Hardy's Advice

Near the end of chapter XXXIX, where Clare returns home to visit his family, Hardy once again addresses the reader directly. As Clare, having masked his bitterness to his family, sits alone in his room he begins to rave at his absent wife. Hardy juxtaposes his bitterness and resentment with the innocence and love of Tess: "This night the woman of his belittling deprecations was thinking how great and good her husband was." (264). Indeed, even Clare's parents hold on to this idea: "I quite see her. And living in such seclusion...you were her first love?...The perfect woman, you see, was a working woman, not an idler..." (262-263). Ironically, Clare's parents still reinforce his Pauline views on chastity and its connection to morality and purity: "Since she is pure and chaste she would have been refined enough for me." (263). This is nearly too much for Angel, who has to flee the room, knowing that his beautiful wife, though hard working, will never be a refined lady, neither in his eyes nor in the eyes of his family. However, by the end of the chapter, Hardy himself declares that Tess is indeed a fine and virtuous lady. He calls Angel's judgments on Tess limited, and states that Angel cannot see, for "No prophet had told him and he was not prophet enough to tell himself." (265) Here, Hardy becomes the prophet himself, declaring that Tess is as deserving s praise as any woman of the Bible: "Her moral value having to be reckoned not by achievement but by tendency." (265). Hardy shows his tendency for determinism here by holding that morality is not shaped by events (or "achievements") but rather by the way in which one reacts to the events of life that are unfolded before them. Tess, whose life has been a series of unfortunate events, has nonetheless acted with a great tendency towards goodness, virtuosity and love.