As the fifth section heading states in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles, the main woman in the novel pays. Tess Durbeyfield/D’Urberville must pay for her alleged sins because she does not live up to society’s standards of a pure woman. She is punished by three sets of people: Angel Clare (her husband), the police, and herself. The first sin Tess commits in the novel is having a baby out of wedlock, making her a “Maiden No More” as the second section heading states. She was actively sought out by Alec D’Urberville until he succeeded in sleeping with her. Although Hardy writes the scene ambiguously, leaving the reader to determine whether it was consensual or not, one must note that Alec in Chapter 46 describes having played a “trick” on her (Hardy 475). This clearly …show more content…
While it is the police who executes her for killing Alec, it is she who punishes herself for the crime. Although she and Angel go on the run, it is clear that Tess comes to the conclusion that not only will she be eventually caught, but that she deserves to die for she tells Angel to look after her sister and hopes he will one day marry her after she is gone. And when she is finally caught by the police, she is relieved because “…now I shall not live for you (Angel) to despise me!” (Hardy 602). This quote indicates that Tess is not only punishing herself for having killed Alec, she is also punishing herself for not being the pure woman Angel thought he married. Despite them rekindling their love while hiding out from the police, Tess firmly believes she does not deserve Angel after everything she has done. The one thing she had left to hope on was the notion of seeing Angel again in the afterlife, but when he doesn’t answer her question, she is left to feel even more despair. So when the police come for her, the reader understands why her final words in the novel are “I am ready” (Hardy