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A Bookreport of

Tess of the D

’

urbervilles

Thomas Hardy is one of the most famous novelists and poets in Britain. He was

once an architect in his youth, but afterwards he became an inkslinger. In 1874, his

first

novel

Far

From

the

Madding

Crowd

which

had

won

the

universal

praise

established his position in the literary field. Then in 1891, he wrote the novel

Tess of

the

D

’

urbervilles

,

which

offended

the

moral

ideas

in

the

Victoria

Era

and

was

attacked

fiercely.

Therefore,

Thomas

was

so

indignant

that

he

decided

not

to

write

novels any more and resume with poems until he passed away in 1928.

Tess of the D

’

urbervilles

is not only the most famed works of Thomas Hardy,

but also an invaluable treasure in the history of the world literature. In this story, the

heroine

Tess

was

born

in

a

poor

hawker

family

and

her

father,

a

mercenary

self-boasting gigmanity was told that he was the lineal representative of the ancient

and knightly

family

of the d

’

Urbervilles, who derived their descent

from

Sir Pagan

d

’

Urberville,

that

renowned

knight

who

came

from

Normandy

with

William

the

Conqueror. Then he was eaten up with pride and planned with his vulgar vanitied wife

to

send

Tess

to

claim

kin

with

a

rich

lady

who

was

said

to

be

the

descendant

of

d

’

Urbervill in order to get financial support from her.

Unfortunately,

Tess

was

seduced

by

Alec

d

’

Urberville.

Then

she

went

back

home and found herself pregnant. Some time later, she gave birth to a baby but soon

after the infant died. Several

years later, Tess

left home for the dairy to work again

and fell in love with Angel Clare, the youngest son of a poor parson. They loved each

other

so

much

and

enjoyed

the

happy

moments

they

stayed

together

that

they

two

were engaged finally. There was no denying that Tess was madly, deeply, truthfully in

love with Angel. Under the circumstance that she wanted to be honest with him and

told

him

about

the

humiliation

of

losing

her

virginity,

she

couldn

’

t

do

that

because

every time there would be something hindering her from doing that. However, on the

night of their wedding, Tess got the courage to confess to her husband. Unexpectedly,

she thought she would be forgiven because he loved her so much but it turned out the

opposite. After that, the newlyweds separated and Angel went to Brazil to develop his

own business.

Sadly,

destiny

once

again

played

a

joke

on

Tess

that

in

that

afternoon

her

seducer confronted her, which Tess would have never thought about that. The moment

Alec saw her, his strong lust for Tess defeated his groundless religious belief. Under

the pressure of living, Tess had to live with Alec. Soon after that, there came the news

that Angel came back from Brazil, but there had been such a big difference between

his former contour and now that even his parents hardly recognized him. His sunken

eye-pits were of morbid hue, and the light in his eyes had waned. He found his wife

Tess

and

showed

his

remorse

of

the

cool

pitiless

attitude

he

used

to

present

to

her.

Dramatically, Tess killed Alec out of rage, which was beyond Alec

’

s imagination. In

the last few days living with Angel, Tess was full of happiness and peace deep inside

her heart. At the end of the story, Tess was arrested and hanged.

I didn

’

t know what my feeling was when I finished reading the story. With a

long sigh, I started to look for words to describe my thoughts. I could feel distinctly

the struggle and agony in Tess

’

s heart when she had to face the reality that she was

maiden no more and the whispers between the villagers. Instead of her characteristic

liveliness, she became sentimental and most of the time there were marble hardness

and

reserved

listlessness

in

her

face.

There

was

nobody

she

could

turn

to

pour

her

sorrow and sadness, she was kind of fancy inclination. It was unfair to her and why

would she deserve all the torturous affliction and treatment. Feudatorial morality and

religious belief decided her tragical fate and tortured the rest of her life. Although it

was so hard for her to resume with life, she

pulled herself together and showed the

world

her

tough

side.

In

the

meantime,

she

played

the

role

of

kind

considerate

obedient daughter. She

knew her family was

as

poor

as

a church mouse, especially

when

the

only

horse

Prince

upon

which

the

whole

family

lived

died.

So

she

shouldered the burden and obligation of her family.

The

highlight

part

of

the

story

which

was

also

my

favorite

was

the

romantic

joyful relationship between Tess and Angel, when life was simple but comfortable. No

earthshaking promises, no invaluable gifts, just meeting in the twilight of the morning,

in the violet or pink dawn, but that was enough for people in love. Pretty as Tess was,

she could also work on the farm or in the wheat field and the quality of her hard work