Feminism and Hardy's Novel "Tess of the D'urbervilles"
Feminism is the belief in the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. This movement emerged in the west in the early 20th century, although The origin of this movement can be traced back to the 18th century. It came into being when more and more women started to realize how they are deprived of some of the basic rights such as education, property, and suffrage and started fighting for equality. Like any other theories and movements, feminism also has a great impact on the literature of that time which can be seen in all the works since its emergence such as that of Jane Austen, Aphra Behn, and Mary Wollstonecraft, who wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, 1792, the earliest and most important work advocating women's rights.
Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy is a great interpretation of the earliest form of feminism in literature as the novel is female-centric and looks at the life of women in society from several angles and shows the struggles and suffering that she has to deal with in a male-dominated society. In the novel, Hardy has focused all his attention on the character of Tess and shows her development as a character from a naive girl to a strong-willed woman who faced all the problems thrown her way bravely. Hardy's idea for this character that breaks out from the narrow view that the society has of women might have come from the fact that he was surrounded by many female family members who got education in a time when it was considered of no importance to women and also his wife who was a writer herself.
The novel is divided into seven phases and each phase plays a significant role in Tess's life and helps in her development as a character. The first phase sets the story in motion and gives a glimpse to the readers of Tess as this innocent and naive girl, not tainted by any kind of tragedy. However, this view of her is soon changed when she to help her family from financial crisis visit the fake Durbervilles and meets Alec who later on takes advantage of her. The first phase has one of the most important characteristics of feminism which is that women too can be the breadwinner for the family although the intention for which the Durbeyfield sent their daughter to the fake Durbervilles is marriage.
‘But do let her go'
He’ll marry her, most likely, and make a lady of her; and then she’ll be what her forefathers was.’
*The quote is from novel's original text*
It doesn't change the fact that despite being in a patriarchal society she starts working for her family. Another aspect of this phase is that it set the journey of struggles and suffering that Tess is going to take in motion.
In the second phase of the novel, Hardy shows the damage that Alec has caused in Tess's life and how she deals with it. This phase is of utmost importance as it is in this phase that Hardy touch upon the most taboo topic of that time and that is having a child out of wedlock. When Tess realizes that she is pregnant, she instead of going to Alec about it. She decides to be on her own and plans on raising him Independently. This shows Another characterIstic of feminism in her character that she doesn't think of herself as someone who needs others to take care of her as she can do it herself. In this phase, Hardy attacks social and moral conventions that condemn women like Tess who although was not in any way at fault but still has suffered because she was a woman.
The third and fourth phase presents Tess's strong will before the readers about how despite suffering setbacks after setbacks she is still able to stand up for herself and despite the fact that the whole male-dominated society around her has shunned her, for something she wasn't at fault for, she starts working again in talbothays farm, where she meets Angel Clare again who fall in love with her And eventually they get married. In these two phases we see the psychological struggle of Tess that she has with her identity and her issues of trusting another man again but despite these problems, she still with a hope marries Angel and eventually tells him about Alec. This set in motion another tragedy for Tess.
The fifth phase presents the hypocrisy of the male character and their unrealistic views regarding women. This hypocrisy and idealization of women by men can be seen in Tess of the durberville when Angel confesses to Tess of having an affair in the past and upon seeing this openness from him, Tess also decides to reveal her past to him but things turn completely chaotic as Angel couldn't accept the fact that his Tess was not a pure woman that he thought of her to be and her feels betrayed by her. This situation eventually led Angel to leave for Brazil and Tess to go back home.
The sixth phase although doesn't have many characteristics regarding feminism as it is more focused on the development of the story toward its end as this phase deals with Alec's return in Tess's life and his persuasion for her to be with him and her parent's health issues. This phase, however still shows the depiction of women in society and the struggles she has to deal with just for the fact that she is A woman. This can be seen in Groby, Tess's new employer's treatment of her in the flint-comb-Ash farm, and Alec's constant pestering of her to be with him, and even using her financial struggles after the death of her father to coax her into going with him and to which she eventually yields.
The seventh and last phase depicts the freedom of Tess from the constraints of the society which has always bound her to the fact that she is a woman, an object of desire and someone to be idealized for being pure. However, she breaks this perspective regarding herself when she tired of all the troubles brought by Alec into her life decides to kill him and flee with Angel. However, she is caught by the police, and the novel ends with Tess being executed.
