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TESS OF THE D’URBERVILLES

PHASE THE FIRST: The Maiden
Chapter 1:


John Durbeyfield finds out about d’Urberville heritage



Even though it means nothing Tess’s father gets excited and calls for a
carriage home

Chapter 2:


Tess enjoys the May Day festivities with the other women from her village
...




The group goes to the village green for dancing, where they meet three
highborn brothers
...

When he leaves he notices her and regrets his choice
...
Durbeyfield has consulted the Compleat Fortune-Teller
...




Mr
...
Tess’s mother goes to fetch
her husband from the inn but does not return
...
and Mrs
...
d’Urberville in the hopes that she will make Tess’s fortune
...
Tess and her brother Abraham deliver them instead
...




Abraham asks tess if theirs better stars and Tess answers that other stars are
better and that their star is a “blighted one
...




Abraham falls asleep, leaving Tess to contemplate
...




Suddenly, Tess and Abraham are woken
...




Tess blames herself more than anyone else does
...
Refusing to scrap or sell the body, Mr
...


Chapter 5:


In part because of her guilt over the horse, Tess agrees with her mother’s plan
to send her to Mrs
...




When she arrives, she does not find the crumbling old mansion she expects,
but rather a new and fashionable home
...
d’Urberville’s son
Alec
...
Alec
says that his mother is unwell, but he says he will see what he can do for Tess
...
It is from Mrs
...




Tess looks for other jobs closer to home, but she cannot find anything
...

Durbeyfield persuades her into wearing her best clothes
...
Durbeyfield dresses Tess up and is pleased by her own efforts, as is Mr
...




When Alec arrives to get Tess, they become uncertain that she is doing the
right thing
...
Durbeyfield, who worries that Alec
might try to take advantage of her daughter
...
He continues at a fast pace and tells her to hold on to his
waist
...
When traveling
down the next steep hill, he urges her to hold on to him again, but she refuses
and pleads with him to slow down
...
Tess
allows him to kiss her on the cheek, but when she unthinkingly wipes the kiss
off with her handkerchief, he becomes angry and outraged at her
unwillingness to submit to his advances
...


Chapter 9:


The next morning Tess meets Mrs
...




Tess is surprised by Mrs
...
Mrs
...
She tells Tess to whistle to her bullfinches
every morning
...




Tess is later unable to blow any whistles, and Alec agrees to help her
remember how
...
Tess has not
gone to this market very often, but realizes that she likes it and plans to make
future returns
...




That evening, she waits for some friends to walk her home and declines
Alec’s offer to take her himself
...
The
scene grows unpleasant
...


Chapter 11:


Alec lets the horse wander off the path and deep into the woods, where he
tries to convince Tess to become his lover
...




He gives Tess his coat and goes to look for a landmark
...




When he returns, Tess is asleep, and Alec uses the opportunity to take
advantage of her sexually, raping her
...




Alec discovers her on the road, questions her early departure, and tries to
convince her to return with him
...
Alec tells Tess to let him know should she ever need
help
...




He interrupts his conversation with Tess to paint a sign, which says “THY
DAMNATION SLUMBERETH NOT
...




She tries to ask him for advice about her troubles, but he tells her to go see a
clergyman at a nearby church
...
Her mother is
frustrated with her for refusing to marry Alec, but she softens when Tess
reminds her mother that she never warned Tess of the danger she faced
...




But in the morning she lapses back into her depression: to her, the future
seems endless and bleak
...
Shaken,
she falls into the habit of only going out after dark
...



Her baby boy, conceived with Alec, falls ill, and Tess becomes worried that he
will die without a proper christening
...
When he dies the
following morning, Tess asks the parson if her christening was sufficient to earn
her baby a Christian burial
...
That night Tess lays Sorrow to rest in a corner of the churchyard
with the suicides and drunks, and makes a little cross for his grave
...




The next year, the chance arises for Tess to become a milkmaid at the
Talbothays Dairy
...
”

Chapter 16:



In good spirits, Tess sets out to begin work at the Talbothays Dairy, located in
the Valley of the Great Dairies
...
The beautiful day and the beautiful landscape put Tess in an
optimistic mood
...


Chapter 17:


Tess finally arrives at the Talbothays Dairy
...




She quickly fits in and feels very much at home
...




That evening, Tess overhears the dairymaids talking about him and learns that
he is Angel Clare, the son of a well-respected Wessex clergyman
...




There is much talk about Angel among the other dairymaids, and many of
them seem to have a crush on him
...
He has doubts about the
doctrines of the church and feels that it would be dishonest to join the clergy
...




Finally, he decided that farming was for him
...




He is gentlemanly and thoughtful and is treated as a superior by most of the
workers at the dairy
...




He swiftly finds himself drawn to Tess’s beauty and thinks that she seems
uncommonly virginal and pure
...


Chapter 19:


After a few weeks, Tess discovers that Angel is breaking the dairy’s rules by
lining up her favorite cows for her
...
He comes
down to join her, and they have an intimate conversation
...




She deflects his questions about her with general comments about life, and
then she inquires about him
...
He offers to tutor
her, but she refuses, claiming that the answers she seeks are not to be found
in books
...
They wake up early, before the others, and feel as
if they are the only people on Earth
...
” Tess does not understand these nicknames and
simply tells him to call her Tess
...


Chapter 21:


Life on the dairy begins to change
...




Mrs
...




Indeed, there are two people who are in love, and the milkmaids often
discuss Angel’s noticeable love for Tess and imagine what the future will hold
for them
...

After some further churning, the butter begins to set and everyone’s fears
melt away—except for Tess’s

Chapter 22:



Early in the morning, the Cricks receive a letter from a customer who
complains that the butter he has bought from them “had a twang,” or a
sharp taste
...
Crick realizes that this taste must be the result of the cows eating from
garlic weeds
...




Tess feels faint, and Mr
...

Angel stops with her
...
Angel agrees that they are nice women and capable
dairymaids, but indicates that he has no romantic interest in them
...
There has been a torrential downpour the day
before, and the girls come to a long stretch of flooded road
...




All the girls notice that Angel takes the longest with Tess, and they each
realize that he prefers her
...




One night, Marian, Izz, and Retty each confess to feeling love for Angel, and
Tess feels guilty, since she too loves Angel but has already decided never to
marry
...


Chapter 24:


Later that summer, Angel and Tess are milking cows, and Angel is overcome
with his feeling for Tess
...




Angel tells Tess he loves her and is surprised to hear the words come out of his
mouth
...


PHASE THE FOURTH: The consequence
Chapter 25:


Angel feels that he needs time to understand the nature of his relationship
with Tess, so he decides to spend a few days away from the dairy visiting his
family
...




Angel’s family notices that his manners have worsened somewhat during his
time with common farm folk, while Angel thinks that his brothers have
become mentally limited and bogged down by their comfortable situations
...
The Clares hope Angel will marry Mercy Chant, a pious neighbor
girl, and they admonish their son about the importance of Christian piety in a
wife
...
The family
agrees to meet her
...




Before Angel leaves, his father tells him about his efforts to convert the local
populace, and mentions his failed efforts to tame a young miscreant named
Alec d’Urberville
...


Chapter 27:


Angel returns to the dairy, where he finds Tess just awakening from her
afternoon nap
...
Tess replies that she loves
him but that she cannot marry
...




Nevertheless, in the coming days Angel continues to try to persuade her, and
Tess quickly realizes that she loves him too strongly to keep up her refusal
...
Tess hesitates, saying that
one of the other girls might make a better wife than she
...




But Angel still believes that Tess is objecting only because of her low social
status, and he thinks that she will accept soon enough
...


Chapter 29:


The farm floods with gossip about a failed marriage
...




Most people at the dairy think the widow was wrong to deceive Jack Dollop
of this fact and that she should have been completely truthful with him before
marrying
...
She
wonders whether she should reveal this past to Angel
...




She takes the opportunity to tell Angel that she descends from the
d’Urbervilles, and he is pleased, realizing that her descent from noble blood
will make her a better match in the eyes of his family
...




Tess asks if she may write to her mother, and when Angel learns she is from
Marlott, he remembers where he has seen her before—on May Day, when
they did not dance
...
Durbeyfield receives Tess’s letter, she immediately writes back
advising her daughter not to tell Angel about her past
...




When Angel announces their engagement to Mr
...




She feels that she can finally express her happiness, but she soon feels
unworthy of Angel
...


Chapter 32:


Tess agrees to leave the dairy with Angel around Christmas, and their
wedding date is set for December 31
...




Angel buys Tess clothes for their wedding and, to her relief, quietly takes out a
marriage license rather than publicizing his intent to marry Tess
...




Angel strikes the man, but when the man apologizes, Angel gives him some
money
...
Strangely, in the morning, Angel’s behavior toward her
has not changed, and he does not mention the letter
...
On the
morning of the wedding, Tess again tries to tell Angel about her past, but he
cuts her off, saying that there will be time for such revelations after they are
married
...
As they are leaving for the ceremony, however, a rooster crows in
the mid-afternoon
...




Tess receives a package from Angel’s father, containing some jewelry that
Angel’s godmother bequeathed to his future wife some years ago
...




After the wedding, Retty attempted suicide and Marian became an
alcoholic
...
Tess says that she, too, has a
confession and tells him of her past with Alec
...
He begs her to deny it, but she
cannot
...
For hours, they walk the grounds
of the mansion
...




Angel orders her to go back to the house
...

After an uncomfortable moment looking at the d’Urberville ladies’ portraits,
Angel goes to sleep in a different room
...




Tess wonders if they should get a divorce, but she learns that the law does not
allow divorces
...


Chapter 37:


That night, Tess wakes up and discovers that Angel is sleepwalking
...
Moaning that his wife is
dead, he carries her over a narrow bridge and into the churchyard, where he
lays her in a coffin
...




The couple makes a brief stop at the dairy on their way to Marlott
...
Angel leaves Tess near her village,
telling her that he will try to accept her past, but that she should not try to
come to him until he comes for her
...

Mrs
...
Durbeyfield finds it hard to believe
Tess is even married
...




She gives them half of the fifty pounds Angel gave her and leaves her home
...
His parents are alarmed and
disappointed, but Angel tells them they will meet Tess in a year, when he
returns
...
” Mrs
...




But Angel, overcome with emotion, leaves the room
...
Clare
guesses that Angel discovered something dishonorable in Tess’s past, but he
denies it
...

He encounters Izz and impetuously invites her to go to Brazil with him
...

He asks if she loves him more than Tess, and Izz replies that no one could love
him as much as Tess did
...


Chapter 41:


Tess finds sporadic work at different dairies and manages to conceal from her
family that she is separated from her husband
...




Her parents write to her asking for money to help repair the cottage roof, and
she sends them nearly everything she has
...
Even though she is short on money, Tess is
too ashamed to ask the Clares for money
...




She encounters the man from Alec d’Urberville’s village who accused her of
promiscuity in front of Angel and is forced to run and hide from him
...




Continuing on her way, Tess stumbles upon a flock of pheasants, some of
which have died and others that are in agony and pain
...
She feels an affinity for
the birds in pain, and she instinctively breaks their necks to kill them and put
them out of their misery
...




When Tess reaches the farm near the village of Flintcomb-Ash, Marian is
curious about Angel, but Tess asks her not to inquire about him
...


Chapter 43:


Tess and Marian work digging up rutabagas in rocky ground
...




They are sent to work in the barn in the winter, and Tess meets the man who
owns the farm—it is the same man from Alec d’Urberville’s village
...




Marian tells Tess that Angel invited Izz to travel with him to Brazil, and Tess at
first feels as though she should write to him
...


Chapter 44:


Tess decides to visit Angel’s family to discover what has happened to him and
begins the long walk to the vicarage
...




She overhears Angel’s brothers discussing Angel’s unfortunate marriage, and
when they find her boots, they assume they belong to a peasant
...




She begins the walk home, but she stops before a barn in which a passionate
sermon is being delivered
...


PHASE THE SIXTH: The Convert
Chapter 45:


Tess has not seen Alec since she left his family’s service
...




She withdraws, but Alec sees her and runs after her, claiming he has to save
her soul
...




Tess, angry and disbelieving, criticizes people like Alec, who ruin other
people’s lives and then try to secure a place in heaven by suddenly
converting
...




Alec expresses fear of Tess, and as they come to a stone monument called
the Cross-in-Hand, he asks Tess to swear that she will never tempt him again
...
Tess asks a shepherd what the Cross-in-Hand signifies, and she learns
that it is an object of ill omen
...
He proposes that they go to Africa to be
missionaries
...
She begins another letter to Angel but is unable to
finish it
...
This time, he asks her to pray for
him
...




Alec appears shaken, and Tess asserts that she has a religion but no belief in
the supernatural
...
Tess asks him to leave before their conversation can
taint her husband’s honor
...




Alec appears again, saying that he is no longer a preacher and beseeching
Tess to come away with him
...
Tess slaps his face with a leather glove
...
He says he will be back in the
afternoon to collect her
...
He walks Tess home and
asks her to trust him to take care of both Tess and her family
...


Chapter 49:


Tess’s letter goes to Angel’s parents, who forward it to Angel in Brazil
...

Clare expresses disappointment in her husband for keeping Angel from
attending Cambridge, whereas Reverend Clare feels justified in his decision
but regrets the misery his son has endured
...
The
suffering he has endured there has softened his feelings toward Tess, and
when a more experienced man tells him he was wrong to leave her, Angel
feels a powerful regret
...




Back at the farm, Tess encounters her sister, Liza-Lu, who comes with sorrowful
news: Tess’s mother is dying, and her father is also very ill and can do no work
...


Chapter 50:


Upon her arrival, Tess does what she can to make her mother comfortable
and then begins working in the garden and on the family’s land
...
He again offers to help Tess
and her family
...
Enraged, Alec leaves
...
John Durbeyfield was the last person
guaranteed a place in the terms of the lease, and the tenant farmer who
owns the house wants to use it for his own workers
...




Alec arrives and tells Tess the legend of the ghostly d’Urberville Coach—the
message of which is that the sound of an invisible coach is a bad omen
...
Tess is again sorely tempted, but she once more declines
Alec’s offer, and he rides away
...




Joan asks what Alec said to her, but Tess refuses to divulge the story, saying
she will tell her mother when they are in their rooms at Kingsbere
...
On the way, they meet
Marian and Izz, who are moving on to new work at a new farm
...
They cannot find more lodging and end up
sleeping in the churchyard, in a plot called d’Urberville Aisle
...




Tess tells him to leave, and angrily he does, promising that Tess will learn to be
civil
...

Marian and Izz do their part for their friend by writing a note to Angel asking
him to go back to Tess
...
He reads Tess’s angry letter, and he worries that she will never forgive
him
...




Angel spends a few days at home regaining his strength
...




After a short time spent waiting, Angel decides that he must not delay his
reunion with Tess
...
Angel realizes that

Tess must have suffered great poverty while he was abroad, and he is
overcome with pity and guilt
...
Just before Angel leaves, he receives the letter
from Marian and Izz
...




He finds the elaborate gravestone of John Durbeyfield, and when he learns
that it is unpaid for, he settles the bill
...
At last she takes pity on him and reveals that
Tess is in Sandbourne
...
Clare or a Miss Durbeyfield, but he
does learn that a d’Urberville is staying at an expensive lodging called The
Herons
...
He wonders
how Tess could possibly afford it and thinks she must have sold his
godmother’s diamonds
...
Angel pleads for her
forgiveness and tells her that he has learned to accept her as she is and
desperately wants her to come back to him
...
Tess leaves the room, and Angel rushes out of the house
...
Brooks, the landlady at The Herons, follows Tess upstairs and spies on her
through the keyhole
...
Alec replies angrily, and Mrs
...




Back in her own room, she sees Tess go through the front gate, where she
disappears onto the street
...
Brooks notices a dark red
spot spreading on the ceiling
...
Brooks has a workman open the door of the d’Urberville rooms,
where they discover Alec lying on the bed, stabbed to death
...


Chapter 57:


Angel decides to leave on the first train
...
Rather
than waiting for the train, Angel decides to walk to the next station and meet
it there
...
He draws her off
the main road, and she tells him that she has killed Alec
...




She begs Angel’s forgiveness, and he, thinking she is delirious, tells her he loves
her
...
He agrees to protect her
...
That evening, they find an old
mansion and slip in through the windows
...


Chapter 58:


Five days pass, and Angel and Tess slowly lapse back into their original love
...
One day the woman who airs the
house discovers their hiding place, and they decide it is time to leave
...
As she rests by a pillar, she says that she feels as if there
are no people in the world but them
...
She says she hopes Angel will marry Liza-Lu, then asks her husband if he
believes they will meet again after death
...




At dawn, Angel realizes that they are surrounded
...
Angel asks the men
not to take Tess until she wakes
...
Tess is glad she will not live, because she feels unworthy of Angel’s
love
...




Tess has been put to death
...


Theme

Quote and
Chapter

Quote and
Chapter

Quote and
Chapter

“a few middle-aged
and even elderly
women in the train, their
silver-wiry hair and
wrinkled faces,
scourged by time and
trouble, having almost a
grotesque, certainly a
pathetic, appearance
in such a jaunty
situation”
Phase 1, Chapter 2

“She was no longer
the milkmaid, but a
visionary essence of
woman – a whole
sex condensed into
one typical form”
Phase 3, Chapter
20

“He called her Artemis,
Demeter, and other
fanciful names half
teasingly, which she did
not like because she
could not understand
them
...
”
Phase 3, Chapter 20



“On these lonely hills
and dales her
quiescent glide was of
a piece with the
element she moved in
...
man

“The house was
overrun with ivy, its
chimney being
enlarged by the
boughs of the
parasite to the
aspect of a ruined
tower”
Phase 1, Chapter 9

“Never in her life – she could
swear it from the bottom of
her soul – had she ever
intended to do wrong; yet
these hard judgments had
come
...
”
Phase 2, Chapter 13

“Angel, do you think
we shall meet again
after we are dead? I
want to know
...

Relics are not in my creed;
but I fear you at moments –
far more than you need
fear me at present; and to
lessen my fear, put your
hand upon that stone hand,
and swear that you will
never tempt me – by your
charms or ways
...
"I
would rather take it in
my own hand
...
”
Phase 1, Chapter 5

The obscurity was now
so great that he could
see absolutely nothing
but a pale nebulousness
at his feet, which
represented the white
muslin figure he had left
upon the dead leaves
...

Phase 1, Chapter 11

“She had an attribute
which amounted to a
disadvantage just now;
and it was this that
caused Alec d'Urberville's
eyes to rivet themselves
upon her
...
”
Phase 7, Chapter 51





Womens low
role and status
in society
Seen as
mothers and
wives
Idealised

Age of
industrial
revolution
Contrasting
natural/moder
n
Tess = natural
Country vs
...

social law
Religious ideas
shape social
construct
Unjust, lawless,
corrupt

Religion
shaped society
Hardy agnostic
himself so
challenges
religious beliefs
– controversial
at the time

Women would
have been
shamed
‘fallen women’
Men had
freedom in
sexuality

Phase 1, Chapter 5

Social/regional
classes

“The dialect was on her
tongue to some extent,
despite the village
school: the
characteristic intonation
of that dialect for this
district being the voicing
approximately rendered
by the syllable UR”
Phase 1, Chapter 2

“Everything
looked like
money – like the
last coin issued
from the Mint”
Phase 1, Chapter
5

“Londoners will drink it at
their breakfasts tomorrow, won't they?
[…]Who don't know
anything of us, and where
it comes from; or think
how we two drove miles
across the moor to-night
in the rain that it might
reach 'em in time?"
Phase 4, Chapter 30





Used to
highlight
contrasts in
characters
Provides social
commentary
on hierarchy of
social
structures at
the time



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