A Story of Tess in Tess of the D’urbervilles

In the book, Tess of The d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy, the main character, Tess is put into dire situations more from fate than her own decisions. For much of the story, Tess is impacted by events that are very much outside of her control and these events lead her to situations in which she makes decisions that ultimately impact her negatively. Had it not been for fate, Tess would never have been set down the path that she was set down and so she would not have found herself in the situations in which she had to make choices. For this reason, it is clear that Angel’s assertion that she has been “more sinned against than sinning,” to be completely valid.

The first act of fate that sets off Tess’ eventual downfall is her father’s run-in with a townsman that tells him of his family’s supposed heritage.

It was on account of a discovery I made some little time ago, whilst I was hunting up pedigrees for the new county history. I am Parson Tringham, the antiquary, of Stagfoot Lane. Don’t you really know, Durbeyfield, that you are the lineal representative of the ancient and knightly family of the d’Urbervilles, who derived their descent from Sir Pagan d’Urberville, that renowned knight who came from Normandy with William the Conqueror, as appears by Battle Abbey Roll? This new found sense of notoriety prompted John Durbeyfield to pursue his long-lost family members in order to take advantage of his ancestors’ wealth. This is what causes Tess to meet Alec, the main contributor to her downfall. Tess had no control over whether or not her father ran into Parson Tringham or whether or not her pursued this new information. This occurrence was purely an act of fate.

The next brush of fate that Tess encounters in when she sees Angel at a dance but neither of them talk to each other. If the two had crossed paths more completely than they likely would have fallen in love, then and Tess would not have been romantically linked with Alec at all. However, the two did not speak to each other although it is clear that they did share a link from the first time that they had seen each other.

From her position he knew it to be the pretty maiden with whom he had not danced. Trifling as the matter was, he yet instinctively felt that she was hurt by his oversight. He wished that he had asked her; he wished that he had inquired her name. She was so modest, so expressive, she< had looked so soft in her thin white gown that he felt he had acted stupidly.

However, it could not be helped, and, turning and bending himself to a rapid walk, he dismissed the subject from his mind.

Angel knew, from the moment that he saw Tess he knew that she was special. However, he refrained from speaking to her. This was not a decision of Tess’ and it was fate that kept the two apart that night.

The next twist of fate is when Tess goes to deliver the beehives. Tess must deliver them after her father gets too drunk to do so himself. On Tess’ journey, she falls asleep and her horse is impaled by a mail cart.

In consternation Tess jumped down and discovered the dreadful truth. The groan had proceeded from her father’s poor horse, Prince. The morning mail cart, with its two noiseless wheels, speeding along the lanes like an arrow, as it always did, had driven into her slow and unlighted equipage. The pointed shaft of the cart had entered the breast of the unhappy Prince like a sword, and from the wound his life’s blood was spouting in stream and falling with a hiss into the road.

It is not Tess’ fault that her father became too drunk to deliver the beehives himself nor is it her fault that the mail cart was going too fast and killed her horse. These are both things that happened to Tess, not because of Tess.

This unfortunate business with the horse leads Tess to yet another fateful journey in which she meets Alec. She is made to go ask her long-lost relatives, the d’Urbervilles, to set her up with a rich man at her mother’s request. Tess goes off the find this new family and when she comes across their house the narrator explains the reality of the d’Urbervilles.

The d’Urbervilles – or Stoke-d’Urbervilles as they at first called themselves – who owned all of this, were a somewhat unusual family to find in such an old-fashioned part of the country. Parson Tringham had spoken truly when he said that out shambling John Durbeyfield was the only real lineal representative of the old d’Urberville family existing in the county or near it; he might have added, what he knew very well, that the Stoke-d’Urbervilles were no more d’Urbervilles of the true tree than he was himself. Yet it must be admitted that this family formed a very good stock whereon to regraft a name which sadly wanted such renovation.

However, through no fault of her own, this is not known to Tess and her family. Soon she meets Alec and he tells her that she will be unable to meet Mrs. d’Urberville due to the fact that she is an invalid. Tess explains that they are a part of the same family and Alec offers to show her around the grounds while she waits for the cart to return. During this time Alec tells her that his mother will be able to find work for her. This meeting causes the beginning of Tess’ relationship with Alec and it was through fate that the events lined up so perfectly to bring the two together.

Tess and Alec grow closer, much to the dismay of Car Darch. Car is jealous of Tess and so she tries to fight her in the streets. Alec then appears in horseback and offers to save Tess from this situation. Against Tess’ better judgement, she agrees and she rides off with Alec. Alec and Tess start to talk and she tells him that she does not love him and she grows angry when she tries to explain that she does not like it when he flirts with her. Eventually, Tess falls asleep and Alec tries to put his arm around her. She quickly awakens and he tells her that he loves her. Tess then realizes that they should have been back by now. Alec says that he does not know where they are due to the fog so they dismount the horse and he leaves to figure out where they are. When Alec returns, Tess is asleep and he begins to take advantage of her unconsciousness by raping her. Though many proclaim that Tess should have known better then to get onto the horse with Alec, it was, at the time the evil she did know over the evil that she did not know. Tess had no reason to think that she would get raped is she left with Alec to avoid being beaten by Car. It was not her fault that Alec is a terrible and if you look at her situation, she really did not have another choice. Again it was fate intervening on the course of her life.

As Tess’s own people down in those retreats are never tired of saying among each other in their fatalistic way: “It was to be.” There lay the pity of it. An immeasurable social chasm was to divide our heroine’s personality thereafter from that previous self of hers who stepped from her mother’s door to try her fortune at Trantridge poultry-farm.

It was not Tess’s choice to be raped by Alec and so the circumstance that she found herself was due to fate and not her own free will.

It was also all in fate that Tess became pregnant from this encounter with Alec. She does not tell Alec but she also does not hide the child’s existence. The baby eventually grows sick and is expected to die. Tess then attempts to get the child baptized before it dies but her father refuses to send for a parson so Tess must baptize the baby on her own. The baby dies the next morning and Tess goes to see the parson to inquire as to whether or not the baby can be buried on holy ground. The parson informs her that he cannot bury the infant himself due to church politics but she may bury it in the churchyard and so she does so. This causes Tess to lose her faith in God and the Church as a whole.

If before going to the d’Urbervilles’ she had vigorously moved under the guidance of sundry gnomic texts and phrases known to her and to the world in general, no doubt she would never have been imposed on. But it had not been in Tess’s power nor is it in anybody’s power – to feel the whole truth of golden opinions while it is possible to profit by them. She – and how many more – might have ironically said to God with Saint Augustine: “Though hast counselled a better course than Thou hast permitted.”

This shows that Tess is not to blame for her loss of faith and that her circumstances permit such a reaction to be shown. If Tess had been able to have her child baptized and buried on Holy ground by the parson than she would likely not have lost her faith in God.

From here Tess goes to work as a dairy maid on a dairy farm where she happens to meet Angel, the same man that she saw when she was at the club-walk but did not talk to. Angel is the son of a preacher and his two brothers are now parsons as well; Angel, however, is a farmer. Eventually the two fall in love and, after much convincing on Angel’s part, decide to get married.

Now, then, Mistress Teresa d’Urberville, I have you. Take My name, and so you will escape yours! The secret is out, so why should you any longer refuse me?

If it is sure to make you happy to have me as your wife, and you feel that you do wish to marry me, very, very much I do, dearest, of course! I mean, that it is only your wanting me very much and being hardly ably to keep alive without me, whatever me offences, that would make me feel I ought to say I will.

You will – you do say it, I know! You will me mine forever and ever.

He clasped her close and kissed her. Yes! This was an act of fate. Tess never could have predicted that Angel would be at the dairy farm or that they would fall in love with each other. Tess did not leave home in order to find love but she left to find a fresh start.

The first time in the book that Tess is given a choice is when she chooses to tell Angel about her past with Alec. She chose to do so after the two were married and Angel came clean about an affair that he had had with an older woman before he met Tess. She knew that the consequences of that action would most likely be irreparable to her relationship with Angel but she did it anyways. After she told Angel the truth, he decided to leave her and go to Brazil, leave Tess heartbroken and alone. Tess was in no way forced to give Angel this information and she would have a much happier life if she did not tell him. This choice led to many other consequences throughout the rest of the book that would be avoided if she listened to her parents’ advice and remained silent on that matter.

Although Angel leaving was not completely Tess’s fault because she cannot control the actions of anybody other than herself, he passivity in the situation is. Tess could have done more to stop him but she just him go. Tess even offers to drown herself in order to make Angel feel better about the situation.

During the interval if the cottager’s going and coming, she had said to her husband, I don’t see how I can help being the cause of such misery to you all your life. The river is down there. I can put an end to myself in it. I am not afraid Tess made the choice to let Angel make the decisions about how this situation was going to play out. If Tess was more assertive at this time, then Angel may not have made the decision to leave Tess behind and go to Brazil.

Eventually, Tess, by another twisted act of fate, sees Alec as a preacher. After much convincing that Angel would never return for her, Tess becomes Alec’s mistress yet again because she needed money. Tess had the option of going to her husband’s parents and asking for money but she was far too embarrassed about the situation to do so. She could have found a way to make money without returning to Alec but she chose to take the easy way out. Tess is at fault for making this decision and not waiting for Angel to return like she knew in her heart he would.

The final occurrence that undoubtedly led to Tess’ demise was the murder of Alec. After Angel returned, Tess grew so angry that Alec had lied to her and taken advantage of her yet again that she returned to their room and stabbed him.

He heard me crying about you, and he bitterly taunted me and called you by a foul name; and then I did it. My heart could not bear it. He had nagged me about you before. And then I dressed myself and came to find you.

This was completely Tess’ fault and cannot be blamed on fate. Tess made the conscious decision to kill Alec. She knew what the consequences to such an action are and yet she did it anyways. Tess then returned to Angel and told him what she had done but he did not believe her. She then made the choice to stay in town for the night instead of fleeing. This led to her eventual execution as the authorities found where she was hiding out and arrested her. Although it was fate that led her to that moment, it is Tess’ fault that her relationship with Alec evolved in the way that it did.

Although it can be argued that Tess had control of her own destiny, it is clear that fate played a large hand in how her life ended up. Had fate not intervened and caused her to make acquaintance with Alec in the first place then Tess would not have wound up in a position where she was in so much pain that she made the decision to murder him. While Tess’s life cannot all be blamed on fate, it also cannot all be blamed on the, albeit poor, choices that she made when under difficult circumstances. Given the information Hardy provided the readers in the text, it can clearly be seen that Tess has been sinned against far more than she has sinned and despite that, she did not find peace in her life.