Rating: ★★★★★
Tess of the D'Urbervilles was a book I had wanted to read for a long time. I could never find the book in my local Dymocks store, so for a while I read it on a tiny screen on my iPhone, which is not at all useful for reading books, though it is pretty convenient. I finally got around to ordering it online, which was great, and the book arrived in perfect condition, which, for the edition I got, is pretty bloody difficult to achieve!
What first struck me about this book was Tess Durbeyfield's accent - it isn't how I was used to reading it in classic novels. The women are usually classy, proper and elegant - to have a girl with a country farm-town accent was a refreshing experience for me. What was also rather jarring was her home life; it is quite obvious from the get-go that she is rather unimpressed with the elder members of her family group, and seems to assume a role of responsibility over them. I felt sorry for poor Tess, being not at all like the vaguely driven family she grew up in. I was so shocked when the horse just died. It was really quite gruesome to read, too. Poor horsey.
I had mixed feelings about her parents throughout the novel. It felt like their motives honestly weren't for the benefit of their daughter, but rather to gain money and fortune; super fishy, the bar scene too. Tess is very reluctant to go through with carrying out the ambitions of her family, and I really appreciated that she was a character with such staunch morals - indeed, it was her guilt over the death of the horse that led to her leaving to visit the Stoke-D'Urberville family.
The first time Tess meets Alec its obvious she doesn't like him all that much - he is way too forward, and the impression that lasted was that he intended to take advantage of her. And plus, even his family background alerts you to the fact that he's probably a dishonest person. I mean, who lies about their heritage to get ahead? Who cheats someone else out of the esteem of claiming nobility in order to make money? You see the rape scene a mile off, and what sucks about it is that you know its coming, and you can't do anything about it. It's like a triple whammy, first with Alec raping her, then getting her pregnant, after which she has the child and is exposed to public shame as a loose woman. Then, after all that, the baby dies. It seems as though basically everything bad that could happen to a woman in the era happens to Tess in the novel.
I suppose I'm like many others when I say I don't really know which of the two men of Tess's life to hate more. Alec is just despicable; a wealthy man used to getting his way all the time, with no father in the picture and an invalid mother. He's a womanizer, a pervert and a rapist. He seems to think he should just get what he wants from women because he is a man. But, on the other hand, that is all you expect from him; you don't have any high hopes for him as a character because you know all he'll ever amount to is a lowlife.
I really, really wanted to like Angel Clare. He's quite obviously constructed with the aspects of a heroic male figure in mind, the one that should give Tess the happily ever after she so deserves. They meet at a dairy farm, where they both work. After a lengthy and passionate pursuit, Tess agrees to marry him. They do so at the closing of the year, on New Year's Eve; after this Angel confesses that he had been dishonest with her. It is clear throughout scenes with Angel that he is a proper man, with staunch, inflexible morals and principles. So when Tess, in a reciprocal sort of mood following his confession, tells him of her past, the fact that he decides to leave her is utterly shocking for me. I mean, I had such high hopes for him as a character! I almost think he's worse than Alec because you expect so much more from him. In the end he turns out to be a hypocrite, and a coward; the perfect male hero is revealed to be deeply flawed.
I had mixed feelings about her parents throughout the novel. It felt like their motives honestly weren't for the benefit of their daughter, but rather to gain money and fortune; super fishy, the bar scene too. Tess is very reluctant to go through with carrying out the ambitions of her family, and I really appreciated that she was a character with such staunch morals - indeed, it was her guilt over the death of the horse that led to her leaving to visit the Stoke-D'Urberville family.
The first time Tess meets Alec its obvious she doesn't like him all that much - he is way too forward, and the impression that lasted was that he intended to take advantage of her. And plus, even his family background alerts you to the fact that he's probably a dishonest person. I mean, who lies about their heritage to get ahead? Who cheats someone else out of the esteem of claiming nobility in order to make money? You see the rape scene a mile off, and what sucks about it is that you know its coming, and you can't do anything about it. It's like a triple whammy, first with Alec raping her, then getting her pregnant, after which she has the child and is exposed to public shame as a loose woman. Then, after all that, the baby dies. It seems as though basically everything bad that could happen to a woman in the era happens to Tess in the novel.
I suppose I'm like many others when I say I don't really know which of the two men of Tess's life to hate more. Alec is just despicable; a wealthy man used to getting his way all the time, with no father in the picture and an invalid mother. He's a womanizer, a pervert and a rapist. He seems to think he should just get what he wants from women because he is a man. But, on the other hand, that is all you expect from him; you don't have any high hopes for him as a character because you know all he'll ever amount to is a lowlife.
I really, really wanted to like Angel Clare. He's quite obviously constructed with the aspects of a heroic male figure in mind, the one that should give Tess the happily ever after she so deserves. They meet at a dairy farm, where they both work. After a lengthy and passionate pursuit, Tess agrees to marry him. They do so at the closing of the year, on New Year's Eve; after this Angel confesses that he had been dishonest with her. It is clear throughout scenes with Angel that he is a proper man, with staunch, inflexible morals and principles. So when Tess, in a reciprocal sort of mood following his confession, tells him of her past, the fact that he decides to leave her is utterly shocking for me. I mean, I had such high hopes for him as a character! I almost think he's worse than Alec because you expect so much more from him. In the end he turns out to be a hypocrite, and a coward; the perfect male hero is revealed to be deeply flawed.
The ending was just so sad. I really hated the fact that, even after everything, Tess was still the one who paid.
I really loved this book. Deep, affecting, and often quite depressing, it had a lot to offer regarding the sexual and moral value of women in society. I appreciate that it was written by a male author, showing that feminism doesn't just have to be carried by the female gender.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves female criticism in classic literature.
No comments:
Post a Comment