[hardy-l] Tess's ending

[Eric Christen]

    Who wishes to alter the endings of HAMLET, KING LEAR, Racine's PHEDRE,
any of the Greek tragedies, PARADISE LOST, or TRISTRAM AND ISEULT, to name
only a few richly significant tragedies?
    It seems to me that, although TESS is a "realistic" 19th century novel,
it is also, in a sense, an exemplary tragedy, with the hero (in this case a
young woman) vainly struggling against fate : given his character, his
upbringing, his lack of maturity, the general atmosphere of Victorian
England, Angel (who plays the harp like Tristram - Orpheus played the lyre,
a similar instrument) cannot act differently and is therefore a tool used by
fate (the 'President of the Immortals'). I see Tess herself as both a truely
living woman and a symbol. At the root of our Western culture are two great
tragedies with willing victims, each being a 'pure' man and a symbol:
Socrates and Jesus. Both practically said 'I am ready'.
    But I am sure all this has already been said.
    Eric Christen