[Hardy-l] Tess

[sheskijoan at hotmail.com]

I believe these acts characterize Tess's strength as a creature of nature, in fact of her natural ancestry - her power as a nature goddess, or THE goddess of nature. So point of view is subtly drawn by Hardy here: if we see Tess from the eyes of Victorian codes, she is a degraded descendant of the D'Urberville (male dominant?) written historic line, and trangresses on all Rosemarie's points its limitations upon womanhood.  If however, we see her rural and imaginal lineage, she acts instinctively with grace - her rural Durbeyfield roots are preformed imaginally in the wild when TH begins her story by telling us about the White Hart - A wild animal having a pure heart. and as well there is the mention of a leopard I believe when she and Angel are near a train.  

Joan



"One last point. I'm interested in the varying interpretations of Tess' 
knifing of Alec.  Here I would disagree with Keith.  I don't feel Tess is 
that naieve (to feel that Angel influences her homicide in any way or would 
even feel gratified by it) - yes I know that's not quite how Keith put it 
but that seems to be the outcome. Tess (to my admiration) has an extremely 
uncharacteristic courage -- I mean, a warrior courage not characteristic of 
Victorian women in general although evidently Florence Nightingale also 
possessed this warrior spirit.  Tess *can* strike a man in 
self-defense.  And does. Earlier with Alec's leather gauntlet and later 
with his knife.  Driven to passion she acts with violence.  This is 
actually quite astonishing if you think back on Victorian codes and 
practices (for women) and how anger is regarded as male behavior solely . 
Yet Tess exercises quite a strong degree of violence  in her young 
career.     That she will hit back (or, less aggressively, but 
anarchically, baptise her own child, or more dangerously, suggest to Clare 
that they need not marry -- she only wants to "love him") seems to me 
perfectly commensurate with her instinct to fight back, at whatever cost."

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