A New Perspective on the Tragedy of Tess

卫芊倩 杨泽辉 张鹏

【Abstract】Tess of DUrbervilles is regarded as the most famous tragedy work of the British writer Thomas Hardy. In this novel， the main character， Tess， is a tragic figure. The tragedy of Tess is not accidental. This study analyzes the tragedy of Tess as a woman from the perspective of economy. It is important to strive for economic independence， equality of love and marriage for woman like Tess. Similarly， in the modern society， if women want to maintain equality with men， they must keep themselves independence in economy first， instead of relying on men.

【Key words】economy dependency； woman tragedy； economy independency

1. Poverty Does Not Necessarily Lead to Economic Dependence.

The previous researchers have only notice the element of poverty that has made Tess give in when they analyze the love tragedy of Tess from the perspective of economy. Poverty does put great pressure on Tess， and poverty makes Tess and her family be in trouble for several times. However， not all poor people will resort to marriage to improve their economic conditions. Therefore， on this point， Tess and her family are fatal family shortcomings. Tesss parents are typical examples of laziness and epicurean，and they are weak at dealing with economy. And Tess has unwillingly sought help from men for three times when her family troubles with economy crisis， accepting their giving. Poverty does not necessarily cause misfortune. We cannot depend on others because of poverty.

2. Economic Dependence is Easy to Make Woman Get Job Take Advantage of the Beauty， Even Desire to Change Economic Conditions through Marriage.

Although Tess has a strong self-esteem and is unwilling to save family economic difficulties by exchange of marriage， however， she has to go to find “distant relative with the same family name” because of livelihood at the first family economic crisis， after that she has to get the job by using of her beauty， and at last she is allured by Aleck.

Tess is the eldest daughter. In an accident， the horse which the whole family do business depend on， dies. After that， the whole family falls into the first serious family economic crisis and difficulty. Tess still could not bear the pressure of family economy， and she fells guilty because she has no job， she thinks she has the responsibility to restore the loss： she must earn a horse. Therefore， she decides to go to find her distance relative. When she goes to find her distance relative， she finds Aleck is not a good man， she tells her parents she stays at home. In the end she must go to find her distance relative owing to pressure. Tess wants to restore economic loss by her work， but in fact at that moment she has to depend on Alecks help.

Therefore，it is easy to find out that woman cannot protect themselves if they are not independent in economic status.

3. Without Independent Economy， Once a Female Confronts with Emotion Frustration， She Will Have Difficulty to Defense and Fight for Her Own Love Relationship， Let Alone to Resist the Economic Temptation.

Although Tess is really hard-working， she has to get through the economic crisis under the help of men two times. In the first economic crisis， which happens eight months later after Angel abandoned Tess， she has spent 25 pounds because of the rain season （Tess leaves another half 25 pounds to her family when she is leaving home）. As soon as Tess receives the 30 pounds from Angel， her mother sends her a letter asking for money to repair the house， so Tess sends more than half of the money back home. However， she is so helpless when faces reality that she has to save her desperate family by trading her marriage， no matter how unwilling she is.

In the latter economic crisis， Tesss contract is about to finish， and at that time her younger sister comes to her for help. It happens that Tesss mother gets serious sick，afterwards her father dies. Afterwards they have no place to live. Under such a situation， Tess has to put all her hope on the man， her husband in law. Her husband， the man she loves is too far to be touched. Tess has no expectation for him at that moment. With all these desperations， Tess chooses to return to Aleck again in order to save her family.

Through the analysis of this article， it is apparent that women need to achieve economic independence firstly and then pursue love. Once woman is not independent in the economy， they will not keep safely freedom in a marriage； they will not pursue the true love in the inner world； they will not make themselves away from the temptations and economic oppressions； and they will not maintain the true love. Economic basis is the foundation of the relationship between men and women. Similarly， in the modern society， women also need to get finance independence first， and then they will have a foothold in society.

References：

[1]哈代.苔丝[M].浙江：浙江文艺出版社出版发行，1891.