Sunday, February 17, 2008
Tess' relationship w Angel Clare
Tess is plagued by her very existence. She does not think she deserves happiness. For example, she loves Angel but does not think she is worthy of his affections. She continues to push him away as she tells Angel how “pretty” the other girls look and how “they skim better” than she does. Angel however does not like the other dairymaids as he says they “are not better” than Tess. Tess muses on the idea of marrying Angel but she is jolted out of her dreamlike state when she reckons that she “could never conscientiously allow any man to marry her now, and had religiously determined that she never would be tempted to do so.” Tess has a pure heart but Alec D’urberville ruined her soul. Therefore, Tess feels she can never love another without sinning. She is destined to be unhappy because of the male dominance in her society. Even Angel overpowers Tess and will not let her be herself. After all, she insists upon being called Tess but Clare flirts with her by calling he r “Artemis” and “Demeter.” Throughout the novel Angel gives Tess various names that she does not accept. He casts her as goddess but that is not her true self because she has been corrupted. Although I do think she is like Artemis because like that goddess she has sworn off men.
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2 comments:
I agree that Tess feels both unworthy of his love and corrupted by life. What I find particularly interesting is that Tess was corrupted by actions inflicted upon her by others, not by actions that she herself took. Because of this I feel that her wariness to allow love and happiness into her life is understandable to some degree. To be led (almost directly) to rape by her mother, someone she trusted, makes Tess' lack of trust in Angel's love understandable. My one qualm is that she feels that her "being" or "soul" has been damaged by the rape. Part of me understands that the event is extremely traumatic and scarring. Another part of me wants to yell at Tess that it wasn't her fault and of course she deserves to be happy. Am I the only one that doesn't see Tess as "ruined" because of someone else's actions? I also feel like Hardy wants Tess to be pure in her corruption if that makes sense. She may be "damaged" but she is still a pure (or maybe good is a better word) person.
I think that Tess desires to push Angel away more as a punishment to herself than as a trust issue. Tess feels she must distance herself from others so that she does not bring her shame upon them. Additionally, through her hard labor it seems as if Tess is trying to do penance and become "pure" again.
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