Hardys art of characterisation of his heroine

in Tess Of The DUrbervilles

Thomas hardy could be considered as one of the major authors of the 19th Century.
This was a time when issues regarding double-standards, social rigidity, and
movements for the upheaval of womens positions in society were quite prominent in
society as well as literature. The tragedy of Tess, a beautiful young woman with the
misfortune of belonging to a poor family in the wake of a recently-discovered
aristocratic lineage, was composed in the year 1891.

Hardys characterisation of Tess makes her a beautiful heroine, with various aspects
to her nature, displaying her as more than just a two-dimensional protagonist.

In Hardys defence, he was not just the sadist that critics claimed, but a sympathetic
author who used his authorial voice to sympathise with Tess in every way possible. It is
possible, that this sympathy showed most prominently in his selection of the title, his
treatment of the topic, as well as his narrators untiring support for Tess.

From a technical point of view, Hardy employed the use of Chapters, segmenting
the book into seven phases: every phase being a phase in Tess life that pushed her
further towards her sad end. What is interesting is the blank page left, between
Phase the First: The Maiden and Phase the Second: Maiden no More. This allows
for not only a pause in the pace of the novel, but more importantly, the blank page
becomes a curtain of silence representing Victorian hesitation in dealing with such
topics, an art employed by the Classicist writers, and also Hardys sensitive treatment
of the matter.

Moreover, of the several arts employed by him, his wording of the sub-title was
perhaps one of the most important features of not just the novel but his own feelings
towards Tess too.

Tess of the DUrbervilles was subtitled A Pure woman Faithfully Presented and
the pure woman has been read by different critics in different ways. Professor
Dutta comments that Hardy might have simply meant pure in a way as casual as,
say, a pure coincidence, or as a woman of moral, physical purity: redeeming her
thus from her apparent stature of a Fallen Woman. For Hardy, Tess was a woman
who had sinned in body but her mind had remained untouched by this incidence,
which might be the reason behind the word pure.

But as Angel portrayed Tess to his family, she was more sinned against than sinning
herself. A view which he, ironically, could not endorse till much later, that is after a
failed Brazilian expedition. But Hardys narrator definitely subscribed to this view, and
much more.

Hardy used the privileges of an omniscient narrator throughout his novel with
admirable dexterity. Time and again, the narrator tried to display the innocence of
Tess even as he exposed the poor woman to a public exhibition which was the last
thing she could have desired. Alec accused her beauty as her means of beguiling
him and leading him astray, not only exposing the typical way in which men try
justifying their actions, but also reversing the roles of the two characters. Just like she
was subjected to keen male gaze in the circumference of her existence, so was she
exposed to the objective viewing of the reader. Millgate, Hardys biographer,
suggested that Passivity and submissiveness went hand in hand with a hostile
defensiveness. He said this of Hardy and his regard for his position as an artist, how
people thought of him, etc. but this could be suggested as an exact parallel to the
characterization of Tess with regards to her ostensible passivity alongside her
awareness of herself as an object of public vision.

However, this exposition was not entirely without its merit: it drew the reader towards
sympathizing with her more. The narrator described Tess as an extraordinarily
beautiful woman, yet one who was somehow overlooked by Angel at the May Day
dance. And yet this same beauty led her into the clutches of Alec Stork
DUrbervilles - The wrong man at the wrong time as echoed in the book, re-
establishing Tess as a victim of circumstance.

In a way, this objectification of beauty through the novel shows even more the
nobility of Tess character her ability to remain so unaffected and simple, was proof
of a spiritual beauty that surmounted her physical perishable beauty. As per one of
Hardys reviewers, In the characterization of Tess Durbeyfield, Hardys unorthodox
linkage of ideas about primitivism and about moral purity may well have accounted
for some of the fury over Tess: the idea of a primitive or pagan instinct is often used
by the novels narrator to invoke sympathy for this character precisely for her lack of
flirtatiousness and capriciousness.

This separation of the mind and the body created by the narrator made even more
pronounced Tess moral purity that remained unhampered by the violation on her
body. It is this beauty of Tess that is impressed upon the mind of the reader by the
narrators descriptions and the perceptions of the other characters too.

Hardys use of events to showcase Tess character can be seen with examples like
that in The Woman Pays, chapter 35. At the cottage where they revealed their
secrets to each other, Tess simple minded forgiveness of Angel for his past
misdemeanours evidenced her moral superiority. Angel, the learned son of a clergy
and a gentleman, could not have the kind of open-mindedness of Tess, despite all
his claims. He was restricted in his outlook, whereas the girl with her primitive ideas
born not out of education but instinct was shown as capable of an innate
understanding of life. Again, Hardy hints at her possession of prescience: the
examples in the novel being perhaps, the tear lingering on her eyelids even before
the violation in the Chase. Herein lies the echo of a statement made previously by
the reviewer quoted above further validating the point.

As Hardys fictive creation, Tess reveals herself through her own actions and words,
as well as his own comments about her. In the chapter where she returns home from
the house of their cousin after the Violation in the Chase, she blamed her mother,
for not having warned her of the danger in men, leaving her to perhaps Divine
Providence that as per the narrator repeatedly failed Tess in her hour of need. This
strengthened the views on her innocence, even though through her lack of
knowledge regarding the workings of the world. There appeared two separate
versions of Tess as perceived by the two major male characters - that is Angel Clare
and Alec DUrbervilles. Alec showed Tess as a woman of mature well-endowed
sexual beauty, while Angel saw her not only as a pretty face but also as an
education project perhaps. Yet, 'His love inclined to the imaginative and ethereal'
(Ch 31). Hardy thus allowed the reader to notice the differences in their attitudes
towards Tess, and form their own opinions regarding her. Still, even Angel found in
her a depth that was entirely out of place in a dairywoman: he must have surely
seen something more than mere beauty, in this woman, to have fallen in love with
her when he did.

Hardy thus successfully portrayed Tess as a woman caught in an eternal conflict

between two men, in a way replaying the Morality Plays here, showing Angel as
the more spiritual one, Alec as the earthy one. It is almost sad that both of these
men contrive in a way to destroy her body and spirit as Hardy shows. Man exploiting
woman: this eternal scene is enacted again through this novel in a way.

However, Tess is almost portrayed as a representative of her class. In the

characterization of her, Hardy makes use of the condition of many people in the
village countryside (as is claimed by the characters in the novel including Tess). It is
pointed out that, many people had belonged once to aristocratic families but were
reduced to poverty and hard times, degenerating into the poor dregs of Victorian
society. This gives Hardy an opportunity to model Tess as a rustic girl with nothing
more than elementary education, an earthiness in her beauty, manners and
speech. Yet, her aristocratic lineage is useful in explaining the nobility of her features,
her pride, elegance and changes in carriage (the last taking place when in the
presence of refined people). This aristocratic title, DUrbervilles, in fact, led to the
entire structuring of the story, leading to most of the events and definitely to her
downfall. This title thus can be seen as a personal attribute to Tess, who ironically did
not want to be a DUrbervilles or even the degenerate Durbeyfield and rather
just Tess. Her ancestry is repeatedly used in making her situation more poignant.
History is seen to be repeated, and Tess was perhaps punished for the faults of one
of her ancestors, even as at her hanging the dUrbervilles knights and dames slept
on in their tombs unknowing. (Chapter 59, last paragraph)
Another interesting thing about the novel is that it revealed Hardys awareness of
nature and other works of art. Often, Hardy used the image of a bird or small animal
trapped in a snare as a symbol of Tess own state. A rabbit caught in a snare or the
fly in the tale called The Fly who was suppressed every time by difficulties even as it
tried to surmount them, are entirely reminiscent of Tess. The images of a hunted
cow in the novel bring to mind the image of Tess as a hunted woman in the
Stonehenge scene.

Hardy on one level makes Tess a victim of not only personal injustice but also that of
Victorian society and its unequal laws. The concept of small animals trapped in
snares was not unfamiliar to the readers. The same innocence of a bird that falls prey
to the more powerful creatures was thus transferred to Tess in a way by these simple
scenes from the countryside.

Hardy showed her animal-like innocent uncomplicated mind lacking in

sophistication as well as cunning, sprouting the simple conclusion that killing Alec
could be the only way for her to return to her rightful husband, without realizing the
gravity of the situation. She was more like the animal who was being trapped, than
the hunter. She was not even clear on her ideas regarding the legal system, maybe
justifying her faith in the concept of divorce, her supposition that seeing Angel could
marry Lisa-Lu, or her incomplete comprehension of the criminal nature of her act:
Hardys character thus justifying many of her own actions through this same
ignorance.

Moreover, Hardy used various images reminiscent of other immortal characters of

literature. Tess is mostly in the image of an innocent Eve, lured by Satan or the Snake
(as per Alecs self-characterization in the novel). Her waking up from her sleep at
Stonehenge was meant perhaps to conjure images of King Lear. The injustice, the
innocence, and the cruelty of her situation are more strongly impressed upon the
mind of the reader through these parallels that Hardy uses as indirect
characterizations of his heroine.

Thus, in this novel, skilful narration, and symbolisms strengthening Tess link to nature,
contrive to establish the protagonist as a rustic girl with the refinements of a woman
through whose veins flew the blood of the noble DUrbervilles. Literary allusions, vivid
imagery, detailed descriptions and a very interesting selection of words serve to
depict this woman for whom Hardys sympathy could not have been more obvious.
Yet, the fate he dealt her made people accuse him of being a sadist: when perhaps
it was the kindest he could provide for her. It was only the sad state of women, as he
pointed out, that made exceptional women like Tess fall victim to society: making
readers suspect that Tess was not just the representative of her class but an
exceptionally pure and refined woman too.