Analysis of the Causes of Tess’s Tragedy from the Perspective of Main Characters’ Personalities

杨晨浩 孙倩

Abstract：This paper explores the reasons why Tesss life is a tragedy by analyzing the influence of personality of Tess herself，Clare，Alec，and Tesss parents，the five main characters in the novel.The integrity of Tess，the conservative of Clare，the selfishness of Alec，and the greed of her parents eventually bring Tess to the road to death.

Key words：Tess；tragedy；reason；personality

1 Introduction

Tess of the DUrbervilles is one of the masterpieces of the famous 19th-century British novelist Hardy.The novel begins with the loss of Tesss virginity by the rich master Alec.Then she found true love from Clare.However，the confession after wedding night made Tess been abandoned by her new husband.Finally，Tess killed Alec and sentenced to hang because of killing.From the full text，Tesss tragedy seems to be contingent，but it is also inevitable at that time.This paper will analyze the influence of different personalities of each character on Tesss final tragedy.

2 Tess

One of the most striking features of Tess is that she dares to love and hate.Tesss attitude towards Alec and Clare is always a stark contrast from the beginning to the end.For Clare，she is obedient，and even “laid down herself for him” （Tess 261）； but for Alec，she never compromises，“coldly，firmly，independently，never” is the author used to describe the tone of Tesss speech to Alec.However，if she chose Alec when he tempted her，or if she continued to live with Alec and ignored the return of Clare，then there would be no final tragedy.Her integrity and non-conformity with the world caused her own tragedy.

3 Angel Clare

At first，Clare was a polite，thoughtful and energetic boy.However，after Angel marrying Tess，he left her with the accuse that he married with his imaginary rather than real Tess.The decision that fully demonstrates the childish side of the character.He once saved Tess from the pain，but again pushed her into deeper despair.Angels leave creates chance for Tess to encounter with Alec again.

4 Alec dUrbervilles

In the novel，Alec once had a remarkable transformation from a rake into a pious and religious man when he encountered Tess again as a preacher.It looks like he has changed totally，but he discards this posture effortlessly and quickly.He is still hypocritical，and establishes his happiness on Tesss torture.It is undeniable that after the death of Tesss father，Alec is the one who helped Tess family to tide over the difficulties.Nevertheless，this kind of help is more like a moral abduction to Tess，which forces Tess to sacrifice herself again for the responsibility of the family.Moreover，this time Alecs action completely pushes Tess into the abyss of tragedy.

5 John Durberfield and Joan Durberfield

The novel begins with the knowing of Mr.Durberfield that his family had the aristocratic lineage with the noble family dUrbervilles.Meanwhile，the life of Tesss tragedy starts from the last name d Urbervilles.Tess was born in the bottom of society.In addition，her parents are lazy and greedy.When they learned that they descends from the noble line of the d Urbervilles，they were quick to attempt to profit from the connection.They asked Tess to go alone to Trantridge where Alec raped Tess.Ironically，her parents blind faiths in their ability to climb the social hierarchy，leads Tess to pay the price for their greed.

6 Conclusion

In Tesss tragedy，the personalities and actions of the five main characters in the novel have more or less pushed her to the brink of death.However，objectively speaking，no ones imperfections would cause the necessity of Tesss tragedy.Maybe it is just at that specific era，all things happen coincidently at the same time，which contributes to the final tragedy of the heroine.Hardy sincerely wants to arouse peoples reflection on the hypocritical chauvinism of the society at the Victorian era through this tragedy.

References

[1]Hardy.T Tess of the dUrbervilles [M].Oxford：Foreign Language Teaching & Research Press，1997：58-96.

[2]Su Juan Zheng.An Inevitable Tragedy——On Tesss Fate in Tess of the DUrbervilles[J].Abroad English，2014（13）：192-193.

作者簡介

杨晨浩（1998—），女，汉族，山西太谷人，本科生，单位：天津外国语大学，财务管理（英语）专业。

孙倩（1998—），女，汉族，天津人，本科生，单位：天津外国语大学，财务管理（英语）专业。