The Novel ' Tess Of The D ' Urbervilles

Alienation, starvation, neglect and abuse are all words that invoke unfavorable connotations and are treatments that no person would ever want to be subjected to. Living in those conditions is something that most people choose not to think about let alone witness with their own eyes. By not seeing it, they find it easier to pretend it doesn’t exist. In the short story “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” Ursula Le Guin writes about a city that from the outside looks like the perfect utopian society – a rich culture that is full of laughter, joy and peace, devoid of any violence, poverty or social inequities. Beneath the surface though hides a very dark secret that bares the true nature of Omelas. The citizens of this ostensibly flawless

of day is was also a beautiful and a romantic time of day for them

Moreover, Hardy’s comparison of Angel and Tess to Adam and Eve adds to his view that religion is an insubstantial and superficial institution. First, Tess and Angel view each other “... as if they were Adam and Eve” (130). In the Bible story, Adam is the more moral of the two, while

The sexist approach held towards women in the novel A Room with a View is an ironic representation of the steadily increasing liberal society, to whom it was intended for. Written in a time in which, the belittling nature of Victorian ideals, in regards to femininity, were being brought under public scrutiny and pushed out of popularity, English society, as a result, became progressively more open-minded towards gender equality. However, the author, E. M. Foster, creates his society, with an overwhelming “understanding” of what an ideal woman should be. The Idea of what is “ladylike” and what is not, is examined to a profound extent throughout the entirety of the novel. Moreover, gender stereotypes are perpetuated by not only male characters, but female characters as well. In contrast, Forster provides the reader with a straightforward, and quite honestly, the refreshingly realistic depiction of the daily struggles of the female protagonist in a sexist aristocracy. As Lucy realizes that the principles of proper womanly decency are discriminatory and demeaning, she chooses to disregard, “womanly” values and attain personal happiness as a free thinking and independent woman. In E. M. Foster’s A Room with a View, sexism is a prominent theme, and the main character Lucy undoubtedly symbolizes, the drastic changes of post-Victorian ideals to the somewhat modern society seen today.

Gender roles is a major theme in this novel. This is because during the Victorian Era, many women

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

Jane is taught at a young age to look down on people not of her caste, and to oppress them the same way that she herself is oppressed as a female orphan. Though Jane is not influenced directly by social status at all times, it is still a constant factor which Brontë makes evident. In Victorian England, a female must either be born or married into her social class, and this is what defines her. The character of Jane served to undercut the popular female stereotypes of fiction: the angel of the house, the invalid, or the whore (Brackett, 2000). Brontë creates Jane as her own force, in which she is neither the angel, invalid or whore, but a young lady who is intelligent and has pride and dignity. In this Victorian society, her unsubmissiveness and independence is her social fault, which Brontë pokes fun at (Brackett, 2000). Male Victorian writers cast women during this time as social, finagling creatures whose goals are to obtain as many friends as possible and throw the most elaborate parties. Brontë opposes this by creating Jane as an opposite of these “defining” characteristics, by making Jane a female who could are less about how many people adore her, a female who would actually enjoy a life with few companions. As mentioned before, Jane’s sense of dignity is evident. As Jane became Rochester’s governess, she is faced with the

2. Another clear reference to gender equality and the lack of it as well as a comment on class roles. Here Bronte shows the absurdity of gender restriction and attempts to shed light on the fact that women during the Victorian era had no rights and were too restricted.

In Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Tess Durbeyfield, who is related to the ancient upper-class d’Urberville family, describes herself as “only a peasant by position, not by nature” (239). When Mr. Durbeyfield, Tess’ father, discovers that he comes from the line of the d’Urbervilles, many of Tess’ features and characteristics are explained. However, while Tess’ appearance and qualities cause her to appear as an aristocrat, her upbringing justifies her as a peasant. Tess’ family is financially constrained, her mother holds fatalistic, superstitious folk beliefs, and she is a working woman. However, Tess’ more intrinsic qualities such as her looks, ethical sensitivity, relational intensity, and aptitude in comparison to her fellow countrymen, present her as a “deeper-passioned” (140) woman of a higher class. Therefore, Tess, both socially and culturally, is essentially a combination of both classes, and she does not fully fit in with either class. In the novel, Tess’ character, qualities, and position reveal her as both a d’Urberville, an aristocrat, and a Durbeyfield, a peasant.

Consequently, this female bildungsroman is foreshadowed at the opening chapter where Jane unbinds the social norms by educating her mind. This is a sense of freedom for her to improve her position in the society and rebel in this artistic manner. ‘The child who remains silent, isolated behind the curtain with escape literature in her lap’. (Freeman, 1984, p.683). This clearly shows how Jane has focused on self-education which she uses as a form of escapism due to her alienation at Gates head. Jane reads carefully and forms her own thoughts on the stories which emphasizes her knowledge. It is considered a disgrace for females to read as this was a form of stepping outside the conventional norms. ’The Victorian moral code for women was that

At the beginning of the Victorian Period, both single and married women’s rights were limited. The changes during this era in the identity of genders are represented in the characters the author Wilkie Collins describes. For example, Marian Halcombe is characterized as strong and predominant. She is Laura’s voice when regarding to her husband and protects her throughout the story. Although Marian knows her role as a woman in society, she disapproves with the beliefs of the era. On the other hand, Laura personalizes the conventional quiet woman that obeys customs. To emphasize this, in Collin’s novel, he lets the reader know that Laura is marrying the man that her father approved even though he is now dead. When she marries, her rights legally belong to her husband and is treated with the laws and customs of the Victorian era. Throughout this period, the distinction between classes was also notable. Comparatively, The Woman in White presents how the middle class as Laura and her uncle refer to the working class, Fanny the maid. Even though Fanny has always been their maid and is the only person they trust, they only communicate with her at their convenience. Moreover, Mr. Fairlie does not even call the maid by her name, but refers to her as “Young Person”. Certainly, the Victorian Period was a significant impact in the novel where

Social boundaries and moral restrictions on women take over Victorian England in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries. However, deviant women appear to be beyond such confines. As mentioned before, women were placed in the house and labeled as “the angel in the house.” Conversely, such criterion has been undermined with the emergence of the “femme fatale” as Victorian England becomes vulnerable to internal and external threats represented by such type of evil women. As Auerbach observes, “in Victorian England, an age possessed by faith but deprived of dogma, any incursion of the supernatural into the natural became ambiguously awful because unclassifiable” (75). More distinctively, such images of women were in line with the Victorian

The original Beauty and the Beast Fairy tale by Gabrielle-Suzanna Barbot de Villeneuve was set in France, in a small town. In my adapted fairy tale the story is based in America in the Southern state of Alabama during the civil rights movement in the 1960’s. The new setting of the fairy tale is in a close community. The civil rights movement is shown in my new fairy tale as the story shows the concepts of African- American helpers and the discrimination between the two cultures, black and white.

Tess D’Urberville, the protagonist of Tess of the D’Urbervilles, must ask herself this very important question as she navigates the complexity of her life. Although she must provide for her family by running errands, taking care of her younger siblings, and managing her unruly parents Tess is a product of her culture. She is unintentionally passive in dire situations – such as when she drifted into a reverie and killed the family horse, or when fell asleep and was raped. Tess is also a symbol of purity, innocence and fertility like many other women of the time. Although social stigmas and her immoral social status are hindering, Tess’s burdensome past is the problem that truly prevents her from escaping her fate and developing a sense of

Jane Eyre is a novel written by Charlotte Brontë. It is distinctly a female Bildungsroman, as it follows the progress and growth of Jane’s character on her quest for selfhood and independence in a society that tries its best to impress upon her the roles and expectations of women in the Victorian era (which is neatly packaged in the figure of the ‘Angel-in-the-house’.) This is something with which this essay seeks to engage by looking at female figures which feature prominently in Jane’s life, how those who embrace the figure of ‘Angel-in-the-house’ are treated and viewed, versus those who do not. Furthermore, important male figures will also be looked at in order to understand Jane’s own feelings to the ‘Angel-in-the-house’ figure and how she approaches it, as well as how the Byronic hero might relate – if it even does.