'Tess of the d'Urbervilles' by Thomas Hardy: An essay on the characters representing social class and social change

It is arguable that Tess’ passive nature renders her responsible for her suffering. Tess is ‘asleep at almost every important part of the plot, for example when Prince is impaled when she rides in place of her father . This mistake foreshadows later events between Tess and Alec. When Alec seduces, or rapes Tess, Hardy writes that ‘his cheek was upon hers. She was sleeping soundly’. Tess is acted upon, and does nothing herself. Tess’ lack of aggresion is further shown in her relationship with Angel. When Angel embraces her, and she is said to have ‘yielded to his embrace’, Tess allows herself to be loved opening herself to Angels hidden crueltys. Tess essentially sells herself to Angel saying: “you know best what my punishment should be” . There

In the brief years of the Regency Era from 1811 to 1820, the social scheme was revolutionized by elegant balls, intermingling prominent families, and inevitable drama that spread quickly throughout the towns. Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice presents a rare fusing of two socially indecent girls and two wealthily distinguished young men that everyone in town would be talking about for months. Wealth is the most significant theme in this period, and Austen challenges it well with love as its rival. Through the character of Mr. Darcy, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice tests the Regency notion of marriage and social classes in order to reveal that social hierarchies cannot overcome real love.

It explains the background for much of Tess’s motives and attitudes throughout the novel. Tess is expected to follow the directions of both Alec and Angel. Along with this, she is shamed by society after the unwarranted sexual relations with Alec and after being left by Angel following their marriage. However, these men did not experience the same circumstances Tess succumbed to, which is a perfect example of the double sexual standard Hardy presents in his

Our society is divided into two parts one is Rich people and other one is Poor people.

Tess of the D’Urbervilles is the representative of Thomas Hardy. The heroine, Tess’s bravery, purity, and her determination impressed many readers deeply. Till now, there are many works written about this. In those works, the authors usually prize Tess and condemn Alec who raped Tess and made her pregnant. But there is still another character----Angel whom Tess loves most. In this paper, the author tries to prove that Angel is the root cause which leads to Tess’s tragedy. And through comparing this character to the image of angle in Christianity, tries to find the similarities between these two. Why does Angel hurt Tess so badly although he loves her so much? Is there some symbolized meaning of his name? In this paper, the author

Charles Bingley is the most we witness of social mobility. He is a gentleman who lives a lavish life, and whose money was ‘acquired by trade’. He walks in his father’s footsteps, and once married to Jane, he does buy an estate. This means that the ‘next generation will be a step upwards in their social ladder. His sisters on the other hand are status and power hungry and are ‘proud and conceited’. Darcy, rebutes, very realistically that the Bennet sisters’ connection with trade, will prove to be an obstacle to their happiness and will lessen their chance of marrying men of prestige. The quality of humans is judged by moral and humane standards. Charlotte Lucas chooses to marry the pompous Mr. Collins, not for love but it is simply a marriage of convenience, in which she is the one finding it convenient. Through this Jane Austen presents the bleak and futile existence of women, as well as the happier outcome, of the heroine who finds fulfillment in marrying the man she loves. The servants in Jane Austen’s novels represent the poor working class. The ‘poor’ are seldom mentioned, except through Lady Catherine’s scolding of degradation.

Furthermore, the social class distinction between the Old Money and nouveau-riche social classes is exemplified in Daisy’s disapproval of Gatsby’s party. West Egg, the nouveau-riche, presents their wealth in what is considered undignified behavior by East Egg, the aristocracy. Their wealth was not inherited by past generations, therefore having no distinguishable family name and no experience in the highly stressed system of values of the aristocracy. The old rules and social conducts that Daisy has grown up with are rejected by West Egg through their disorderly and ostentatious displays of their newly developed wealth. Daisy represents the carelessness of the aristocracy and how “they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, … and let other people clean up the mess they had made” (179). A lack of ambition and the promise of financial wealth led to Daisy’s submission to the standards of the aristocracy, prompting selfish and irresponsible

Throughout the book, the occupation of people in different classes is discussed. Starting with the old money, they are seen enjoying life with their inherited money and “…drifted here and there unrestfully wherever people played polo and were rich together”(6). On the other hand, there are the people of the Valley of Ashes, who are working in extreme condition. Working hard in his garage, George Wilson does business with rich men and continuously strives to improve his business and interaction as observed in his conversation with Tom. Likewise, Myrtle uses the easy way out and becomes a mistress of Tom in order to exploit his money. The inspiration for the people in the Valley of Ashes are people like Gatsby. A great example of the American Dream, Gatsby started from the bottom and worked himself to the top. At Gatsby's funeral, his father described him saying, “Jimmy was bound to get ahead. He always had some resolves like this or something” (173). These characteristics of Gatsby and those making an effort to move up the ladder are the roots of their continuous ambition and hope of a better

In Les Misérables, social class was the main way a person was either rich or poor and whether or not you had power, the other way one was rich or poor was how they treated others, if they were generous or sinful. In The Kite Runner, one was either rich or poor and had power or not, by social class, but the main way was the qualities shown towards people. In Les Misérables and The Kite Runner, both books show the many ways one could be rich and poor. This will show the effects of being rich or poor and how having power affects the way you act and how you are treated.

Leonore Davidoff and Catherine Hall are the authors of the novel, Family Fortunes: Men and Women of the English Middle Class, 1780-1850. The novel, Family Fortunes bickers that men and women of the middle class had accepted distinctively colorful class identities, particularly the language of class configuration was gendered. Mostly all social associations were gendered. The affiliations between the sexes were planned by property behavior. During the eighteenth century, determined middle-class people asserted moral capacity for themselves. The middle-classed people had religious beliefs. At this time period men were to be active in the world as citizens. On the other hand, women were to be very dependent. “If religious belief offered individuals a sense of identity and a community, it also offered personal comfort and security in an unstable and unsafe world” (Davidoff, Hall 77). In this quote it states that religion can offer an individual with a sense of individualism or an identity. Many sections come up in this novel including, Religion, economic structure, and everyday life. The authors give many examples and provide vital information about these three topics in great detail. The setting of the novel takes place in Birmingham, England. The authors bring up multiple topics in their novel, Family Fortune. The topics give an understanding of what the middle class was like in England during the 1780’s through 1850’s. The novels give a context of the shaping of the middle

In Pride and Prejudice Austen offers up commentary on a variety of themes — prejudice, family, marriage, class, and so on. Of all the themes, perhaps none is better developed than that of Pride. Pride and Prejudice is regarded as a brilliant piece of social commentary, offering a vivid peek into the British Regency life in 1813. The social milieu of Austen’s Regency England was particularly stratified, and class divisions were rooted in family connections and wealth. In her work, Austen is often critical of the assumptions, pride, and prejudices of upper-class England. Austen often satirizes England’s prideful individuals; the England she depicts is one in which social mobility is limited, and class-consciousness and

In the 18th century, European society put an emphasis on social standing; each social class was expected to act differently, thus affecting the way one would get treated and the amount of opportunities available to them. In Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, food imagery and the way each character acts towards food reveals the distinctions between the various social classes and, more importantly, the mediocrity of the French bourgeoisie. However, Flaubert chooses not to focus on all of the social classes, but solely on the characteristics and mannerisms surrounding the middle and the high classes. Revolving the novel around middle-classed characters who represent the middle class, Flaubert criticizes the bourgeoisie through their desire to escape

In Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles, he writes of a girl named Tess. Tess is a beautiful independent young lady who struggles with bad luck and irresponsibility. Hardy adds to the plot of bad luck by writing about two boys: Angel and Alec who both strive to have Tess’s heart. By the end of the book, it is pretty obvious that neither of the boys deserve Tess, but Hardy wrote this for the readers to decide who was better. This novel creates a feeling of an old-time bachelorette love story that leaves the readers clueless; however, in the end, Angel is a much better candidate for Tess than Alec is.

Through research and the criticizing of "Pride and Prejudice" we can find answers to the question, why is Jane Austen's story so beneficial to eighteenth and nineteenth century England? Today and later in decades to come we are analyzing new and old methods to recognize the cultural factors that are maybe mocked today, but are still identified as admirable. With "Pride and Prejudice", we can compare our eras and ideally evaluate the economic differences between them. The general public admires the thought of middle class uprising, and has been used as a reference in making political debates and economical arguments. The women of the twentieth century use this as a reference for equality and rights, regarding being a woman and being taken for

Hardy’s novels often appeal to the readers on account of the philosophy of life that they offer. To be more precise and direct, the readers’ response depends on the philosophy of life as they receive from the novels. Most often the discussion happens on why and how Hardy constructs his plots leaning more on to ‘Fate’, ‘Destiny’, ‘Chance’ and ‘Coincidence’. When we put these terms in a proper perspective for better understanding, any incidence is a coincidence as it happens due to chance and it is received as destiny which is the imposition of fate. So, one way of understanding is that ‘coincidence’ is the visible manifestation of fate and ‘fate’ is the invisible source of all coincidences. ‘Chance’ and ‘destiny’ are the interpretative tools or assumptions that try to explain the causative link between ‘coincidence’ and ‘fate’. The present article aims at highlighting the significance of ‘coincidences’ that have lead to a series of tragic events in the life of Tess and make the novel seemingly unreasonable but highly impacting on the minds of the readers.