suddenly appeared upon his altar, and the fire of the priest had been well-nigh extinguished."When I researched this, I wasn't able to find a "legend" that would connect to the situation. Hardy is referring to Aphrodite (Greek goddess of sexual love and beauty), who was associated with the island of Cyprus.
However, there was also a Saint Cyprian of Antioch, who helped to develop the early Christian church in the third century. When Christians were persecuted, many of them lapsed and sacrificed to the Roman gods to save their skins. As a bishop during that time, Cyprian demanded that the lapsed make public penance before they could rejoin the church.
Even if Hardy did not intend it, I find the story of Cyprian interesting in light of Alec's almost immediate lapse upon seeing Tess.
Bionic Jean wrote: "Real Life Locations:
Here is the real Cross and Hand in Dorset, for those who are interested:
..."
Does anyone else notice the phallicity of that monument?
I’m at odds to come to any conclusion about Alec. Now I don’t like him at all. It’s just I can’t figure out what Hardy wants us to think about Alec. I do not think Alec has changed at all from the time he seduced Tess. His ´conversion� after meeting with Reverend Clare is too simple, too neat. His words to Tess ring of hypocrisy. I note that it is he who leaves Tess � yet again � to hurry off in the pursuit of his goals rather than the needs of Tess. Yes, Tess made it clear that she had no interest in Alec’s presence. Still, I remain unsure about how Hardy wishes us to interpret Alec.
Thank you Erich for the additional research. And yes, The Cross in Hand would give Freud something to think about.
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A few weeks later Tess is in the field throwing turnips into a slicing machine, while a male worker turns the handle, when Alec d’Urberville appears in the distance. Tess repeats her demand that he not come near her, but Alec says he wants to help her in her bad economic state. Tess keeps working, trying to stay detached.
Alec blames himself for corrupting Tess’s innocent life, but also her parents for not warning her of men like him. He plans to sell his estate and become a missionary in Africa, and he asks Tess to come with him as his wife. When she refuses, his disappointment shows that his old desires have reawakened.
They step away from the other worker to talk. Alec is shocked when Tess says she loves someone else, and he calls her improper. Finally Tess reveals that she is married, but she won’t say Angel’s name. Alec is distressed and admits he has fallen back in love with Tess.
Alec says he at least wants to help her financially, and is surprised to hear that Tess’s husband is far away. She says it is because he found out about him. He says she is a “deserted wife� and tries to take her hand, but she cries out and begs him to leave her alone.
At that moment Farmer Groby rides up, angry that Tess isn’t working. Alec defends her angrily but finally leaves. Tess is almost relieved at Groby’s reprimands, as they have nothing to do with sexuality. She considers for a second how much her life would be improved by Alec’s money, but she still finds him unpleasant and frightening.
That night Tess writes another, more desperate letter to Angel, but again she remembers the episode with Izz and her uncertainty returns, so she doesn’t send it.
On the Candlemas holiday Alec knocks on the door of the cottage where Tess lives. He is agitated and admits that he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about Tess since he saw her.
"He laid his hand on her shoulder, 'Tess, Tess, I was on the way to deliverance till I saw you again,' he said." - D. A. Wehrschmidt - "The Graphic" 21st November 1891
Alec asks her to pray for him, but Tess says she cannot pray because her husband has taught her to disbelieve in an active God. They have a theological discussion where Tess says she believes in the spirit of Christianity, but nothing supernatural.
Alec scorns her for parroting her husband’s beliefs, and Tess defends Angel with a faithfulness which Thomas Hardy says he doesn’t deserve. She repeats some of his arguments to Alec. Alec says that he still believes, but that he is slipping, and that at that moment he was supposed to be preaching in Casterbridge [Dorchester]. He desired to see Tess once more and says he could not stay away despite his commitments.
Alec gets angry at Tess for tempting him and causing him to backslide, comparing her to Eve or a “witch of Babylon�, but then he seems to come to himself again and apologises, again. He tries to embrace her, but she tells him to think of her husband’s honour, and again Alec is ashamed. He leaves, and Tess’s recitation of the logical arguments begin to wear at his emotion-based faith. His passions reawaken, and he scorns Tess's husband for unwittingly making him return to Tess.
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Candlemas:
Candlemas is a Christian holiday celebrated annually in England on 2nd February. It celebrates three occasions according to Christian belief: the presentation of the child Jesus; Jesus� first entry into the temple; and it celebrates the Virgin Mary’s purification (mainly in Catholic churches).
This is the day when Alec approaches Tess in her cottage. Yet again Tess is made powerless by her situation, and her antagonist does not respect her wishes. Alec has all the advantages, and she cannot escape � once more she is dependent on his whims.
Lady-Day:
Tess has agreed to stay at the farm until Lady Day which in England is 25th March (and when most of the bad Winter weather will be over). It is the first quarter day of the year, when traditionally tenants paid their rents to landlords, and servants were hired.
Lady Day is the Feast of the Annunciation, and was also the first day of the calendar year in England and Wales until 1752.
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In the previous chapter Thomas Hardy said:
“her Cyprian image had suddenly appeared upon his altar, whereby the fire of the priest had been well nigh extinguished�
Erich has analysed this very well, in the light of “Alec’s almost immediate lapse upon seeing Tess�. I also think Thomas Hardy has deliberately linked in our minds both the Greek goddess of sexual love and beauty, and also the idea of sacrifice. Tess is a goddess of nature, and also both self-sacrificing, and sacrificed by the men in her life: her father, Alec, Angel and farmer Groby. Farmer Groby’s antagonism however, only has to do with work and money, which is much more straightforward than the other more complicated and infuriating judgments of Alec, Angel, and Victorian society in general.
It hadn’t occurred to me about the phallic symbol Erich - but it has now, yes! A lot of pagan monuments and art representations are phallic like this, aren’t they. I did pick up on clear foreshadowing � but we must talk of that later :)
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The religious differences are interesting. Alec d’Urberville has converted to be a Methodist, and said to Tess:
“I only differ from him [Parson Clare] on the question of Church and State—the interpretation of the text, â€Come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord’—that’s all.â€�
Again he is referring to antinomianism, which Mercy Chant follows. This doctrine distinguishes between obeying the Mosaic Law. (i.e. the Ten Commandments) and the law of the land. I wrote more about this in the two posts here:
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However, Thomas Hardy is indicating that Alec’s attitudes may be as easily changed as we have seen Angel Clare’s to be. He talks of Alec’s passion for his religion in the same physical terms as his passion for Tess, and says it is not of reason, but emotion: a “whimsical conversion�.
We can now see the answer to my question yesterday “what did you make of Alec’s behaviour afterwards?� as even Alec himself admits he is wavering in his faith.
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Did anyone think that Alec’s dream of Africa sounds like Angel’s Brazil? It is an idealised place, far from the troubles of England, and also associated with some kind of frustration regarding Tess. His faith seems just as fickle as his other passions. Alec’s religious fervour falls from him as quickly as his passion for Tess reignites. She is again accused of being a temptress: a role women are often accused of by religious male zealots. This makes her “sinful� through no action of her own. It allows the sinning man to pin the blame for his sin on her.
Yet Tess herself has her own version of idealism. She still can’t see Angel’s faults, and still seems to worship him, especially when comparing him with Alec. Tess is still unsure if Angel really loves her, and cannot yet see how unfair he has been.
Lots to talk of here :)
Bionic Jean wrote: "Idealism
of various sorts:
Did anyone think that Alec’s dream of Africa sounds like Angel’s Brazil? It is an idealised place, far from the troubles of England, and also associated with some ki..."
I hadn't until you said it but it does sound similar. Alec wants his cake (Tess) and his faith even though that seems to be a matter of the moment. His actions and words show how feckless he is and I still see him as a danger for Tess. But then I am not sold on Angel who is not true to the woman he claims he loves. Then you have that overseer on the horse � an example of how cruel men can be just because they can lord it over the unfortunate.
Alec's was allegedly sparked by his grief over mother's death. They certainly never seemed close when she was alive, but perhaps she provided him with stability/structure/discipline that he cannot maintain on his own?Oh the irony of it being Tess's own father-in-law who was Alec's religious mentor! And then again later, Tess's husband who is the source of his disillusionment with the church. Tess and Alec are cruelly and inextricably linked in so many ways.
I noticed that Alec referred to himself as a "scamp" in respect of his earlier treatment of Tess..... that's a euphemism if ever I heard one!I had wondered if his jolt of shock on seeing her again as he preached and the efforts he made to find her at the farm could actually have actually been signs of real love for her. However, no, he admits he has pursued her because she represents "the one petticoat in the world for whom he had no contempt". She is the only woman who has rejected him and his pride has been wounded - this is why he still pursues her!
I also noticed his exclamation at one point of "Angels in heaven"!
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About the cover picture: the real “Tess� and ”The Hardy Players�
At the beginning of the Phase the Fourth thread, there is a photograph of Gertrude Bugler, Thomas Hardy’s inspir..."
I didnt get a chance to comment yesterday, but I wanted to thank Jean for posting the pictures of Gertrude Bulger, and the commentary about who she was as well. I may have a different picture of Tess in my own head, but I love knowing where Hardy found his inspiration. I also liked learning about how involved he was with the dramatization of the novel, and his wife's reactions.
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"I also noticed his exclamation at one point of "Angels in heaven"!"
Yes me too! Perfect subtle irony of the name there, as immediately before, he had been talking unknowingly about Angel Clare. There are the big ironies: coincidences as you point out about Angel Clare's father being the one who instigated his conversion, and his son being the one who made him doubt again, but I like these little ones too :) And as Peter points out, they are are all intricately entwined with Tess and her future.
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Perhaps we all have pictures of the characters in our minds. I'll move Pankies' thread about the different dramatisations in to the current folder, so we can talk about them there.
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It is threshing day at Flintcomb-Ash, and all the women gather around the sinister red threshing-machine. Nearby is a black, smoking engine, tended to by an engineer who serves its fire and industry and looks out of place in nature. He speaks with a strange Northern accent and seems like a servant of Hell.
The women start to work, feeding the ravenous machine with corn. Old men talk of the labouring by hand in the old days, which they say got better results. Tess does not even have time to talk, she must work so fast to satisfy the machine.
Tess doesn’t notice that Alec d’Urberville has arrived and is watching her. He is dressed fashionably now, no longer like a preacher, and Izz and Marian can’t believe he is the same man. Tess takes a break and is surprised to see him. She says she will eat her dinner on top of the cornstack, but he climbs up a ladder to sit beside her. It is clear from his appearance that he has returned to his old libertine ways.
Tess asks why he keeps bothering her, but Alec accuses her of bothering him by haunting him with her eyes and ruining his faith. He has entirely given up religion, and blames Tess for taking his innocence as revenge for him taking hers. He says no saint could have kept the faith either, if tempted by her face.
Alec admits that Tess’s husband’s arguments have convinced him, and Tess asks that he keep the religion of kindness and purity, if not doctrine. But Alec says if he has no one telling him what to do then he will do what feels good and will not feel responsible for his deeds and passions if there’s nobody to be responsible to.
Alec emphasises how her husband has abandoned Tess, and again he propositions her, implying that he is closer to her than her husband. He implies that her husband might be mythical, and reaches for her, whereupon Tess slaps him in the face with her glove. Alec jumps up, bleeding from the mouth, and Tess invites him to attack her, because “once victim, always victim�.
Alec does not retaliate, and reminds her that he had asked her to marry him. He then threatens Tess that he will be her master again, and if she belongs to anyone it is to him: “If you are any man’s wife you are mine!� He says he will return for her answer in the afternoon, and then leaves. The machine starts up again, and Tess keeps working, mechanically.
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And what powerful images of the incoming Industrial Age! Thomas Hardy is at his most explicit here in portraying modern industry as Hellish and destructive; a fiery intrusion on Nature. The engineer seems similar to the eerie Arctic birds. The author seems to empathise with the old men, in his nostalgia for the agricultural past. The machine is never satisfied, and the work becomes unbearable for the innocent, rural women.
There are quite a few more Biblical references and mentions of myths here; perhaps someone with an annotated copy (or time to google) would like to help on this?
Alec’s conversion didn’t last very long, did it! He has totally reverted to his original ways, and trapping Tess on top of the cornstack was so manipulative. On the other hand, he is the only person who has offered to help her (at least monetarily) ever since he knew her.
I wonder what Tess is feeling. Alec said that she never used to be "warm" - a word which could have several meanings. Tess hit out when her husband was slighted, and Izz commented how faithful to him she is, even though it is only a memory.
Over to you!
I agree with everything that you said Jean. I never trusted Alec's conversion, especially in light of what he said in the last chapter, so it's no surprise that he has come back to Tess as of the times as old, almost as he thought that was all it would take to bring her back to him. He indeed was being quite manipulative � I thought she was quite restrained with him until he attempted to physically hold her.
While he has offered to help her, it really feels like another trap but sadly, she really is at the end of her tether and he may be the only way out of the situation. I just can't see her turning to Angel's parents for assistance.
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Once again Alec attempts to play the victim and accuses Tess of being the one who is bothering him. He is so repulsive to me in this moment.
In a way it's very satisfying when Tess throws her glove at Alec and draws blood. I loved how she acts "without the slightest warning" as if she's acting on instinct alone. But then he ramps up his threats at the end, so perhaps her rash act was not smart after all. But what else could she do? Maybe she should have ignored him and joined the others for lunch? There is a certain safety in numbers.
Alec claims to love Tess, and he does offer to help Tess and her family. However, his offers sound more like bargains and temptations than selfless help. There are echoes of the temptation of Christ in the scenes, with Angel as the god that Tess will not betray in exchange for personal comfort.Alec can mimic love, but his mask drops when Tess strikes him with her glove. She is not only to blame for tempting him but also for resisting him once he has given up his soul "for her."
Rather than the machine serving people, people in this chapter are serving the machine. They must work beyond the limit of their endurance to satisfy the unceasing hunger.
I was so worried about someone falling in the machine or getting a hand caught or something! They seemed to be moving so fast and almost without thinking, like part of the machine themselves.
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What a great observation! Also Janelle - "like part of the machine themselves" Yes! I was feeling my way towards this by paraphrasing Tess working in a sort of stupor as her working "mechanically".
I love everyone's observations about the hellish machine, and how people are driven to exhaustion, and are getting eaten up by it. More today!
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Farmer Groby makes them keep working all day until sunset. Alec returns to watch Tess when they have their afternoon break as he had said, and blows Tess a kiss.
“It was not until about three o’clock that Tess raised her eyes and gave a momentary glance round. She felt but little surprise at seeing that Alec D’Urberville had come back, and was standing under the hedge by the gate� - by Joseph Syddall “The Graphic� 28th November 1891
The work seems endless and the threshing-machine insatiable. The machine shakes Tess into a reverie. The other women keep going by drinking ale, but Tess still abstains because of her childhood experience of her drunken father. The work is hard, but she fears it less than facing Alec again. Finally the rats retreat under the sheaves, and are killed when they flee.
Alec approaches Tess again and offers to help her. She tries to give him the benefit of the doubt but is still wary. Alec mentions her family, and Tess gets upset. She still refuses to take anything from Alec, and he finally departs.
That night Tess writes a passionate letter to Angel, begging that he return because she is so terribly tempted and oppressed. She says her punishment is just, but asks him to have mercy and come home. She still loves him purely and entirely, and is the same woman he fell in love with, only she is now much more unhappy. She tells him she does not value her beauty except for his sake, and says she would willingly be his servant if only she could be near him. She warns him again that there is something terrible threatening her, and she fears she will succumb to it if he does not return.
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Middleton Abbey in real life is the Abbey at Milton Abbas and Shottsford is Blandford Forum, if you’d like to look online about these.
I confess “n˛ąłľłľ±đłŮ-łŮľ±łľ±đâ€� bamboozled me! Google tells me it is Southern England dialect meaning a snack or light meal; originally a farm worker’s lunch to be eaten in the fields. I suspect they might have had Cornish pasties, as that is how they originated, with the crust semicircle to be held in the hand by outdoor workers, and the rim discarded if it became too dirty, just eating the pastry, potato and meat inside.
But by far the most startling and obvious parallel to hit me was Giant’s Hill by Abbot’s-Cernel This refers to the Cerne Abbas Giant, which I’ll post about next.
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“and as the evening light in the direction of the Giant’s Hill by Abbot’s-Cernel dissolved away, the white-faced moon of the season arose from the horizon that lay towards Middleton Abbey�
English people usually jokily call this “the rude man�, and the picture shows why! It is an enormous hillside figure of a full blown nude male wielding a massive club, cut into the steep chalk downland that runs along the Cerne Valley. It is just outside the small village of Cerne Abbas in Dorset, about 30 miles west of Bournemouth and 16 miles north of Weymouth. It is over 180 feet long and 167 feet wide with the huge club measuring 120 feet long.
The Cerne Abbas Giant - hillside chalk figure
The “rude man� is created from trenches cut into the chalk-land one to two foot deep and around one foot wide, which are packed with chalk. The creation of the Giant is shrouded in mystery and features in many local legends and folklore. Since Victorian times it has been (for a pretty obvious reason), associated with fertility. Others have suggested that the figure is an ancient symbol and may even be a depiction of Hercules from Greco-Roman mythology. There are even tales of a giant having been killed on the hill way back in time, and that the locals then drew around the corpse leaving the outline that can be seen today!
Despite the rumours of it being prehistoric, there is no known written record of the hill carving until 1694 when a payment of three shillings can be found documented in the churchwarden’s accounts that went towards the “repaireing of the Giant�. It does not feature in any of the many existing Medieval manuscripts, letters and documents. The most likely theory is that it was created by the servants of Denzil Holles, Ist Baron Holles of Ifield (1598-1680) and MP for Dorchester (Thomas Hardy’s Casterbridge).
Denzil Holles was one of Five Members of Parliament whom Charles I tried to impeach unconstitutionally in the House of Commons during 1642 and thus sowed the seeds for the devastating English Civil War. In 1642 Denzil Holles married his second wife, Jane Shirley of Ifield and through this marriage acquired the Manor House at Cerne Abbas. Giant Hill was part of the estate.
Denzil Holles was leader of the Presbyterian (moderate) party of Parliament and he detested Oliver Cromwell, with whom he clashed violently after he felt he had become too zealous. It is believed that it was this hatred that made Denzil Holles create the Cerne Giant, in the 1650s, as a satire of the Parliamentarian leader. This type of allegory was often used during the 17th century. Oliver Cromwell was sometimes referred to disparagingly as the “English Hercules� by his enemies and it was probably a caricature of this Roman god, often depicted with a club and Nemean lion, that Denzil Holles chose as his hill figure.
If you go along with this theory, the nudity was a sort of “up yours� to his Puritanism. and the huge club might be an allusion to the parliamentary mace. In 1655 Oliver Cromwell dissolved the Protectorate Parliament and, in essence, ruled as a military dictator until his death in 1658.
In 2008 a team of archaeologists used specialist equipment and concluded that the Cerne Abbas Giant had originally held a cloak over its left arm, which has long since disappeared. This backs up the idea that the figure is of Hercules with the skin of the Neman lion draped over his arm. There’s a fascinating documentary by Aubrey Manning about all this, called “Landscape Mysteries - Figures in the Chalk�, part of an excellent series if you ever manage to see it.
There’s also a lot about its history on wiki here:
Thomas Hardy did not know our recent discoveries, but knew full well the Cerne Abbas Giant’s long-held association with pagan rites and fertility. He clearly put the reference toTess looking over to the Cerne Abbas giant when Alec d’Urberville arrives, as a strong and unmistakable symbol.
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Red in this novel seems to presage some major devastating event, and with Alec’s surely voluptuous kiss, I can’t help fearing for Tess - as she does herself.
Will Angel come? What will Tess do?
What do you think?
I fear for Tess as well. She has been through more than enough misery and sorrow. Its tough to believe that at this point she would write to Angel, but at least she does. But like you, Jean, I this something will happen before her prayers are answered. Gosh, this tale is depressing!!
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Thank you also for the picture of the Cerne Abbas Giant. I had forgotten about him, and Hardy’s reference went right over my head. I remember learning about The Giant and the Long Man of Wilmington in school. I’ve always been fascinated by them, and Stone Henge too, and the mystery of their origins.
I feel like this chapter is almost a horror story. Alec is stalking Tess so much that I begin to think he’s mentally unstable! Then there’s the ever present, ominous, evil machine, and the rats at the end (yuck!).
I wonder, does Tess actually have a way to get Angel this letter? Wasn’t she going to visit the Clares to get an updated address for him?
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The Clares receive Tess’s letter and hope that it will make Angel hurry home. Mrs. Clare’s only complaint to her husband is that Angel was not given the chance to attend Cambridge like his brothers. Mr. Clare still feels justified in his decision, but he prays for Angel and misses him. They wonder what went wrong with his marriage and blame themselves for it.
At that moment Angel is in the interior of Brazil, riding towards the coast. He has had a hard time in Brazil, as have all the hopeful farmers and their families from England. His moral sense has also matured, and he now considers intentions more important than results. This makes him start to feel guilty about how he has treated Tess. He wonders why she doesn’t write, and assumes she is doing well.
On one of his journeys Angel rides with another Englishman who has had a hard time, and tells him all the details of his marriage, it being easier to talk to strangers. The stranger has travelled in many cultures and remarks how limited Angel’s views are. Tess’s past should be nothing compared to her present, and Angel was wrong to reject her.
The next day the stranger dies of a fever, making his words feel more important. Angel begins to realize how narrow-minded he has been, all the while thinking he was being so philosophically open. He had chosen Paganism over Christianity, but it was “his own parochialism [which] made him ashamed."
Angel thinks again of Izz’s words, and of Tess’s faith in him on their wedding day. Slowly he becomes Tess’s advocate against himself, and withdraws his criticisms. Her d’Urberville name starts to appeal to him, as it has no economic value but much sentimental interest in terms of the fallen mighty ones. Angel also realizes that despite her “impure� past, Tess is still the ideal of purity and freshness that he had loved, and so his feelings begin to return.
Angel is too far inland to receive the letter yet. Tess meanwhile fluctuates in her hopes of Angel’s return. She decides to learn to sing some of the songs Angel had played on his harp, and she cries as she practices them alone in the cold fields.
Lady-Day and the end of her employment approaches, and one day her sister Liza-Lu appears at the door, looking gangly and much taller. She says that their mother is dying, and their father is also ill, and he still won’t work because of his high ancestry. Tess decides to leave the farm early and start home that night.
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Surely this must be one of Tess’s lowest moments. She has been caught between wearily serving an industrial master, and seductions and antagonism from Alec. He is no longer her employer, but she is just as vulnerable to him now as when she lived at the Slopes.
Tess has escaped from the drudgery of the machine, and the bullying of the farmer, but to what? So far she has been independent of Alec’s financial aid, but in the previous chapter he used her family’s hardships to again wield power over her through her own morality and guilt. Her family are also in dire need (unless he father decides he is not too noble to work!)
It is yet unhappy twist of fate for Tess, although at least she gets out of Flintcomb-Ash. She will now be even more vulnerable, especially to Alec’s offers of wealth in her family’s time of need.
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Parson Clare still stands by his convictions, but also remains strong in his love for his son Angel. The Clares� kindness is one of the good example of Christianity in the novel; they behave according to their sincere beliefs. They think Tess is safe with her family, and do not know any of the details. Thomas Hardy told us earlier that if they had known of Tess’s plight they would have taken her in. It is another tragedy that Tess has never met them.
And I have a favourite line from this chapter which is Thomas Hardy commenting on Angel Clare:
"no man can be always a cynic and live;"
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We have been told that Angel will not receive Tess's letter for a while, but perhaps there is some hope in that direction? Or from his parents.
What do you think?
The idea that the stranger is a stand-in for Hardy is certainly an interesting one, Jean. At some point in the story there had to be someone who verbally kicked Angel in the head for standing on principles means nothing if it means treating a good woman badly, as he has certainly done.And I agree with you that his father, from what little we have seen and heard of him, does seem to be a good man. I wonder what Hardy would have had him do if he had indeed met Tess. There were clues in earlier chapters that Angel's mother would have been most unhappy and perhaps subconsciously have treated Tess as beneath them.
Actually, I've looked back in chapter 26 where Angel's mother asks Angel, "Is she of a family such as you would care to marry into � a lady, in short?" adding "Mercy Chant (the woman his parents believed he would marry) is of a very good family. � Mercy is accomplished, and accomplishments have their charm."
The father also is said to persist "in his conviction that a knowledge of a farmer's wife's duties came second to a Pauline view of humanity."
Eventually, Angel's arguments sway them, or atleast get them to accept his decision to marry Tess, but that might have been difficult if they were faced with the actual article.
Thankfully, Tess has finally written and at a time that Angel has come to maturity to realize that what she has done (especially as not exactly a willing participant) doesn't have bearing on her devotion to him and their life together. I hope that it is not too late, especially as now she is leaving one sad situation (and the attentions of Alec, who seems to have gone back to his old ways) and heading into another, that of sick parents who are not capable to provide for their own children.
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This is an excellent observation Pamela, backed up by your quotation from ch 26 :)
However, when I said "Thomas Hardy told us earlier that if they had known of Tess’s plight they would have taken her in." I was referring to the later chapter 44.
Do you remember the boots episode, when Mercy Chant had assumed the boots had been left there by a tramp, who wanted to look worse off than they were, and Cuthbert and Felix had been so judgemental that Tess "felt almost as if she had been hounded up that hill like a scorned thing by those—to her—superfine clerics."
Thomas Hardy goes on to say:
"it was somewhat unfortunate that she had encountered the sons and not the father, who, despite his narrowness, was far less starched and ironed than they, and had to the full the gift of charity."
So we are told by the author that Parson Clare would have listened, and done his best for Tess, as would his wife. However it may well have been difficult for them to keep this up, as you suggest, and this is why Angel had wanted to "improve" Tess's manner of speech before they met her (as indeed he did. Alec commented on this.)
What they say, and what Thomas Hardy tells us, is not quite the same, interestingly!
One thing we can be sure of is that Tess would/will have a difficult time with Angel's prissy brothers!
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The fact that Talbothays is such a happy place, the weather is warm and and that entire part of the country is so lush and verdant, makes the contrast with Flintcomb Ash all the greater, doesn't it.
I have some doubts as to whether Parson and Mrs. Clare would respond as charitably to Tess as they have to others in whom they are less personally interested. Would they believe that Tess had been wronged and abandoned by their son, that she hadn't just wasted the money that Angel had left her with, that she was not at fault? They gave the black pudding to a man with DT without commenting on his alcoholism, but I'm not confident that they would not judge Tess for coming to them.Mercy Chant immediately assumes that Tess's boots have been left in the hedge by a sham beggar; her worldview is that humans are deeply sinful (and that she should be congratulated for seeing through it). Parson Clare accepts harsh words and even blows from sinners as a matter of course, but I don't believe that he would offer that charity/martyrdom to his daughter-in-law.
Hi Jean,I thought that you made a great point about the stranger being like a stand-in for Hardy.
When I read the scene between Angel and the stranger, I also thought of the bible stories I read growing up and how the "stranger in the road" trope was a central theme in many of them. In those stories, "salvation" and reconciliation occurred when a disciple met and followed the counsel of the "stranger in the road" (who, in those stories, was a stand-in for Jesus).
Like the disciples in biblical conversion narratives, Angel's "change of heart" occurred after an encounter with an anonymous stranger, whose counsel caused Angel to turn back from the destructive path that he was on. As in those stories, Hardy's anonymous stranger disappeared from the narrative once his message had been delivered.
Bionic Jean wrote: "Don’t you think this stranger is like a stand-in for Thomas Hardy himself? He tells it straight to Angel about how unfair he has been, and complains about how foolishly stifling the ..."
Works of Thomas Hardy
Books mentioned in this topic
Man-Size in Marble (other topics)Paradise Lost (other topics)
The Woodlanders (other topics)
The Return of the Native (other topics)
Tess of the D’Urbervilles (other topics)
Authors mentioned in this topic
Thomas Hardy (other topics)Thomas Hardy (other topics)
Thomas Hardy (other topics)
Thomas Hardy (other topics)
E. Nesbit (other topics)
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Phase the Sixth: The Convert: Chapters 45 - 52
Gertrude Bugler as Tess
Gertrude Bugler on stage as Tess