Thomas Hardy

The story of a simple country girl whose family's pretentions lead to her destruction

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

Tess of the D'urbervilles.A Pure Woman.Faithfully presented by Thomas Hardy.Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented, also known as Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman, Tess of the d'Urbervilles or just Tess, is a novel by Thomas Hardy, first published in 1891. It initially appeared in a censored and serialised version, published by the British illustrated newspaper, The Graphic. Though now considered an important work of English literature, the book received mixed reviews when it first appeared, in part because it challenged the sexual mores of Hardy's day. The original manuscript is on display at the British Library, showing that it was originally titled "Daughter of the d'Urbervilles." In 2003, the novel was listed at number 26 on the BBC's survey The Big Read.The novel is set in impoverished rural Wessex during the Long Depression. Tess is the oldest child of John and Joan Durbeyfield, uneducated rural peasants. One day, Parson Tringham informs John that he has noble blood. Tringham has discovered that "Durbeyfield" is a corruption of "D'Urberville", the surname of a noble Norman family, now extinct. The news immediately goes to John's head.That same day, Tess participates in the village May Dance, where she meets Angel Clare, youngest son of Reverend James Clare, who is on a walking tour with his two brothers. He stops to join the dance, and finds partners in several other girls. Angel notes Tess's beauty, too late to dance with her, as he is already late for a promised meeting with his brothers. Tess feels slighted.

A Pure Woman

Tess of the D'urbervilles

mia esme hsu

‘[…] though, being heart-whole as yet, she enjoyed treading a measure purely for its own sake; little divining when she saw “the soft torments, the bitter sweets, the pleasing pains, and the agreeable distresses” of those girls who had been wooed and won, what she herself was capable of in that kind. The struggles and wrangles of the lads for her hand in a jig were an amusement to her—no more; and when they became fierce she rebuked them.’

Abigail Marie

She suddenly stopped and murmured: 'But perhaps I don't quite know the Lord as Yet.'

And probably the half-unconsciouses rhapsody was a Fetichistic utterance in a Monotheistic falsetto; women whose chief companions are the forms and forces of outdoor Nature retain in their souls far more of the Pagan fantasy of their remote forefathers than of the systematized religion taught their race at a later date.

Etched against the background of a dying rural society, Tess of the d'Urbervilles was Thomas Hardy's 'bestseller,' and Tess Durbeyfield remains his most striking and tragic heroine. Of all the characters he created, she meant the most to him. Hopelessly torn between two men—Alec d'Urberville, a wealthy, dissolute young man who seduces her in a lonely wood, and Angel Clare, her provincial, moralistic, and unforgiving husband—Tess escapes from her vise of passion through a horrible, desperate act. 'Like the greatest characters in literature, Tess lives beyond the final pages of the book as a permanent citizen of the imagination,' said Irving Howe. 'In Tess he stakes everything on his sensuous apprehension of a young woman's life, a girl who is at once a simple milkmaid and an archetype of feminine strength. . . . Tess is that rare creature in literature: goodness made interesting.' Now Tess of the d'Urbervilles has been brought to television in a magnificent new co-production from A&E Network and London Weekend Television. Justine Waddell (Anna Karenina) stars as the tragic heroine, Tess; Oliver Milburn (Chandler & Co.) is Angel Clare; and Jason Flemyng is Alec d'Urberville. The cast also includes John McEnery (Black Beauty) as Jack Durbeyfield and Lesley Dunlop (The Elephant Man) as Joan Durbeyfield. Tess of the d'Urbervilles is directed by Ian Sharp and produced by Sarah Wilson, with a screenplay by Ted Whitehead; it was filmed in Hardy country, the beautiful English countryside in Dorset where Thomas Hardy set his novels.

Tess of the d'Urbervilles

Megan 🌷📚

Hardy was ahead of his time while writing this. He believed in reform but only knew tragedy-- though that he wrote a thought-provoking, tragedy about a girl whose fate only depended on the actions of men around her. This is truly a remarkable novel that has stood and will continue to stand the test of time. 

Barbara Williford

What an amazing read! My head is still reeling from this book and the unfortunate ending. First, this is a well written book with vivid detail. It is a book I could not put down.

Tess is unfortunately born into poverty, a family too large to support, a father who has grandiose ideas of himself and his hereditary and feels entitled and thus does very little to support the family. It is up to Tess, the eldest daughter to support the family. Her mother encourages her to endear herself to a “wealthy relation” which leads to sweet, innocent Tess’ societal downfall.

Just when you think she can overcome her past and find true happiness, the blows of life keep coming. The ending is not expected.

a pure woman, faithfully presented

“A strong woman who recklessly throws away her strength, she is worse than a weak woman who has never had any strength to throw away.”

Roisin Ramdhayan 

Gillian Rose

The general storyline was pretty heartbreaking. I felt awful for Tess the entire time but to be fair, every character kind of acted stupid. Angel Clare was a hypocrite and really disappointed me :(

my first book ever, one that makes me in love with reading. ironic, i know, the fact that my obsession towards books was ignited by one hell of depressing and frustrating piled papers.

years passed and i still pity every second of tess's life; she seems to always confronted by circumstances that make her life even more miserable, let alone have to live alongside the stupidity of rigid morals applied to women in victorian england — including the worth of a woman is based on the state of intactness of her hymen. maddening.

i do love the book, there are several aspects on how hardy wrote the story that makes me understand what a great writer he was, but it surely not gonna be one of those book that i would gladly revisit.

my first book ever, one that makes me in love with reading. ironic, i know, the fact that my obsession towards books was ignited by one hell of depressing and frustrating piled papers.

years passed and i still pity every second of tess's life; she seems to always confronted by circumstances that make her life even more miserable, let alone have to live alongside the stupidity of rigid morals applied to women in victorian england — including the worth of a woman is based on the state of intactness of her hymen. maddening.

i do love the book, there are several aspects on how hardy wrote the story that makes me understand what a great writer he was, but it surely not gonna be one of those book that i would gladly revisit.

After an accident, Tess Durbeyfield, the daughter of impoverished peasants, decides to call on the aristocratic d’Urbervilles, as she believes that she is also descended from their ancient Norman lineage and that they can rescue her family from indigence. Unfortunately she is taken under the wing of the immoral libertine scion Alec d’Urberville, who seduces and scorns her. While she attempts to rebuild her life, she falls in love with the virtuous farmer Angel Clare and must find a way to defeat the demons of her past. Controversial when it was first published for challenging Victorian morals, Tess of the d’Urbervilles has become Thomas Hardy’s most popular novel, catching the imaginations of generations of readers with its high drama, endearing heroine and powerful evocations of the southern English countryside.

Tess of the d'Ubervilles

really struggled to get through it initially but the second half made up for the slow start. Alec and Angel are both garbage men and Tess deserved a million times better than what she got. Wouldn’t choose to read again but I’m very happy to have persevered with it and finish it

Maria Davis 

A Pure Woman (Works of Thomas Hardy in Prose and Verse, Vol 1)

Eloise

** spoiler alert **
           I liked ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles’ very much. It depicts quite beautifully life on a farm in Victorian England and asks questions on love and morals and on how society judges people unfairly. I liked Tess very much. I found Alec d’Urberville quite interesting – he seems to be a villain in the beginning, but in the latter part of the story he seems to have reformed and is genuinely concerned for Tess. In the end he is again portrayed as a villain. I was in two minds about Angel Clare – in the initial part of the story, till he gets married to Tess, he comes through as a modern, liberal man, who is ready to stand up for his ideas, even if they are at odds with the world. But when he abandons Tess, I felt that he was quite weak and didn’t stand up, especially when she had trusted him enough to tell him all her secrets. His vacillations continue for the rest of the story and he never regained my affection as a reader. Hardy had really flirted with danger and had annoyed the moral police of his era. There is a scene in the initial part of the book, where Tess is walking back with her fellow farmworkers after spending an evening of festivities in another village, and she gets into argument with another milkmaid, who after getting annoyed strips herself and stands there trying to upset Tess. Hardy, of course, couches it in vague language, describing the maid as a Praxitelean sculpture. Reading ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles’ made me think about the other three nineteenth century classics which are stories about the ‘fallen’ woman – ‘Madame Bovary’ by Gustave Flaubert, ‘Anna Karenina’ by Leo Tolstoy and ‘Effi Briest’ by Theodor Fontane. One way in which it is definitely different from the rest is that the others all talk about women and families which are rich and well-to-do, while Tess is from a poor family. This and the fact that most of the story happens in a farm probably sets apart ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles’ from the rest.

A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented

one of my favorite books. have more thoughts. placeholder review.

If the message of this book how little women's consent mattered in 18th century England then it succeeded in communicating that

Selin

14 yaşındayken bu kitabın 100-150 sayfalık özet versiyonlarından birini (Oxford Bookworms) okumuş ve sevmiştim. Yıllar sonra tam metni okumaya niyetlendim ve nefret ettim. :) Bu durum geçen zamanla ilgili olabilir ama 600 sayfalık bir metni 100 sayfaya indirirken hikâyenin ve karakterlerin sinir bozucu taraflarını yok etmeyi seçmiş olmaları da ihtimal dahilinde. 

Karakterler sığ ve sinir bozucu. Yazar, birkaç yerde döneme dair önemli bir şeyler söylemeye yaklaşıyor ama her defasında son anda vazgeçip aynı konular etrafında dönen gereksiz diyaloglara ya da sıkıcı ilişkiler hakkındaki detaylara geri dönüyor. Sevdiğim kitapları tekrar okumak genelde çok hoşuma gider ama bu kez olmadı.

Jason Porterfield

The story went pretty much where I expected, which is fine. I loved the deeply descriptive, meditative nature of Hardy's prose. It's like watching a Terrence Malick film. You already know where you're going, so why not take a look around you on the way there?

Thomas Gilbert

Beautiful new edition with cover from David DeanFaber Childrens Classics have accessible font sizes for easier reading. Tess Durbeyfield, the daughter of a poor villager, learns she may be descendant from the rich d'Urberville family. She fails to claim kinship and is taken advantage of by the libertine Alec d'Urberville. She then meets the son of a local reverend, Angel Clare, who she begins to fall in love with, but tragedy follows Tess as she continues to run from her past. Will she get her chance at love or will her past doom her future?

sarah 🤠

yeah. tess lived up to every one of my lofty expectations. hardy's writing might be my favorite ever. weeks later, i still feel like i'm punched in the stomach when i think about this book. i don't think i'll ever recover

Elizabeth Raines

This was an interesting read. My classic of this cycle of books was Tess of the D’Urbervilles. This book had lots of good things about it and I would say only one downside that isn’t a major issue.

First and foremost I think the main plot or theme of this book is how trauma can impact a person and cause them to go into an endless cycle if they do not get the proper care. Now, this is set in the late 1800s where women did not get that care and were blamed for their issues or blamed for crimes committed against them. One thing that I find interesting is that a man wrote this novel, I think there are hints of feminism throughout the novel and how hypocritical Victorian society was to women. I wonder if there would be more of an outrage if a woman published this book in 1890 or if she would even be able to find a publisher for it at all.

Now that I have finished, there was a lot of foreshadowing and symbolism throughout the story. I won’t go into too many details about it as I do not want to spoil the book. Those are two of my favorite literary devices and I think they were well used in this story.

My one and only complaint is in the middle part of the story it seemed to drag. The start and end were quick but the middle just had really long and tedious sections that I didn’t feel like were necessary for the development of the plot.

I really liked that Wessex was the setting as this book takes near and around the same place that my family came from even though this is set roughly two hundred years after they were there. I thought that this book gave a good look into Victorian times as often we see London during that time period and not the smaller towns in England. The plot was fascinating as it was calling out the societal standards of the time. I need to research on how this book was received when it was first published over a hundred years ago. This book used plenty of literary devices and is a good example of what classic literature is. It did get stagnant at times but I think overall that this was a good read.

4 out of 5 stars.

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I thought this book was good, I like the relationship between Clarke and Tess but I thought the book was very longwinded and it wasn’t unique.

Judy Hudgins

The book my high school term paper was based on.

Cat Nunez 

Escribí un gigantesco testamento y se borró y no tengo ganas de escribirlo de nuevo así que cuando tenga inspiración lo haré

Tess of the Durbervilles

Grace

Hardy’s novel has my heart, body, and soul. This was truly a roller-coaster wave of a book for me. So many emotions: rage, disgust, joy, adoration, frustration, sorrow, and absolute compassion — for our intelligent, passionate, and beautiful protagonist, Tess Durbeyfield. I believe I have not quite come across a character as tragic as she.

‘Tess’ is set in 19th-century England and follows Tess Durbeyfield, whose impoverished rural family lays claim to the fortune of the noble D’Urbervilles. This attempt at kinship proves disastrous as her life, upon meeting her ‘cousin’ Alec, soon leads to ruin. Enter Angel Clare, a freethinking apprentice farmer. Will his presence in Tess’ life set off a chain reaction of anguish and misfortune or that of healing and happiness?

Thomas Hardy’s 1891 masterpiece is a fine novel that challenges the rigid morals, norms, and customs of Victorian England. Tess is a fierce campaigner of human decency and quiet dignity. As you witness her plight you are there for her every step of the way, hoping she will succeed and flourish. Hopelessly and often, I reflected on how her life was so determined and affected by the actions of those who wronged her. 

This might be the kind of book where, as you finish it, you stare into the abyss that is your bedroom ceiling and contemplate the haunting narrative. With this being my first Thomas Hardy story I’m hopeful for more. I can finally cross Hardy off of my list of writers to read! For years I hardly thought I would be so taken and impacted by his beautiful prose, and yet this time round I was.

Émilie 

DNF.
Je ne comprends pas l'engouement autour de ce roman, ce n'est tout simplement pas pour moi.
La plume de Thomas Hardy m'avait intriguée après ma lecture de 50 nuances de Grey et je voulais découvrir la passion d'Anastasia pour ce classique. Malheureusement je me suis ennuyée dans ce trop plein de contemplation, quel dommage.

Ana Jankovic

I cannot express my emotions about this book well enough, I can only say that it is one of the best ones I've ever read.
I read many classics and truly thought I was in love some, but only now do I realize what loving a book (or author) really means and feels like.
I won't give away any spoilers, I only wish to finish this 'review' (this outpouring of emotion rather) with a quote from this so dearly beloved, tragic story -

 

 Nature does not often say “See!” to her poor creature at a time when seeing can lead to happy doing; or reply “Here!” to a body’s cry of “Where?” till the hide-and-seek has become an irksome, outworn game. 



"How would it have been if we had pitched on a sound one?

Yeldah Yousfi

Raya 

There are novels which lend us a sense of warmth as we think about them, and then there are novels, remembering which we find ourselves sitting pensive with an array of colourless thoughts. 
How the life of a sixteen year old country girl shall change when poverty and helplessness will drive her to meet her 'cousin' Alec which shall prove to be her ruination. The arrival of another man named Angel Clare gives Tess the hopes of a brighter future, but will Providence bestow kindness to her this time ? 
The central theme of the novel is injustice and the consequences of that injustice visited on Tess in her suffering. Tess not only passively accepts what's meted our to her, but rather struggles against what seems an inexorable fate. With its sensitive portrayal of the 'wronged' Tess, what Hardy is driving in this novel is to evoke in his readers sympathy, understanding and compassion for Tess. The themes like social class, the changing world of rural labor, education and religion support the main theme. 
A meticulous reading of the novel shall highlight that Alec with his pitchfork and Angel Clare with his harp are not as different as they might have appeared. They are both forces that conspire to destroy Tess. The creative tension between, on one hand a novel which is deeply concerned with the physical and is hostile towards organized religion and on another a novel which is haunted by a sense of supernatural energy is a way in which Hardy suffices to create an angry social commentary. There is a strange substructure of the creepy in the instances involving the D'urbervilles family legend (or perhaps curse).The visual power of the novel saves the reader from experiencing from what would otherwise have been a grindingly painful process. 
A novel about redemption, renewal and second chances, Hardy's understanding of realism in representation is remarkably modern. He deliberately and combatively obscured the question of Tess's purity and maintained the 'paradoxical morality' that Tess was essentially pure. 

Finally,Tess shall be remembered for her commitment and endurance. As Campbell says, 'to live in hearts we leave behind is not to die'. 🍂

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

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