Introduction
When Tess of the d’Urbervilles appeared in 1891, Thomas Hardy was one of England’s leading men of letters. He had already authored several well-known novels, […]
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy was born in 1840 in the small village in Dorset, an area of southern England steeped in history. One of the local landmarks, […]
Plot Summary
A Part One-An Insignificant Incident and Its Consequences Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles begins with a seemingly insignificant incident: John Durbeyfield, a middle-aged peddler, […]
Characters
A Mercy Chant The only daughter of a friend and neighbor of the Clares, Mercy Chant, is the girl Angel Clare’s parents hope he will […]
Themes
A Fate and Chance The Characters in Hardy’s novel of seduction, abandonment, and murder appear to be under the control of a force greater than […]
Construction
A Narrator Tess of the d’Urbervilles tells the story of a girl who is seduced and has a child who dies. When she meets another […]
Historical Perspective
A Darwin and Social Darwinism The last fifty years of the nineteenth century saw innovations in science and technology that changed society to a greater […]
Compare and Contrast
1890s: The rural population was forced to move toward urban areas as low prices and industrialization of farm equipment made smaller farms less profitable. Today: […]