[Hardy-l] Re: Thoughts on 'Tess'

[Charles.Anesi at wellsfargo.com]

> to take sexual advantage of a sleeping woman [not one's wife - ed.]
was deemed to be rape 
Certainly true, but though Alec finds Tess sleeping when he returns to
her, it is not clear from the text what, exactly, happens next. Does she
wake up?  Does Alec wake her?  Certainly if you read the scene to a
modern jury they would, lacking any additional evidence, not be able to
find Alec guilty beyond a reasonable doubt under any grade of sexual
assault in any U.S. jurisdiction I know of, and certainly not under
English law at the time of the story's setting.  There is a presumption
of "continuance of life" that bears in some homicide cases, but I have
never heard of a legal presumption called "continuance of sleep".

But all this means nothing if it was a literary convention of the time
to present rape in this delicate, elliptical fashion.  Is that what you
are saying, Rosemarie?  

Chuck Anesi
charles.anesi at wellsfargo.com
office 480-575-3478
cell 612-940-3345
fax 480-575-3519
 
** These opinions are strictly my own and not necessarily those of Wells
Fargo **

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