摘 要

《德伯家的苔丝》可以说是英国作家托马斯·哈代最伟大的一部小说。他是十九世纪末二十世纪初英国著名的现实主义作家，在《德伯家的苔丝》一文中更是以其独特的艺术魅力描述出了女主人公苔丝的悲剧命运。苔丝的苦难经历反应出了农民阶级在向工人阶级转化的过程中所承受的各种磨难，也反应了当时社会大环境中存在的诸多不幸。

本文旨在分析《德伯家的苔丝》中悲惨的女主角苔丝的人物形象，并从社会原因、性格原因及其他原因分析女主人公悲剧发生、演变的实质。通过对文中人物的分析，期望为读者梳理出一条清晰的脉络，以在阅读过程中有着更为深入的见解。

关键词：《德伯家的苔丝》，苔丝，人物分析，悲剧

Contents

1. Introduction 6

2. Demonstration 8

2.1The Tragedy of Tess and Social Elements 8

2.1.1The Tough Life of Peasants 8

2.1.2 The Defects of Legal System 9

2.1.3 The Erosion of the Religion 9

2.2 The Tragedy of Tess and Her Character 10

2.2.1 The pure and kind nature of Tess 10

2.2.2 The Weakness of Tess 11

2.3The Tragedy of Tess and Other Factors 12

2.3.1 The tragedy of Tess by Angel 12

2.3.2The tragedy of Tess by Alex 13

3. Conclusion 13

Work Cited 14

Bibliography 15

A Study on the Causes of Tess’s Tragedy in Tess of the d'Urbervilles

1. Introduction

Thomas Hardy is a treasure of English literature and world literature. He is a famous critical realist novelist and poet. The early and mid-term creations were dominated by novels, which were inherited and carried forward the Victorian literary tradition. And in the later years, he developed British 20th-century literature with its outstanding poetry. His works truly show the tragic life of rural people in southern Victoria in the Victorian era, embodying a strong sense of critical realism and advanced ideas of the times.

The story took place in the United Kingdom in the 19th century. Tess' nature was pure and kind, but her family was poor and she lived in rural areas for a long time. In desperation, she was obliged by her parents to go to a family with the Deborah to improve their family's living environment. But when the younger son of d’Urberville, Alec, saw Tess at first sight, he had an unconcern for her. Later he raped Tess and made her pregnant. Tess reluctantly returned home and gave birth to a child who was dead soon after the birth. Thus, in the eyes of others, Tess becomes a person who is unacceptable to the world. In order to maintain her life, she went to work on the farm, where she met Pastor Angel and they fell in love quickly. On her wedding night, Tess spoke to Angel about her raped experience and hoped to be forgiven. However, Angel did not do so, he abandoned her own to Brazil. Then the tragedy happened again. Her father also passed away and her family were driven away by others. This news made Tess can only choose Alec again. Afterwards, Angel came back from Brazil, finding Tess and prayed for her forgiveness. Tess forgave Angel and hoped to live a happy life with him. It was because of this that Tess used an extreme way to kill Alec, the murderer who caused the disaster now, and spent an unforgettable time with Angel. Tess then went to the end of her own fate that finally be sentenced to hanging.

Hardy was deeply influenced by Aeschylus and Sophocles, describing the insurmountable fate in the novel. Therefore, many researchers have studied the necessity of Tess' tragedy. For example, Harriet Lane's The Destiny in Hardy's Novels and Eliot' s Fatalism in Hardy's Works all dealt with the destiny of Tess' tragedy, revealing Hardy's attitude towards fatalism in life. When discussing the tragic fate of Tess, some foreign researchers emphasized Tess as the victim of fate. At home, there are also commentators who believe that Tess' fate was carefully designed by Hardy. “Tess' misfortune is due to the economic condition in her society, political, and class status.” (Zhang Ling, 1984: 4) In addition, Nie Zhenzhao once said: “It is her poverty and social hypocrisy that directly determine the tragic fate of this woman. Ethical and unfair legal system." (Nie Zhenwei, 1992: 355)

This paper is composed of three parts. The first part is the introduction of the novel’s writer and the story. In addition, the related literature reviews are introduced in this part. The second part is the demonstration of this paper, and Tess’ tragedy and the main reasons are analyzed in detail from the perspective of social factors, Tess’ character and other reasons. The last part is the conclusion of this paper.

1. Demonstration

2.1The Tragedy of Tess and Social Elements