Tess of the d’Urbervilles

“Justice was done, and the President of the Immortals, in Æschylean phrase, had ended his sport with Tess.”

Phase the First: The Maiden

Tess Durbeyfield, a poor country girl, learns from her father that they are descendants of the noble d’Urberville family. Hoping to improve their fortunes, her parents send her to seek help from the wealthy Mrs. d’Urberville. There, Tess meets her manipulative son, Alec, who seduces and later rapes her, leaving her pregnant.

Phase the Second: Maiden No More

Tess gives birth to a sickly child, Sorrow, who dies soon after. Grief-stricken, she leaves home to work as a dairymaid at Talbothays Dairy, where she meets Angel Clare, a kind and educated farmer’s son. The two fall in love, but Tess hesitates to reveal her past.

Phase the Third: The Rally

Despite her guilt, Tess accepts Angel’s marriage proposal. On their wedding night, Angel confesses a past indiscretion, and Tess, believing he will forgive her, reveals her history with Alec. Angel, unable to reconcile his idealized image of Tess with reality, abandons her.

Phase the Fourth: The Consequence

Left destitute, Tess takes grueling farm work to survive. Meanwhile, Angel travels to Brazil, reconsidering his harsh judgment. Alec, now a preacher, re-enters Tess’s life and, upon renouncing his faith, pressures her into becoming his mistress to support her family.

Phase the Fifth: The Woman Pays

Angel returns repentant, but Tess, trapped in her arrangement with Alec, is devastated. In a moment of despair, she kills Alec to free herself. She flees with Angel but is soon captured at Stonehenge and executed for murder, fulfilling the novel’s tragic prophecy.

Key Ideas

• The cruelty of fate and social injustice in Victorian England.
• The double standards of morality between men and women.
• The destructive power of rigid social and religious conventions.
• The contrast between idealized love and harsh reality.
• Nature as both a refuge and an indifferent force.

Notable Adaptations