The Importance Of Characters In Tess Of The Durbervilles

she desperately tried to keep him close, but society prevented it. With Robert, she slowly began

“On their third meeting he buys her a lemonade and makes a young guy in the carriage stand up so that she can sit down.” (Father’s actions) pg.3

her to "take a ride" with him in his car. She had seen this man the night before staring at her in the

situation and weighs the effect on her family. In the end she acts to free

see what he is looking at; she is unable to interpret his opinion of her. Connie only cares about

The book focuses mainly on a woman named Celie, who has lived a hard life already when, at the age of 14 she begins

This left women with a clear disadvantage. The system worked well in happy marriages, but if a situation such as a husband's death, desertion from his family, or divorce were to arise, it was usually the woman who suffered as a result. According to the Code, a contract was necessary for marriage. Also, when a man and woman were getting married, the most important item to be negotiated was the bride price. This, again, shows that men were superior to women when it came to the ownership of property. Regardless of the amount of this bride price, it was managed by the husband and it was used to support the wife and her children: "If a woman who lived in a man's house made an agreement with her husband, that no creditor can arrest her, and has given a document therefore; if that man, before he married that woman, had a debt, the creditor can not hold the woman for it" (Pritchard 155). The bride's father had the right to change his mind about the marriage, in which case he would have been required to refund the purchase price in full showing again how women were nothing more than a piece of property: "If a man bring chattels into the house of his father-in-law and pay the price; if then the father of the girl say "I will not give you my daughter," he shall give back all that he brought with him" (Pritchard 156). Another horrific example of how women were regarded as nothing more than mere possessions was that if a wife died before giving birth to

delight.” (4.143) Daisy just wants to be loved like any regular girl. As described in the book Tom

Women were considered to be the “weaker vessels ,” not as strong physically or mentally as men and less emotionally stable. Legally they could neither vote, hold public office, nor participate in legal matters on their own behalf, and opportunities for them outside the home were frequently limited .

In any case... just in light of the fact that she truly needs him to, he can't. Tom needs to state yes, hes eager and

The legal status of married women prevented them from unilaterally participating in the civil legal system. Shanley explains that "From the legal 'unity' of the husband and wife it followed that a married woman could not sue or be sued unless her husband was also a party to the suit, could not sign contracts unless her husband joined her" (8). The law of coverture also governed women's premarital legal contracts. Laurence notes, "English common law did not recognize pre-nuptial contracts; all contracts made by a woman were annulled by her marriage" (233). Furthermore, married women lost the right to execute their own wills since legally all their property belonged to their husbands. With their husbands' consent, women executed wills to dispose of their personal property.

decided that the man or woman needed to be sold or live with another mate, the home that the

In the beginning of this novel, Celie is a young and naive adolescent. She is

During the 1890s, women were not seen in the same light that they are seen in today. The gender as a whole continued to be reduced to the role of wives and mothers in the household, basically owned by their breadwinning husbands. Women did not have the right to vote, and were taught that motherhood was the best job for them. They were mistreated by men, who could basically do anything they wanted to women with little to no penalty. This injustice is the story of Tess from the novel Tess of the D’Urbervilles, written in 1891 by Thomas Hardy. Tess Durbeyfield is repeatedly sexually abused by Alec D’Urberville, and can hardly do anything about it due to society’s ideology of women at the time. The Handmaid’s Tale, written 100 years later in 1984 by Margaret Atwood, reverts a society that has experienced equality for women back to one that strips from them their rights. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia summarizes this novel as one which “depicts one woman’s chilling struggle to survive in a society ruled by misogynistic fascism, by which women are reduced to the condition of property.” Although this summary is intended to describe Offred, the main protagonist of Atwood’s story, it can also work for Tess and her struggle. Tess and Offred both stay determined that life will get better and stay passive in order to survive their misogynistic societies, and take risks to resist being reduced to states of property.

A parent’s way of nurturing a child shapes their early character and defines their future perspectives and actions. Every child is innocent and pure the moment they enter the world, however, they will not stay that way forever. A natural force will eventually affect them and transform their utopian view of the world into a vision for their own selfish desires. In the tragic fiction, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy strongly exemplifies this situation through the portrayal of Alec d’Urberville and Angel Clare’s different characters, despite the fact that they were both provided with wealthy backgrounds. In the beginning of the novel, Angel and Alec were both attracted to Tess; however, as the story progresses, Angel is distinctly a better man than Alec, who rapes Tess. Their views on Tess begins to diverge and is completely separate near the end of the story. Although Alec and Angel were raised in similar family backgrounds, the nurturing they received sculpted their perspectives on religion and Tess, differentiating their discrete characters.