Tess Of The D Urbervilles Research Paper

The Victorian Period was a time of much change and development in England. Growing knowledge of technology, medicine, and science accompanied an increase in population, a growing economy, and great prosperity throughout the country (Shepherd). Though this was a time of drastic change and success in England, many of its inhabitants remained trapped by the harsh unchanging realities of lower class life as a female in this era. In Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Tess Durbeyfield encounters difficulties because of her status as lower class woman that illustrate the key issues of extreme class distinction and the expectations for and role of women in Victorian England. The romantic expectations for and treatment of Tess from upper

Women of Victorian England were held to high standards of purity, and harshly judged when they did not fulfill these ideals. When Alec takes advantage of Tess, her chastity is tainted in the unfair eyes of society. Though unreasonable, this viewpoint is accepted by most, including Angel Clare. As Tess’s devoted husband, Angel is expected to love her despite her past, faults, and negative opinions that others may have about her. However, after Tess’s confession of her experience with Alec, Angel’s reaction demonstrates that of one heavily influenced by societal standards, as his incredibly judgmental thoughts are revealed to be “slave to custom and conventionality” (267). His unsympathetic decision to leave Tess results from the strong influence that the accepted societal opinions of purity in Victorian England impose on him. Hardy’s reference to Angel as a “slave” reveals the controlling power and effects of the impact these standards have on his life. To be a “slave” to these ideas shows how completely they consume and influence him. Because of these faulted opinions that society has of Tess, she loses Angel, a supposed eternal lover, for a prolonged amount of time. Without Angel, Tess is left to financially provide for herself. Though he leaves her some supplemental finances, she must find employment to support both herself and her family. As a woman in Victorian England, Tess is viewed as inferior in working abilities. At Flintcomb-Ash, she is assigned to perform “work which tried her so severely,” and acknowledges it is “for some probably economical reason it was usually a woman who was chosen for this particular duty” (331). To hire a woman purely for “economical reason” to execute “severe” work reveals that men