Tess Essay -- essays research papers

Tess Durbeyfield is a victim of both external and internal forces. Passive and yielding, unsuspicious and fundamentally pure, she suffers a weakness of will and reason, struggling against a fate that is too strong for her to overcome. Tess falls victim to circumstance, society, and male idealism. Tess may be unable to overcome these apparent difficulties is destroyed by her ravaging self-destructive sense of guilt, life denial and the cruelty of two men. It is primarily the death of the horse, Prince, the Durbeyfield’s main source of livelihood that commences the web of circumstance that envelops Tess. The imagery at this point in the novel shows how distraught and guilt ridden Tess is as she places her hand upon Prince’s wound in a futile attempt to prevent the blood loss that cannot be prevented. The imagery is equivalent to a photographic proof - a lead-up to the events that will shape Tess’s life and the inevitable â€Å"evil† that also, like the crimson blood that spouts from Prince’s wound, cannot be stopped. The symbolic fact that Tess perceives herself to be comparable to a murderess is an insight into the murder that she will eventually commit and is also a reference to the level of guilt that now consumes her. â€Å"Nobody blamed Tess as she blamed herself... she regarded herself in the light of a murderess.† Tess views herself as the cause of her family’s economic downfall. Tess’s parents, aware of her beauty, view Tess as an opportunity for future accumulation of wealth. With the unfortunate circumstance of Prince’s death Tess, is urged to venture from the â€Å"engirded and secluded region† of Marlott to seek financial assistance from the D’urberville’s in nearby Trantridge. It is here in Trantridge that she first encounters the sexually dominating and somewhat demonic Alec D’urberville. Alec’s first words to Tess, â€Å"Well, my Beauty, what can I do for you?† indicate that first impression of Tess is only of sexual magnetism. Alec then proceeds to charm Tess by pushing strawberries into her mouth and pressing roses into her bosom. These fruits of love are an indication of Alec’s lust and sexual desire for Tess as he preys upon her purity and rural innocence. Tess unwillingly becomes a victim to Alec’s inhuma ne, violent and aggressive sexual advances. Alec, always the master of opportunities, takes advantage of her while alone in the woods and proceeds to rape ... ...as subjected her to the cruelty of love. Tess, a victim once again is now broken both spiritually and emotionally. It is at this point in the novel that she begins to come to the realization that her beauty is part of the cause of her destruction. In answer to this she dons her oldest field gown, covers half her face with a handkerchief, and snips off her eyebrows to â€Å"keep off these casual lovers†. Unfortunately for Tess she has come to this realization to late. She now is unable to save herself from Alec’s lustful actions and Angel’s idealized reasoning. The potent tragedy of Tess’s life is that her decisions have always been made with good and pure intentions, but have resulted in damaging consequences. Tess is undoubtedly a victim as misery punctuates her life. Tess is a victim of circumstance in that her individuality makes little difference to her fate. She is a victim of society in the sense that she is a scapegoat of narrow-mindedness among her fellow man. She is a victim of male ideology on the grounds that her powers of will and reason are undermined by her sensuality. Tess herself sums up her own blighted life best, â€Å"Once a victim, always a victim - that’s the law†.