Tess's End

The mind state of unworthiness that is ingrained is Tess is seen up until her very last moments with Angel. Instead of wishing that Angel eternally mourn the loss of his only “love” after she has departed, she only wishes that he take up with her sister, who she sees as “all the best of me without the bad of me” and as “so good and simple and pure.” She wants Angel to have the image of perfection and purity that he always sought, and this comes in the form of her sister. Her reasoning is that, “if she were to become yours it would almost seem as if death had not divided us,” but I see it as her giving up her only wish, to be Angel’s one and only love, so that he may be with the woman that he always thought she was. I have conflicted feelings about her last action, as I feel that while her selfless nature is at points commendable, I just wish that in her last moments she had stood up against the numerous injustices brought upon her and demanded something for herself. Tess accepts her fate of death with a peacefulness and understanding that implies she still believes that it is what she deserves, but I only wish she had raged “against the dying of the light” as Dylan Thomas put it.