[Hardy-l] Tess, jaded

[Rosemarie Morgan]

Thank you for clarifying my point, Chuck.  And I'm glad you added: "I will 
say however than under the *substantive* law subsequent condonation and 
forgiveness by the woman did not bar a
prosecution for rape." For Tess's season at Trantridge seems to have been 
construed, in some cases, otherwise..

We do need, I think, to take account of Hardy's contemporaries in so far as 
they played an important part in shaping his art. The Chase scene  is 
exemplary-- conveying the "unmentionable" demanded considerable poetic 
skill -- actually, now I come to think of it, even in his poetry (which 
Hardy felt would offer him greater freedom of expression) a certain 
circumspection is exercised. The rapist in "San Sebastian" speaks 
euphemistically of "the maiden I wronged" on whom "I wreaked my will" and, 
moreover, approaches his confession with so many descriptive convolutions 
that the act itself is almost buried in the circuitry. But then, he is 
bitterly haunted by the memory of his "wrongdoing" and tortuous thoughts 
are often expressed in a roundabout manner.
Best
Rosemarie

> >if not legal rape, which is difficult to prove even with a more
>fair-minded jury
> >If we want to invoke the real law ... this subsequent stage in the
>relationship

>I think Rosemarie was saying that, given the facts available thanks to
>an omniscent narrator, contemporary readers would have though Alec's
>conduct amounted to rape under the *substantive* law in force at the
>time.
>
>Chuck Anesi