造成苔丝悲剧的原因英文版

The Reasons for Tess’s Tragic

Thomas Hardy was a famous critical realistic writer at the turn of the 19th century in

England; Tess of the D‘Urbervilles is the most influential one of all his works. This

novel

describes

a tragic

life about

one beautiful and

pure

girl

after disgrace. Tess‘s

tragic life is caused by that society and it‘s the result of that time. Except this, it can‘t

be separated from her own weakness in character, because she obviously has the dual

nature

of

the

society

character---resistance

and

compromise.

As

a

common

person,

Tess fought with the society helplessly. In the end, she turned out to be the sacrificial

victim

of

society

like

all

other

things

which

disobey

the

morality

and

ethic.

The

reasons

we

discussed

are

divided

into

two

aspects,

the

inner

reason

and

the

outer

reasons

including

the

family

reason,

the

social

background

and

the

hypocritical

religion.

A: the outer reason

⑴

.Family Reason

At the beginning of the novel, it depicts a scene that will change the fate of Tess in the

future. The father of Tess was a lazy and foolish peddler. As a man, instead of bearing

the burden of family, he was a drunkard and looked unfit. In the upheaval of society,

in

place

of

facing

the

reality

bravely,

he

was

engrossed

in

a

fancy

that

he

was

the

descendant of good blood. Tess‘s mother was a milker at first. Later, she could only

earn

a

little

money

by

washing

clothes

for

others.

But

she

was

in

a

state

of

unemployment

in

later

time.

She

was

vulgar,

superficial

and

simpleminded.

As

the

oldest child of the family, Tess had to help to support the family. After leaving school,

Tess

earned

money

by

working.

Tess‘s

father

heard

the

news

that

they

were

the

descendants of a knight family--

the D‘urbervilles. He was too pleased to continu

e his

work as usual. Instead, he drunk more. As a result, Tess had no choice but to go to the

market on the behalf of her father. Unfortunately, on the way, there was an accident in

which the horse --Prince died. Prince was the only means of production that they can

rely on. The death of Prince worsened

the family‘s poverty. Thus, Tess accepted her

mother‘s

suggestion

that

they

should

get

contact

with

their

relatives—

the

D‘urbervilles.

Before

leaving,

the

mother

dressed

her

up.

Both

the

father

and

the

mother knew what it meant for Tess. But Tess was only seventeen then ,

she couldn‘t

predict what would happen. Her parents wanted to change the poor condition of the

family if Tess could marry with a rich man. Their foolishness deprived their daughter

of her happiness.

As the words

in

the novel

＂

…when Tess was hurt, no one could

protect her, even the God had slept…″There was no doubt that the poor condition of

the family was the direct and the most begging reason. If not for their poverty ,Tess

would not go to the market in the night; if not for

their poverty ,Tess‘s parents would

not compelled Tess to recogniz

e relative relation with the D‘urbervilles

and she would

not be raped by Alec; if not for their poverty, Tess would not had received so much

humiliation before the returning to her husband-- Angel Clare.

In conclusion, the family‘s heavy burden , the father‘s laziness and addiction to the

alcohol, the mother‘s unemployment,

vulgarity and simple- mindedness ,all these led

to Tess‘s tragic life.

⑵

. Social Background

Family

is

the

smallest

unit

of

society.

The

upheaval

of

society

unavoidably

bring

about

changes

to

family.

Tess

lived

in

a

changing

time

when

England

was

shifting

from

agricultural

economy

to

machine

production.

To

some

degree,

Tess‘s

life

of

tragedy was historical inevitability. The death of Prince made the family lose their last

base of economy. Tess‘s family had to get involved in the proletarian. Out of willing,

Tess had no choice but to get contact with the capitalist Alec D‘urber

villes to work

for them so as to tackle the poor condition of the

family. This was Tess‘s first step in

becoming

a proletarian.

From this

time on, her life became the life of

a

proletarian

from pastoral life. And she became an agricultural worker earning money by selling

her labor. During this time, Tess was ravished by Alec and gave birth to a child who

died in infancy. The people in her countryside could not accept that kind of thing and

scorn

off

Tess.

They

thought

that

Tess

set

a

bad

example

for

their

children.

The

countrymen even exiled

them after the death of Tess‘s father. When Tess fed her child,

she kept a far distance from other farmers in the field. When Tess asked a clergyman

to baptize for her son, the clergyman didn‘t agree because her son was

illegal. All of

those showed people‘s hypocrisy. Alec was another example. His actions of helping

Tess‘s

family,

teaching

Tess

to

learn

whistle,

etc,

w

ere

based

on

the

desire

of

the

possession of Tess .

All Alec‘s

pretending kindness was not out of true love, but out

of

Tess‘s

beauty

and

his

sexual

desire.

Moreover,

Alec

was

not

ashamed

of

his

badness

even though he clearly

knew the

fact.

It revealed the capital

ists‘ hypocrisy

and pseudo(

假的，不诚实的

) morality. The society of that time was not just. It was a

society of hegemony(

领导权，霸权

) father right.

There was a thought that girls‘ first

time of sex was the privilege of her husband. On the wedding night , Tess confessed

to

Angel

her

seduction

by

Alec.

Though

Angel

had

done

the

same

thing

with

a

woman in France, on hearing her wife‘s tale, his old fashioned prejudices overcame

him and he abandoned Tess.

In conclusion, t

he break of agricultural economy, the deprivation of farmers‘ land and

means of production and

the hegemony father right in men‘s heart

in such a changing

age,all these caused Tess

?s tragic

life. As the representative of the farmers ,

Tess‘s

tragic

life

was

constructed

in

the

development

of

society.

All

in

all,

Tess

was

the

sacrificial victim of the society.

(3) hypocritical religion

Tess of the D‘Urbervilles is a rebel to the hypocritical morality of Christianity.

When

she faced the extreme poverty, social discrimination after being ravished by Alec and

the

abandonment

of

her

husband,

she

chose

to

endure

and

struggle.

The

series

of

accidental events and warnings still step by step drove her to the abyss of destruction.

Tess is executed at the end of the novel. Just as what Aeschylean says ―Justice‖ was

done, and the President of the Immortals had ended his sport with Tess. The master of

the

gods

in

the

novel

refers

to

the

god,

which

expressed

the

Hardy‘s

sarcasm

and

discontent to the unfair god. Some ideas of Tess's husband--Angel represents those of

Hardy‘s in some respects.

His religious beliefs reflected the changes and progress of

that time. However, he was not completely free from the restrictions of the Christian

traditional thoughts. When Tess confessed her past experience to him on the night of

their wedding, he refused to give his forgiveness and abandoned her mercilessly. He

believed

in

what

he

was

taught

in

his

childhood

and

still

a

slave

of

traditional

and

outdated opinions. What full of his mind was rigid principles of Christian traditional

ethics.

Here

Hardy

pointed

out

the

limitations

of

Angle‘s

thoughts

and

at

the

same

time expressed his irony of old Christian morality.