现实百态 》 dé bó jiā de tái sī Tess of the d'Urbervilles 》
dì yī zhāng I
tuō mǎ sī · hā dài Thomas Hardy
I
《德伯家的苔丝》是哈代的代表作，它描写了一位农村姑娘的悲惨命运。哈代在小说的副标题中称女主人公为“一个纯洁的女人”，公开地向维多利亚时代虚伪的社会道德挑战。
《德伯家的苔丝》-内容简介
因生活无着落，苔丝由父母安排，去向德伯威尔家族认亲，谁知道德伯威尔是一个冒充的资本家。德伯威尔太太的儿子阿莱克是个花花公子，他趁机侮辱了苔丝。苔丝毅然离开了德伯威尔家。她结识了低教派牧师的儿子克莱尔。新婚之夜，苔丝诉说了自己的遭遇，克莱尔翻脸无情，抛弃了苔丝，独自去了巴西。流浪中，她再次遭遇伪善的教徒阿莱克的纠缠。迫于生计，她重又回到他的身边。克莱尔在巴西的经历使他认识到自己的过错，回国寻找苔丝。克莱尔的到来使苔丝陷入矛盾之中，与阿莱克争吵后，由于绝望而杀死了他。随后，她和克莱尔在荒野里度过了几天神奇的逃亡生活。七月的一个清晨，城里监狱楼阁的高杆上缓缓升起了执行死刑的黑旗，克莱尔因此抱憾终生。
《德伯家的苔丝》-故事梗概
故事发生在英格兰南部的德瑟特。傍晚，暮色笼罩着辽阔的田野，一群少女穿着白色的连衣裙，戴着白花编成的花冠，踏着明快的乡村舞节奏，在草坪上跳舞。她们中间有个姑娘叫苔丝，生得秀丽、端庄，周围没一个姑娘比得上她。然而，就从这一天起，厄运一直追随着她。
她的父亲约翰•德皮菲尔德刚才听本村的牧师说，德皮菲尔德其实是古老骑士名门德伯维尔的直系子孙。穷极潦倒的约翰听后信以为真喜出望外，赶紧把这喜讯告诉了老婆乔安娜。乔安娜想起了在德兰特山那边，住着一位姓德伯维尔的有钱的老太太。于是他们决定让苔丝去认这门本家。苔丝为了想帮助家里度过苦日子，勉强答应了，但心里很忧郁。
第二天，苔丝穿着素净的长裙，挽着一只篮子走进了德伯维尔家。她畏畏缩缩不敢前进，正待她想往回走时，一个男子的声音叫住了她：“喂，漂亮的妞儿，有何贵干？”他就是老太太的儿子亚雷克·德伯维尔。他叼着支烟，慢慢朝苔丝走来。苔丝很窘，结结巴巴地说出了原委。“穷亲戚。”亚雷克明白了。其实，他知道“德伯维尔”和“德皮菲尔德”是两个完全不同的姓氏，再说，他家的姓氏“德伯维尔”也是用高价买来的，所以根本没“亲戚”这回事。但他还是说动母亲让她在养鸡场干活。因为，他已被苔丝的美貌吸引住了。
在德伯维尔家，养鸡场的活不算重，老太太也不算难侍候，只是亚雷克时时缠着她。一天晚上，苔丝和其她女工一块到邻村去参加舞会。舞会结束时，天已很晚了。天上月光皎洁，她们三五成群地回村去。一个叫卡尔的姑娘，头上顶着只柳条篮子，糖浆从缝里漏出来淌在她背上，遭到大家的取笑。她无处发火，竟朝着苔丝骂了起来：“你这个贱货，你以为有那个男人宠着，就神气啦……”苔丝很委屈。这时，亚雷克骑着马出现在她们中间，他知道了事情的原委，就叫苔丝上他的马。
亚雷克赶着马走进了森林。苔丝睁着疲乏的眼睛问：“您走错路了吧？”“管它呢。这是英格兰最古老、最美丽的森林。今晚多美，我愿这良辰美景永无尽头……”苔丝有些不安，但听到亚雷克说他已送了一匹马给她家时，又有些感激。亚雷克拿起了苔丝的手偷偷吻了一下，又要拥抱她，本能的恐惧使苔丝猛力将亚雷克推下马去。亚雷克跌倒在地，头撞在树桩上鲜血直淌。苔丝紧张而又歉疚地蹲在他身旁抽抽嗒嗒地哭了。亚雷克趁势把她拥进怀里热烈地吻她。苔丝被这长长的吻陶醉了，情不自禁地依偎在他怀里。亚雷克慢慢解开了她小夹的纽扣，撩起她的裙子，将整个身子扑上去。此时才清醒了的苔丝拼命挣扎，但已无济于事了……
从此，穿着粗布衣的苔丝不见了，亚雷克把她打扮得雍容华贵，但这些遮不住苔丝的满腔愁苦，她决定回家，再也不想做亚雷克的玩物了。当苔丝走进村里看见自己的家时，禁不住泪流满面。
几个月以后，亚雷克的孩子出世，但不久便夭折了。苔丝掩埋了孩子后在布莱克莫尔山谷的一家牧场找到了一份挤牛奶的工作。场主待人很和气，同事们也相处得很好，苔丝的心情开始好了起来，她觉得以前的那段经历似乎已经很遥远了。这时，有个年轻人闯进了她心中，他叫安吉尔，是牧师的儿子，到牧场来是专学挤扔的。安吉尔也在心中深深地爱着苔丝。一天，苔丝在野外挤牛奶，安吉尔走到她身边，突然抱住她给了她久久的一吻。安吉尔走后，苔丝仰靠在牛背上，心荡神驰。
安吉尔向苔丝求婚了，这使苔丝陷入了矛盾和痛苦中。她爱安吉尔，安吉尔是她苦难生活中唯一的希望，她不愿失去他；但她又不能欺骗安吉尔，对他隐瞒自己以往的经历。然而，一旦告诉了安吉尔，他还会爱她吗？苔丝不敢想象。但最后，苔丝还是把自己过去的一切写信告诉了安吉尔。苔丝把信塞进安吉尔阁楼的门缝后彻夜难眠。好不容易熬到天明，她神情严肃地站在阁楼下等待着判决。安吉尔终于下来了，他像以前一样热烈地拥抱了苔丝，苔丝如释重负。他们在结婚前的一段时间里，沉浸在幸福的峰巅。可是有一天，苔丝抱着野花去装点安吉尔的阁楼时，发现自己写的那封信仍原封未动地插在门板下。苔丝愣住了，经过激烈的矛盾，她终于把信塞进了自己的衣襟中。因为她太渴望幸福了。
结婚的日子终于到了，婚礼结束后，他们去郊外的别墅度蜜月。女佣把宅内布置得喜气洋洋。安吉尔把一只精致的摩洛哥皮箱放在苔丝的面前，苔丝小心翼翼地打开，眼前刹时一片珠光宝气，那是安吉尔的家传珍宝——钻石项链和耳环。安吉尔亲手给苔丝佩戴后，退后几步入神地欣赏着，安吉尔再次为苔丝的美貌而倾倒。“我要告诉你一件事，”安吉尔神情严肃，他请求苔丝宽恕他以前和一个女人厮混的事。苔丝用她热烈的拥抱回答了安吉尔。她鼓足勇气，讲了她和亚雷克的事。但安吉尔的神色立即黯淡下来，他走出房间，在宅前一条昏暗的小路上徘徊。他不肯宽恕苔丝，他只爱以前心中的那个苔丝，而不受现在这个失去了贞节的，带着没落贵族血液的苔丝。苔丝茫然地站在黑暗中，凄苦不已。
安吉尔为了名誉既不和苔丝离婚，又不愿和苔丝生活在一起。第二天，他只身去了巴西，苔丝退下了耳环、项链，回了娘家。苔丝再也没有希望了，生活又越来越艰难。父亲死了，母亲因付不出房租被赶到大街上，带了四五个弟妹到处流浪，最后只好在路边搭个帐篷聊避风雨。苔丝在各处干着苦活，流尽汗水，受尽凌辱。
苔丝曾给安吉尔写过信，但都如石沉大海，杳无音讯。直到几年以后，安吉尔在外面吃了不少苦，对以前不理解的事终于能理解了，他才意识到自己这样对待苔丝是不公正的。他还爱着苔丝，于是他赶回英国千方百计地寻找苔丝，最后在海滨一座漂亮的别墅里找到了她。但安吉尔已经来得太晚了，在她家最困难的时候，亚雷克帮助她们度过了难关，所以苔丝又跟他过了。苔丝穿着华丽的睡衣来见安吉尔，她用极冷漠的态度对安吉尔说：“……请走吧，以后不要再来了。”安吉尔无可奈何，只得伤心地走了。苔丝回到房里，伏在桌上痛哭不已。这几年来的遭遇使她太伤心了，她恨这个左右着她命运的道貌岸然的男人亚雷克！过不久，房东太太见苔丝穿着出远门的衣服匆匆地走出了公寓。她有些疑惑，抬头朝楼上看看，目光落在了天花板上。雪白的楼板上有一个红点，又一个红点，而且越来越大，她爬上桌子伸手一摸，是血！
“我把他杀了。”苔丝在将要启动的火车上找到了安吉尔，平静地把杀了亚雷克的事告诉了他。安吉尔望着她苍白的脸色和白衬裙底襟的血迹，万分激动地把她紧抱在怀中：“苔丝，我永远爱你，再也不离开你了。”
为了躲避追缉，他们在第二站便下了车。在僻幽处，他们发现了一座正待出租的大空宅，便破窗而入。第二天，酣睡中的安吉尔和苔丝被一阵响声惊醒。原来是看房老太婆发现了他们。于是，他们又开始逃跑。野外、狂风呼啸，豺狼嚎叫。荒野的尽头，有座庞大的祭坛遗迹，苔丝疲惫至极，躺在石阶上渐渐睡着了。远处，升起一片灰茫茫的雾，忽然，“得得”的马蹄声从四面八方朝他们包围过来，安吉尔眼看无法逃脱，便恳求警察让苔丝再躺一会儿。但苔丝醒了，她望了望警察，平静地说：“走吧。”
四名警察骑着马在荒野上慢慢地走着，中间是安吉尔和戴着手铐的苔丝。这时，在他们的身后，从神坛的竖柱之间冉冉升起一轮红日……
《德伯家的苔丝》-人物分析
苔丝：女主人公苔丝是一个勤劳善良、美丽纯朴的农家姑娘，同时在她身上又有着可贵的坚强、自尊和大胆反抗厄运的品格。为了摆脱穷困，她的母亲打发她去有钱的“本家”亚雷家做工，结果遭到亚雷的蹂躏，失去了 “清白”。此时的她不仅要面对生活的贫困，还要抵御“道德”的压力。她来到牛奶场当女工，和来自城里的具有“自由思想”的安玑•克莱真心相爱了。新婚之夜，苔丝为了忠实自己的丈夫，向安玑讲述了自己以往的“过失”。表现了很高的道德勇气。当丈夫不能谅解，幸福已经破灭时，她又忍住痛苦，咬紧牙关，毅然地独立谋生。在对待亚雷的态度上，苔丝也充分体现了自己的人格尊严。亚雷百般引诱，她不为之所动，并明确表示厌恶。最后，她在忍无可忍的情况下，杀死这个毁了她一生的仇人。
作者也真实地写到了苔丝身上的弱点。苔丝明显受到旧道德和宿命论思想的影响。她对克莱的态度和他对自己命运的悲叹（“我的命为什么这样苦？”“一切都是命中注定的。”）都说明了这一点。这样的描写，从一定的意义上讲，也是现实生活的反映。当然，作家本身的命运观也加深了小说的悲观主义和宿命论的气氛。苔丝的悲剧是在工业资本日益占领农村，个体劳动者丧失了生产资料，沦为雇佣劳动者的大背景下出现的。哈代对苔丝的不幸满怀同情。在小说中，他大声疾呼：“哪儿是保护苔丝的天使呢？哪儿是她一心信仰的上帝呢？”苔丝是哈代塑造得最为出色的艺术形象。
安玑•克莱：小说中的安玑•克莱形象也刻画得很成功。他文质彬彬，温文尔雅，却反对宗教和传统的道德。他违背父母的意愿，到农村学习农业技术，就是想更好地“为人类服务”。应该说，他的人道主义和自由思想有一定的进步意义。但是，克莱并没有真正摆脱传统的道德观念，在关键的时刻，仍然站在了传统的社会礼俗和道德一边。新婚之夜，苔丝将自己的悲惨遭遇告诉他时，他首先想到的仍然是资产阶级的体面和旧的道德，表现出虚伪、无情和冷酷。对于苔丝的死，他也有不可推卸的责任。对资产阶级的虚伪道德，作家给予了尖锐的抨击。
亚雷：具有讽刺意味的是，直接给苔丝带来不幸的亚雷，不仅是粗鲁卑俗、胡作非为的乡间恶棍形象，而且是虚伪的宗教和资产阶级国家机器的代表。苔丝再次和亚雷见面的时候，亚雷居然已经当上了牧师，向农民滔滔不绝地宣讲圣经。作者通过亚雷形象的塑造，毫不留情地暴露了英国社会的黑暗和宗教的虚伪，其批判的力量力透纸背。
哈代善于细腻地描写人物的内心活动，主要人物形象刻画生动。优美的农村自然景色的描写充满诗情画意，且能与人物思想情感的描写巧妙结合，具有很强的艺术感染力。
《德伯家的苔丝》-苔丝的悲剧
苔丝的悲剧是社会悲剧？是命运悲剧？还是性格悲剧？抑或是三种之外的什么？苔丝的悲剧首先是社会悲剧。哈代的“威塞克斯”小说是以其故乡威塞克斯为背景的。19世纪中期英国资本主义工业文明侵入农村，哈代的故乡也遭到强大的冲击，其宗法社会迅速解体，个体农民在经济上陷入失业、贫困的悲惨境地。面对工业文明带来的后果，哈代作为一个人道主义着者，心灵受到强烈冲击，在感情上深深地依恋古老的宗法文明，痛恨工业文明对人们和谐生存状态的摧毁。哈代乡土小说的社会悲剧意识立足于当时的社会背景，以工业文明与宗法文明的冲突为切入点，采用由全景到局部、由面到点的客观描述笔法，深入地表现人们的生存困境。《苔丝》中，哈代对当时工业文明对乡村的冲击进行了全景式描绘，然后以苔丝家作为个体农民的缩影，深入展现人们在物质困境中的痛苦挣扎。社会悲剧是人同社会环境的冲突造成的。苔丝生活在英国资本主义侵袭到农村并毒化社会气氛的维多利亚时代。这位弱女子，尽管聪明美丽，勤劳善良，但家贫如洗、经济拮据，负担沉重，她处于低下的社会地位，作为一个劳动者、一个无权无钱的农业工人，自然会受到资本主义社会的种种压迫和凌辱，这些压迫和凌辱有经济的、权势的、肉体的、更有精神的、宗教的、道德的、传统观念的。她的悲剧是时代造成的，同时，亚雷和克雷代表了把苔丝推向深渊的两种不同的客观社会势力，他们直接地共同造成了苔丝的社会悲剧。
苔丝生活的时代是19世纪80年代。此时，英国资本主义不仅在都市长足发展，资本主义大规模的经营方式在农村也开始萌芽（作品里所描写的克里克老板的大牛奶厂、富农葛露卑农场就是这种资本主义生产方式的写照），随着资本主义的侵入，家长制统治下的英国农村一步步趋向崩溃，造成个体农民的破产，走向贫困。苔丝作为一个贫苦农民的女儿，而后又作为一个雇佣劳动者，其命运必然是悲惨的。因此，苔丝的悲剧是时代、社会悲剧。
苔丝悲剧的第二个原因，也是其悲剧的直接原因，即她是暴力、恶势力及维护它们的法律、国家机器的受害者。这种暴力、恶势力的集中代表就是亚雷·德伯。
苔丝在绿草如茵、风景如画的乡野里长大，尽管家庭生活窘迫，但少女时代的苔丝内心是明朗、欢快的。她热爱生活、敢于面对一切困难，为了维持家庭，不惜牺牲自己。第一次去德伯家认亲，是她极不愿意的，可家里唯一帮助父亲维持生计的老马一死，弟妹一大群，父亲又时常汹酒，生活实在艰难，为了一家人的生活，这个从未出过门的姑娘，带着胆怯和羞愧的心情，终于去德伯家作帮工。
《德伯家的苔丝》《德伯家的苔丝》
亚雷的父亲是个有钱的商人，而后冠以贵族德伯的姓氏。这个阔少凭借父亲的金钱、权势在乡野称霸，为非作歹。他第一次见到苔丝，荒淫好色的嘴脸就暴露无遗。由于苔丝年幼无知，缺乏经验，而周围的环境又是那样黑暗，没有一个人帮助，没有一个人保护，因此，他趁人之危，设下圈套，蹂躏、玷污了苔丝，毁坏了苔丝少女的贞洁和一生的幸福。尽管后来他在老克莱牧师的帮助下一度改邪归正，自己也作了牧师并打算变卖家产到非洲去传教，然而几十年的恶习并未根除。当他再度碰见苔丝以后，邪念再生，几年的教诲前功尽弃，倒是苔丝看透了这个身着道袍的牧师的灵魂：“象你这种人本来都是拿我这样人开心作乐的，只顾自己乐个够，至于我怎么受罪你就管不着啦；你作完了乐，开够了心，就又说你悟了道了，预备死后再到天堂上去享乐；天下的便宜都叫你占了去了。”苔丝一针见血地揭穿了亚雷皈依宗教的虚伪，亚雷行为的本身也表明作者对宗教力量的怀疑。此后，亚雷又百般来纠缠、胁逼苔丝，他骂她是傻老婆，欺骗苔丝说她丈夫再也不会回来了，并威胁说：“你记住了，我的夫人，你从前没逃出我的手心去，你这回还是逃不出我的手心去。你只要作太太，你就得作我的太太。”但是，苔丝宁可继续留在棱窟槐富农葛露卑的农场里忍受残酷的剥削和压榨，承受超负荷的重体力劳动，也不愿意屈服于亚雷，并接受他的帮助。然而父亲病死，母亲身体不好，弟妹失学，房子租赁到期，一家人被撵出村子无处安身，为了一家人的活命，苔丝不得不忍辱含垢，接受了亚雷的帮助，作了他的情妇。从此，彻底断送了她终生的幸福。苔丝一生都是强权和暴力的受害者。亚雷之所以敢称霸四野，为非作歹，为所欲为，不仅因为他有钱、有势，而且更主要的是有资产阶级国家机器、法律的保护。社会和法律都认为侮辱和迫害苔丝的人是正当的，而受迫害的苔丝则是有罪的。苔丝一生都必得逆来顺受，忍受含垢，不能自卫，而当她有生以来第一次起来自卫的时候，“‘典型’明证了，埃斯库罗斯所说的那个众神主宰对于苔丝的戏弄也完结了。”苔丝成了资产阶级国家祭坛上的祭品。苔丝的悲惨遭遇，社会对苔丝的不公正，表明了资产阶级法律的不仁道和虚伪。
传统伦理道德对苔丝精神上的摧残，是苔丝悲剧的又一主要原因。如果说以亚雷为代表的恶势力及其强大的后盾——国家机器、法律对苔丝的迫害是一种无形的更可怕的精神残害。
《德伯家的苔丝》-相关评论
《德伯家的苔丝》是英国著名小说家和诗人托马斯.哈代创作的代表作之一，一百多年过去了，女主人公苔丝也早已树立在世界文学画廊之中，这不仅仅因为人们对传统美德有所超越，更因为作品主人公所拥有的人性与灵魂深处的巨大魄力使之成为最动人的女性形象之一。哈代以小说女主人公苔丝的悲惨命运替西方悲剧作了一个形象的阐释：苔丝本是一位纯洁美丽又非常勤劳的农村姑娘，她向往人生的真和善，但又时时遭到伪和恶的打击。苔丝的悲剧始于为了全家人生计去远亲家打工，却因年幼无知而被亚雷骗去了处女的贞操，成了一个“堕落”的女人，受到社会舆论的非议，把她看成不贞洁的罪人；苔丝后来与青年克莱相爱，又因为新婚之夜坦诚有污点的过去而被丈夫遗弃，而与近在眼前的幸福失之交臂；出于高度的家庭责任感和自我牺牲精神，苔丝为换取家人的生存而再次违愿沦为亚雷的情妇；最后因为丈夫的回心转意使得绝望的苔丝愤而举起了复仇的利刃，终于成了一个杀人犯，最后不得不付出了生命的代价，导致“象游丝一样敏感，象雪一样洁白”的苔丝最后终被完全毁灭。这一切悲性遭遇全由于无情命运所精心谋划和设计，安排世事的宇宙主宰通过命运的巨网毫无怜悯地将人伦道德意义上的好人、善良人笼罩于进退维谷的苦难陷阱。
《德伯家的苔丝》里的女主人公苔丝是被哈代理想化了的现代女性。在哈代的理想世界中，苔丝是美的象征和爱的化身，代表着威塞克斯人的一切优秀的方面：美丽、纯洁、善良、质朴、仁爱和容忍。她敢于自我牺牲，勇于自我反抗和对生活抱有美好的愿望。她所特有的感情就是对人的爱和信任，女性的温柔和勇敢在她身上融成了一体。她有美丽的女人气质，坚强的意志和热烈的感情，同时也有威塞克斯人的正直忠实和自然纯朴。她没有借助婚姻来实现追求虚荣的愿望，而是立足于自尊去追求自由。在她到冒牌本家亚雷“德伯那儿寻求帮助的时候，她的目的是想通过自己的工作来解决家庭的困难。她一发现自己上当受骗，就坚决离开了亚雷”德伯。苔丝的灵魂是纯洁的，道德是高尚的，但是在资产阶级的道德面前，她却被看成伤风败俗的典型，奉为警戒淫荡的榜样，是侵犯了清白领域的“罪恶化身”。哈代的观点和社会偏见尖锐对立，他通过苔丝这个形象对当时虚伪的道德标准严加抨击。哈代坚持道德的纯洁在于心灵的纯洁，不在于一时的过错，因此苔丝是“一个纯洁的女人”。社会则坚持传统的习俗，认为一时的过错就是不可挽救的堕落，苔丝是一个犯了奸淫罪的罪人。哈代认为世界上没有完人。人的完美体现在对人生的理解、对生活的热爱、感情的丰富和忠实的爱情之中，只有从这样的完美中才能产生出纯洁来。哈代严厉批评了克莱代表的资产阶级的伦理道德，指出它已经成为人们精神上的枷锁。然而正是这种民族风俗习惯结晶的伦理道德，它具有神圣的性质，是不成文的法律，被认作永远正当的东西。苔丝就是这种世俗谬见的牺牲品。哈代通过苔丝的悲惨遭遇无情结揭示出这种伦理道德的伪善及其劣根性，把它的残酷内容暴露出来。
评论家称哈代的小说为命运悲剧，悲剧在于把好的东西毁灭给人看，而苔丝的毁灭是命运的悲剧，更是一个男权社会压迫的结果。哈代的小说给人的是一种印象，而不是一篇辩论，作者要表现的真理就蕴藏在那些活生生的细节和语言当中。作者没有明确提出自己的主见，读者可以读出一千个苔丝来。哈代给我们描述的就是十九世纪末一个善良的女子如何被社会所毁灭的情景。莎士比亚说：“可怜你这受了伤的名字！我的胸膛就是一张床，要给你将养。”苔丝，这个被毁灭的女子的名字，正是千百年来女性悲惨命运的再一次回响。可怜的苔丝，这个社会是如此无情，连爱人都将她抛弃！不，她没有真正的爱人，她遇到的不是残暴的恶棍，就是虚伪的君子。在恶棍面前，她还能武装自己去反抗；在伪君子面前，她却敞开胸膛，让对方的利剑刺入心中最柔软、最纯洁的地方，逼得自己走上绝路。安吉尔，这似乎是天使的代名词，实际上却是一个刽子手，他一副道貌岸然的样子，先把苔丝看作心中的“圣女”，也不检讨一下自己是否足够纯洁配得上“圣女”。他向苔丝坦诚了自己原来也找过情妇，苔丝原谅了他，可是当苔丝承认自己失去了贞洁时，他却认为苔丝好像犯了十恶不赦的大罪，配不上他所谓“纯洁”的爱。就连莫里哀喜剧《伪君子》中的达尔杜弗都比他高尚，至少他从不掩饰自己最为骗子的本性和目的，只是手段比较低下，而像安吉尔这类人，本质也是一个伪君子，却自以为是一个圣人。更悲惨的是，无论在文学作品中，还是在现实中，都偏偏是这类人获得了纯洁女子的爱情，却往往辜负了这份爱情。
《德伯家的苔丝》-作者简介
《德伯家的苔丝》托马斯·哈代
托马斯·哈代（ThomasHardy，1840年6月2日－1928年1月11日），英国作家。生于农村没落贵族家庭。1861年去伦敦学建筑工程，并从事文学、哲学和神学的研究。当过几年建筑师，后致力于文学创作。他的小说多以农村生活为背景，对资本主义社会的文明和道德作了深刻的揭露和批判，但带有悲观情绪和宿命论色彩。晚年转向诗歌创作，但一般认为“诗人哈代”远不如“小说家哈代”。代表作为两部长篇小说： 《黛丝姑娘》和《无名的裘德》 。
16岁开始做建筑学徒，后为建筑师助理，司教堂修复。建筑论文曾获英国皇家建筑学会奖。有音乐、绘画及语言才能，通古希腊文及拉丁文。在哲学、文学和自然科学方面有广博学识。受当时科学重大发现进化论影响，在宗教方面成为怀疑论者。25岁写诗，1866年开始小说创作，第一部小说《穷人与贵妇》未出版。随后创作了一部以爱情、阴谋、凶杀、侦破为内容的情节小说《计出无奈》，出版后受到肯定性评价。1874年与爱玛·拉文纳结婚。在爱玛的鼓励下，连续创作了《绿林荫下》、《一双湛蓝的秋波》、《远离尘嚣》。《远离尘嚣》一书以清新自然的风格和鲜明生动的人物形象获得极大成功，他从此放弃建筑行业，走上专业创作道路。从1869年至19世纪末近30年间，共创作长篇小说14 部、中短篇小说近50篇。小说创作辍笔后，将早年诗作汇集成册，并继续诗歌及诗剧创作，直至逝世。
《德伯家的苔丝》-电影《德伯家的苔丝》
导演：罗曼·波兰斯基
主演：娜塔莎·金斯基 彼得·弗斯利·劳森
类型：爱情/剧情
上映日期：1979年10月25日
国家/地区：法国/英国
片长：190min/Argentina:150min
剧情简介：
五月下旬的一个傍晚，一位为编写新郡志而正在考察这一带居民谱系的牧师告诉约翰•德伯:他是该地古老的武士世家德伯氏的后裔。这一突如其来的消息，使这个贫穷的乡村小贩乐得手舞足蹈，他异想天开地要17岁的大女儿苔丝到附近一个有钱的德伯老太那里去认“本家”，幻想借此摆脱经济上的困境。实际上，德伯老太与这古老的武士世家毫无渊源关系，她家是靠放高利贷起家的暴发户，从北方迁到这里，这个姓也是从博物馆里找来的，苔丝到她家后，德伯老大的儿子亚雷见这个姑娘长得漂亮，便装出一片好心，让苔丝在他家养鸡。三个月后，亚雷奸污了她。苔丝失身之后，对亚雷极其鄙视和厌恶，她带着心灵和肉体的创伤回到父母身边，发现自己已经怀孕了。
她的受辱不仅没有得到社会的同情，反而受到耻笑和指责。婴儿生下后不久就夭析，痛苦不堪的苔丝决心改换环境，到南部一家牛奶厂做工。在牛奶厂，她认识了26 岁的安玑•克莱。他出身于富有的牧师家庭，却不肯秉乘父兄旨意，继承牧师的衣钵，甘愿放弃上大学的机会，来这里学习养牛的本领，以求自立。在劳动中，苔丝和安巩互相产生了爱慕之情。当安玑父母提议他与一个门当户对的富家小姐结婚时，他断然拒绝了。而苔丝的思想却十分矛盾，她既对安玑正直的为人、自立的意志和对她的关怀有好感，又自哀失身于人，不配做他的妻子。但强烈的爱终于战胜了对往事的悔恨，她和安玑结了婚。新婚之夜，苔丝下定决心，要把自己的“罪过”原原本本地告诉安玑。但一当她讲完自己与亚雷的往事之后，貌似思想开通的安玑。
克莱不仅没有原谅她，反而翻脸无情，只身远涉重洋到巴西去了，尽管他自己也曾和一个不相识的女人放荡地生活过。被遗弃的苔丝心碎了。她孤独、悔恨、愤慨、绝望，但为了全家的生活，她只好忍受屈辱和苦难。同时，她还抱着一线希望，盼着丈夫回心转意，回到自己身边。一天，在苔丝去安玑家打听消息回来的途中，发现毁掉她贞操的亚雷居然成了牧师，满口仁义道德地正在布道。亚雷还纠缠苔丝，无耻地企图与她同居。苔丝又气又怕，随即给丈夫写了一封长信，恳求克莱迅速归来保护自己，克莱在巴西贫病交加，也历尽磨难。他后悔当时遗弃苔丝的卤莽行为，决定返回英国与苔丝言归于好。但这时苔丝家又发生变故：父亲猝然去世，住屋被房主收回，全家栖身无所，生活无着。在这困难关头，亚雷乘虚而入，用金钱诱逼苔丝和他同居。克莱的归来，犹如一把利刃，把苔丝从麻木浑噩的状态中刺醒。在绝望中，她亲手杀死了亚雷，追上克莱，他们在荒漠的原野里度过了几天逃亡的欢乐生活。最后在一个静谧的黎明，苔丝被捕，接着被处绞刑；克莱遵照苔丝的遗愿，带着忏悔的心情和苔丝的妹妹开始了新的生活。
第一章
五月下旬的一个傍晚，一个中年男子正从沙斯顿向靠近布莱克莫尔谷（也叫黑荒原谷）的马洛特村里的家中走去。他走路的一双腿摇摇晃晃的，走路的姿态不能保持一条直线，老是朝左边歪着。他偶尔还轻快地点一下头，仿佛对某个意见表示同意，其实他心里一点儿也没有想到什么特别的事。他的胳膊上挎着一只装鸡蛋的空篮子，头上戴的帽子的绒面皱皱巴巴的，摘帽子时大拇指接触帽沿的地方也被磨旧了一大块。不一会儿，一个骑着一匹灰色母马一边随口哼着小调的老牧师迎面走来——
“您好。”挎着篮子的男子说。
“您好，约翰爵士。”牧师说。
步行的男子又向前走了一两步，站住了，转过身来。
“喂，对不起，先生；大约上个集市日的这个时候，我们在这条路上遇见了，我说‘您好’，你也回答说‘您好，约翰爵士’，就像刚才说的一样。”
“我是这样说的。”牧师说。
“在那以前还有一次——大约一个月以前。”
“我也许说过。”
“我只不过是一个普通的流动小贩，名叫杰克·德北菲尔德，那你反复叫我‘约翰爵士’是什么意思？”
牧师骑着马向他走近一两步。
“那只是我的一时兴致，”他说；然后又稍稍迟疑了一会儿：“那是因为不久前我为了编写新的郡史在查考家谱时的一个发现。我是鹿脚路的考古学家特林汉姆牧师。德北菲尔德，你真的不知道你是德贝维尔这个古老骑士世家的嫡传子孙吗？德贝维尔家是从著名的骑士帕根·德贝维尔爵士传下来的，据纪功寺文档①记载，他是跟随征服者威廉王从诺曼底来的。”
①纪功寺文档（Battle Abbey Roll），记载跟随威廉王征战英国的诺曼贵族的一份名单，现保存于纪功寺。 “过去我从没听说过，先生！”
“啊，不错。你把下巴抬起来一点点，让我好好看看你的脸的侧面。不错，这正是德贝维尔家族的鼻子和下巴——但有一点儿衰落。辅佐诺曼底的埃斯彻玛维拉勋爵征服格拉摩甘郡的骑士一共有十二个，你的祖先是他们中间的一个。在英格兰这一带地方，到处都有你们家族分支的采地；在斯蒂芬王时代，派普名册②记载着他们的名字。在约翰王时代，他们的分支中有一支很富有，曾给救护骑士团赠送了一份采地；在爱德华二世时代，你的祖先布里恩也应召到威斯敏斯特参加过大议会。你们家族在奥利弗·克伦威尔时代就有点儿开始衰落，不过没有到严重的程度，在查理斯二世时期，你们家族又因为对王室忠心，被封为皇家橡树爵士。唉，你们家族的约翰爵士已经有好几代了，如果骑士称号也像从男爵一样可以世袭的话，你现在就应该是约翰爵士了，其实在过去的时代里都是世袭的，骑士称号由父亲传给儿子。”
②派普名册（Pipe Rolls），记录皇家每年收支情况的文件，始于1131年，止于1842年。 “可你没有这样说过呀！”
“简而言之，”牧师态度坚决地用马鞭抽了一下自己的腿，下结论说，“在英格兰，你们这样的家族简直找不出第二家。”
“真令我吃惊，在英格兰找不出第二家吗？”德北菲尔德说，“可是我一直在这一带四处漂泊，一年又一年的，糟糕透顶了，好像我同这个教区里的最普通的人没有什么两样……特林汉姆牧师，关于我们家族的这件事，大家知道得有多久了？”牧师解释说，据他所知，这件事早让人忘光了，很难说有什么人知道。他对家系的调查，是从去年春天开始的。他一直在对德贝维尔家族的盛衰史进行研究，在马车上看见了德北菲尔德的名字，因而才引起他展开对德北菲尔德的父亲和祖父的调查，最后才确定了这件事。
“起初我决心不拿这种毫无用处的消息打扰你，”他说，“可是，我们的冲动有时候太强烈，控制不住我们的理智。我还一直以为你也许对这件事已经知道一些了。”
“啊，是的，我也听说过一两次，说我这家人在搬到黑荒原谷以前，也经历过富裕的日子。可是我却没有在意，心想只是说我们现在只有一匹马，而过去我们曾经有过两匹马。我家里还保存着一把古老的银匙和一方刻有纹章的古印；可是，天啦，一把银匙和一方古印算得了什么？……想想吧，我一直同这些高贵的德贝维尔血肉相连。听别人说，我的曾祖父有些不肯告人的秘密，不肯谈论他的来历……噢，牧师，我想冒昧地问一句，现在我们家族的炊烟又升起在哪儿呢？我是说，我们德贝维尔家族住在哪儿？”
“哪儿也没有你们家族了。作为一个郡的家族，你们家族是已经灭绝了。”
“真是遗憾。”
“是的——那些虚假的家谱所说的男系灭绝，就是说衰败了，没落了。”
“那么，我们的祖先又埋在哪儿呢？”
“埋在青山下的金斯比尔：一排一排地埋在你们家族的地下墓室里，在用佩比克大理石做成的华盖下面，还刻有你们祖先的雕像。”
“还有，我们家族的宅第和房产在哪儿呢？”
“你们没有宅第和房产了。”
“啊？土地也没有了？”
“也没有了；虽然像我说的那样，你们曾经拥有过大量的宅第和房产，因为你们的家族是由众多的支系组成的。在这个郡，过去在金斯比尔有一处你们的房产，在希尔屯还有一处，在磨房池有一处，在拉尔斯德有一处，在井桥还有一处。”
“我们还会恢复我们自己的家族吗？”
“噢——不行了，不行了；‘大英雄何竟死亡’，你除了用这句话责罚你自己外，别无它法。这件事对本地的历史学家和家谱学家还有些兴趣，但没有其它什么了。在本郡居住的农户里，有差不多同样光荣历史的还有好几家。再见。”
“可是，特林汉姆牧师，为了这件事，你转回来和我去喝一夸脱啤酒好不好？在纯酒酒店，正好开了一桶上好的佳酿——虽然我敢说它还是不如罗利弗酒店的酒好。”
“不喝了，谢谢你——德北菲尔德，今天晚上不喝了。你已经喝得够多了。”牧师这样把话说完以后，就骑着马走了，心里有些怀疑，该不该把这个多少有点奇怪的传说告诉他。
牧师走了，德北菲尔德陷入沉思，走了几步路，就把篮子放在面前，然后在路边的草坡上坐下来。不一会儿，远方出现了一个年轻人，正朝先前德北菲尔德走路的方向走着。德北菲尔德一看见他，就把手举起来，小伙子紧走几步，来到他的跟前。
“小伙子，把那个篮子拿起来！我要你为我走一趟。”
那个像板条一样瘦长的小伙子有点不高兴：“你是什么人，约翰·德北菲尔德，你竟要使唤我，叫我‘小伙子’？我们谁不认识谁呀！”
“你认识我，认识我？这是秘密——这是秘密！现在你就听我的吩咐，把我让你送的信送走……好吧，弗里德，我不在乎把这个秘密告诉你，我是一家贵族的后裔，——我也是午后，今天这个下午才知道的。”德北菲尔德一边宣布这则消息，一边从坐着的姿势向后倒下去，舒舒服服地仰卧在草坡上的雏菊中了。
小伙子站在德北菲尔德的面前，把他从头到脚仔细地打量了一番。
“约翰·德贝尔菲尔爵士——这才是我的名字。”躺着的人接着说。“我是说，如果骑士是从男爵的话——它们本来就是一样的呀。我的一切都记录在历史中。小伙子，你知道不知道青山下的金斯伯尔这个地方？”
“知道。我去过那儿的青山市场。”
“好了，就在那个城市的教堂下面，埋着——”
“那儿哪是一个城市，我是说那儿只是一块地方；至少我去那儿的时候不是一个城市——那儿只不过是像一只眼睛般大小的讨厌的地方。”
“你不必管那个地方了，小伙子，那不是我们要说的事。在那个教区的下面，埋着我的祖先——有好几百个——穿着铠甲，满身珠宝，睡的用铅做成的大棺材就有好几吨重。在南威塞克斯这个郡里，没有谁家有比我更显赫更高贵的祖先了。”
“是吗？”
“好了，你把篮子拿上，到马洛特村去，走到纯酒酒店的时候，告诉他们立刻给我叫一辆马车，把我接回家去。马车里叫他们放上一小瓶甜酒，记在我的帐上。你把这件事办完了，就把篮子送到我家里去，告诉我老婆把正在洗的衣服放下来，用不着把衣服洗完，等着我回家，因为我有话要告诉她。”
小伙子半信半疑，站着没有动身，德北菲尔德就把手伸进口袋，摸出来一个先令，长期以来，那是他口袋中少有的先令中的一个。
“辛苦你了，小伙子，这个给你。”
有了这个先令，小伙子对形势的估计就有了不同。
“好吧，约翰爵士。谢谢你。还有别的事要我为你效劳吗，约翰爵士？”
“告诉我家里人，晚饭我想吃——好吧，要是有羊杂碎，我就吃油煎羊杂碎；要是没有羊杂碎，我就吃血肠；要是没有血肠，好吧，我就将就着吃小肠吧。”
“是，约翰爵士。”
小伙子拿起篮子，就在他要动身离开的时候，听见一阵铜管乐队的音乐声从村子的方向传过来。
“什么声音？”德北菲尔德说。“不是为了欢迎我吧？”
“那是妇女俱乐部正在，约翰爵士。唔，你女儿就是俱乐部的一个会员呀。”
“真是的——我想的都是大事情，把这件事全给忘了。好吧，你去马洛特村吧，给我把马车叫来，说不定我要坐车转一圈，好看看俱乐部的。”
小伙子走了，德北菲尔德躺在草地的雏菊中，沐浴着午后的夕照等候着。很久很久，那条路上没有一个人走过，在绿色山峦的四周以内，能够听到的人类声音只有那隐约传来的铜管乐队的音乐声。
Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented also known as Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman also known as Tess of the d'Urbervilles or just Tess is a novel by Thomas Hardy, first published in 1891. It initially appeared in a censored and serialised version, published by the British illustrated newspaper, The Graphic. It is Hardy's penultimate novel, followed by Jude the Obscure. Though now considered a great classic of English literature, the book received mixed reviews when it first appeared, in part because it challenged the sexual mores of Hardy's day. The original manuscript is on display at the British Library showing the title had originally been "Daughter of the d'Urbervilles."
Summary of the novel
Phase the First: The Maiden (1–11)
The novel is set in impoverished rural Wessex during the Long Depression. Tess is the eldest child of John and Joan Durbeyfield, uneducated rural peasants. One day, Parson Tringham informs John that he has noble blood. Tringham, an amateur genealogist, has discovered that "Durbeyfield" is a corruption of "D'Urberville", the surname of a noble Norman family, now extinct. Although the parson means no harm, the news immediately goes to John's head.
That same day, Tess participates in the village May Dance, where she briefly meets Angel Clare, the youngest son of Reverend James Clare, who is on a walking tour with his two brothers. He stops to join the dance, and finds partners in several other girls. Though Angel takes note of Tess's beauty, he does not dance with her, leaving her feeling slighted.
Tess's father, overjoyed with learning of his noble lineage, gets too drunk to drive to market that night, so Tess undertakes the journey herself. However, she falls asleep at the reins, and the family's only horse wanders into the path of another vehicle and is killed. Tess feels so guilty over the horse's death that she agrees to visit Mrs. d'Urberville, a wealthy widow who lives in the nearby town of Trantridge, and "claim kin." She is unaware that in reality, Mrs. d'Urberville is not related to the Durbeyfields or to the ancient d'Urberville family. Instead, her husband, Simon Stoke, purchased the baronial title and adopted the new surname.
Tess does not succeed in meeting Mrs. d'Urberville, but her libertine son Alec takes a fancy to Tess and secures her a position as poultry keeper on the d'Urberville estate. He immediately begins making advances, but Tess, though somewhat flattered by the attention, resists. Late one night while walking home from town with some other Trantridge villagers, Tess inadvertently antagonises Car Darch, Alec's most recently discarded favourite, and finds herself about to come to blows. When Alec rides up and offers to "rescue" her from the situation, she accepts. He does not take her home, however, but rides at random through the fog until they reach an ancient grove called "The Chase". Here, Alec informs her that he is lost and leaves on foot to look for help as Tess falls asleep beneath the coat he lent her. After Alec returns, alone, it is left to the reader to decide whether he rapes or seduces her. This deliberate ambiguity makes Tess more than just a "poster girl for simple victimhood."
Phase the Second: Maiden No More (12–15)
After a few weeks of confused dalliance with Alec, Tess begins to despise him. Against his wishes, she goes home to her father's cottage, where she keeps almost entirely to her room. The next summer, she gives birth to a sickly boy, who lives only a week. On his last night alive, Tess baptises him herself, after her father locked the doors to keep the parson away. The child is given the name 'Sorrow'. Tess buries Sorrow in unconsecrated ground, makes a homemade cross and lays flowers on his grave in an empty marmalade jar.
Phase the Third: The Rally (16–24)
More than two years after the Trantridge debacle, Tess, now twenty, is ready to make a new start. She seeks employment outside the village, where her past is not known, and secures a job as a milkmaid at Talbothays Dairy, working for Mr. and Mrs. Crick. There, she befriends three of her fellow milkmaids, Izz, Retty, and Marian, and re-encounters Angel Clare, who is now an apprentice farmer and has come to Talbothays to learn dairy management. Although the other milkmaids are sick with love for him, Angel soon singles out Tess, and the two gradually fall in love.
Phase the Fourth: The Consequence (25–34)
"He jumped up from his seat...and went quickly toward the desire of his eyes." 1891 illustration by Joseph Syddall
Angel spends a few days away from the dairy visiting his family at Emminster. His brothers Felix and Cuthbert, who are both ordained ministers, note Angel's coarsened manners, while Angel considers his brothers staid and narrow-minded. Following evening prayers, Angel discusses his marriage prospects with his father. The Clares have long hoped that Angel will marry Mercy Chant, a pious schoolmistress, but Angel argues that a wife who understands farm life would be a more practical choice. He tells his parents about Tess, and they agree to meet her. His father, the Reverend James Clare, tells Angel about his efforts to convert the local populace, and mentions his failure to tame a young miscreant named Alec d'Urberville.
Angel returns to Talbothays Dairy and asks Tess to marry him. This puts Tess in a painful dilemma. Angel obviously thinks she is a virgin and, although she does not want to deceive him, she shrinks from confessing lest she lose his love and admiration. Such is her passion for him that she finally agrees to the marriage, explaining that she hesitated because she had heard he hated old families and thought he would not approve of her d'Urberville ancestry. However, he is pleased by this news, because he thinks it will make their match more suitable in the eyes of his family.
As the marriage approaches, Tess grows increasingly troubled. She writes to her mother for advice; Joan tells her to keep silent about her past. Her anxiety increases when a man from Trantridge, named Groby, recognises her while she is out shopping with Angel and crudely alludes to her sexual history. Angel overhears and flies into an uncharacteristic rage. Tess resolves to deceive Angel no more, and writes a letter describing her dealings with d'Urberville and slips it under his door. After Angel greets her with the usual affection the next morning, she discovers the letter under his carpet and realises that he has not seen it. She destroys it.
The wedding goes smoothly although a bad omen of a cock crowing in the afternoon is noticed by Tess. Tess and Angel spend their wedding night at an old d'Urberville family mansion, where Angel presents his bride with some beautiful diamonds that belonged to his godmother and confesses that he once had a brief affair with an older woman in London. When she hears this story, Tess feels sure that Angel will forgive her own indiscretion, and finally tells him about her relationship with Alec.
Phase the Fifth: The Woman Pays (35–44)
Angel, however, is appalled by Tess's confession, and he spends the wedding night sleeping on a sofa. Tess, although devastated, accepts the sudden estrangement as something she deserves. After a few awkward, awful days, she suggests that they separate, telling her husband that she will return to her parents. Angel gives her some money and promises to try to reconcile himself to her past, but warns her not to try to join him until he sends for her. After a quick visit to his parents, Angel takes ship for Brazil to start a new life. Before he leaves, he encounters Izz Huett on the road and impulsively asks her to come to Brazil with him, as his mistress. She accepts, but when he asks her how much she loves him, she admits "Nobody could love 'ee more than Tess did! She would have laid down her life for 'ee. I could do no more!" Hearing this, he abandons the whim, and Izz goes home weeping bitterly.
A very bleak period in Tess's life begins. She returns home for a time but, finding this unbearable, decides to join Marian and Izz at a starve-acre farm called Flintcombe-Ash. On the road, she is recognised and insulted by a farmer named Groby (the same man who slighted her in front of Angel); this man proves to be her new employer. At the farm, the three former milkmaids perform very hard physical labour.
One day, Tess attempts to visit Angel's family at the parsonage in Emminster. As she nears her destination, she encounters Angel's priggish older brothers and the woman his parents once hoped he would marry, Mercy Chant. They do not recognise her, but she overhears them discussing Angel's unwise marriage. Shamed, she turns back. On the way, she overhears a wandering preacher and is shocked to discover that he is Alec d'Urberville, who has been converted to Christianity under the Reverend James Clare's influence.
Phase the Sixth: The Convert (45–52)
Alec and Tess are each shaken by their encounter, and Alec begs Tess never to tempt him again as they stand beside an ill-omened stone monument called the Cross-in-Hand. However, Alec soon comes to Flintcomb-Ash to ask Tess to marry him. She tells him she is already married. He returns at Candlemas and again in early spring, when Tess is hard at work feeding a threshing machine. He tells her he is no longer a preacher and wants her to be with him. She slaps him when he insults Angel, drawing blood. Tess then learns from her sister, Liza-Lu, that her father, John, is ill and her mother dying. Tess rushes home to look after them. Her mother soon recovers, but her father unexpectedly dies.
The family is now evicted from their home, as Durbeyfield held only a life lease on their cottage. Alec tells Tess that her husband is never coming back and offers to house the Durbeyfields on his estate. Tess refuses his assistance. She had earlier written Angel a psalm-like letter, full of love, self-abasement, and pleas for mercy; now, however, she finally admits to herself that Angel has wronged her and scribbles a hasty note saying that she will do all she can to forget him, since he has treated her so unjustly.
The Durbeyfields plan to rent some rooms in the town of Kingsbere, ancestral home of the d'Urbervilles, but they arrive there to find that the rooms have already been rented to another family. All but destitute, they are forced to take shelter in the churchyard, under the D'Urberville window. Tess enters the church and in the d'Urberville Aisle, Alec reappears and importunes Tess again. In despair, she looks at the entrance to the d'Urberville vault and wonders aloud "Why am I on the wrong side of this door?"
In the meantime, Angel has been very ill in Brazil and, his farming venture having failed, he heads home to England. On the way, he confides his troubles to a stranger, who tells him that he was wrong to leave his wife; what she was in the past should matter less than what she might become. Angel begins to repent his treatment of Tess.
Phase the Seventh: Fulfilment (53–59)
Upon his return to his family home, Angel has two letters waiting for him: Tess's angry note and a few cryptic lines from "two well-wishers" (Izz and Marian), warning him to protect his wife from "an enemy in the shape of a friend." He sets out to find Tess and eventually locates Joan, now well-dressed and living in a pleasant cottage. After responding evasively to his inquiries, she finally tells him her daughter has gone to live in Sandbourne, a fashionable seaside resort. There, he finds Tess living in an expensive boarding house under the name "Mrs. d'Urberville." When he asks for her, she appears in startlingly elegant attire and stands aloof. He tenderly asks her forgiveness, but Tess, in anguish, tells him he has come too late: thinking he would never return, she yielded at last to Alec d'Urberville's persuasion and has become his mistress. She gently asks Angel to leave and never come back. He departs, and Tess returns to her bedroom, where she falls to her knees and begins a lamentation. She blames Alec for causing her to lose Angel's love a second time, accusing Alec of having lied when he said that Angel would never return to her.
The landlady, Mrs. Brooks, tries to listen in at the keyhole, but withdraws hastily when the argument becomes heated. She later sees Tess leave the house, then notices a spreading red spot—a bloodstain—on the ceiling. She summons help, and Alec is found stabbed to death in his bed.
Angel, totally disheartened, has left Sandbourne; Tess hurries after him and tells him that she has killed Alec, saying that she hopes she has won his forgiveness by murdering the man who spoiled both their lives. Angel doesn't believe her at first but grants his forgiveness—as she is in such a fevered state—and tells her that he loves her. Rather than head for the coast, they walk inland, vaguely planning to hide somewhere until the search for Tess is ended and they can escape abroad from a port. They find an empty mansion and stay there for five days in blissful happiness, until their presence is discovered one day by the cleaning woman.
They continue walking and, in the middle of the night, stumble upon Stonehenge giving the allusion of Tess as a sacrificial victim to a society that shunned her. Tess lies down to rest on an ancient altar. Before she falls asleep, she asks Angel to look after her younger sister, Liza-Lu, saying that she hopes Angel will marry her after she is dead although this, at the time, would have been illegal and seen as a form of incest. At dawn, Angel sees that they are surrounded by policemen. He finally realises that Tess really has committed murder and asks the men in a whisper to let her awaken naturally before they arrest her. When she opens her eyes and sees the police, she tells Angel she is "almost glad" because "now I shall not live for you to despise me". She is allowed a dignified death through the fact that Angel listens to her (he hasn't throughout the rest of the novel) and through her parting words of "I am ready".
Tess is escorted to Wintoncester (Winchester) prison. The novel closes with Angel and Liza-Lu watching from a nearby hill as the black flag signalling Tess's execution is raised over the prison. Angel and Liza-Lu then join hands and go on their way.
Characters
Major characters
* Tess Durbeyfield — The protagonist, eldest daughter in a poor rural working family; a fresh, well-developed country girl who looks markedly more mature than she is.
* Angel Clare — The third son of a clergyman; Tess's husband and true love. He considers himself a freethinker, but his notions of morality turn out to be fairly conventional: he rejects Tess on their wedding night when she confesses that she isn't a virgin, even though he, too, has engaged in premarital sex. He works at the Talbothay's dairy to gain practical experience because he hopes to buy a farm of his own.
* Alec Stoke-d'Urberville — The libertine son of Simon Stokes and Mrs. d'Urberville. He either rapes or seduces Tess when she is no more than sixteen or seventeen years old, and later pursues her relentlessly. He persuades her to see the reality in her relationship with Angel and convinces her to become his mistress.
* Jack Durbeyfield (Sir John d'Urberville) — Tess's father, a carter in Marlott (based on the Dorset village of Marnhull) who is a lazy alcoholic. When he learns that his family is descended from nobility, he works less and less and starts pretending that he is an aristocrat.
* Joan Durbeyfield — Tess's hardworking mother who has a practical outlook on life. This includes being prepared to use her daughter for her own gains.
Minor characters
* Mrs. Brooks — Landlady of The Herons, the seaside boarding house where Tess murders Alec.
* James Clare — A charitable and moral clergyman; Angel Clare's father.
* Mrs. Clare — Angel Clare's mother, a kindly woman. She wants Angel to marry a pure, virtuous, and true Christian woman.
* Felix Clare — Angel's brother, a priest's assistant.
* Cuthbert Clare — Angel's other brother, a classical scholar.
* Mercy Chant — The young lady that Angel's parents had thought to be the perfect wife for him. She later marries Cuthbert.
* Richard Crick — The owner of the Talbothay Farm for whom Angel and Tess work.
* Car Darch (Dark Car) — One of Alec's former mistresses, discarded in favour of Tess.
* Eliza Louisa (Liza-Lu) Durbeyfield — Tess's younger sister, who closely resembles her. Shortly before her arrest, Tess asks Angel to marry her. Tess says she has "all the best of me, and none o' the bad".
* Farmer Groby — Tess's employer at Flintcombe-Ash, a churlish man who knows about her relationship with Alec. Groby is knocked down by Angel in their sojourn before their wedding, Angel thinking Groby had offended Tess' honour. Groby says to his friend afterwards that he "didn't have the heart" to tell Angel the truth at the time. His recognition of Tess sparks her fears, and reintroduces the threat of her past into the tragedy.
* Jonathan Kail — A Talbothays dairyman who informs Angel and Tess in the D'Urberville mansion right after the marriage, that Retty Priddle tried to commit suicide, Marian got "dead drunk", and that Izz Huett is walking around depressed.
* Abraham, Hope & Modesty — The son and daughters of the Durbeyfields.
* Mrs. Stoke-D'Urberville — The wealthy mother of Alec, a blind widow.
* Izz Huett, Retty Priddle, and Marian — Dairy maids at the Talbothay Farm. Izz is sensible, Retty sensitive, and Marian stolid, but all are in love with Angel Clare and fare poorly after he marries Tess.
* Parson Tringham — An elderly parson from whom John learns about his noble ancestors.
* Sorrow — The illegitimate child of Tess and Alec who lives only a few weeks. Tess loves him, despite her painfully ambivalent feelings about the circumstances of his conception. She christens him herself on the night he dies.
Symbolism and themes
Hardy's writing often illustrates the "ache of modernism", and this theme is notable in Tess, which, as one critic noted, portrays "the energy of traditional ways and the strength of the forces that are destroying them". Hardy describes modern farm machinery with infernal imagery; also, at the dairy, he notes that the milk sent to the city must be watered down because the townspeople can not stomach whole milk. Angel's middle-class fastidiousness makes him reject Tess, a woman whom Hardy often portrays as a sort of Wessex Eve, in harmony with the natural world and so lovely and desirable that Hardy himself seems to be in love with her. When he parts from her and goes to Brazil, the handsome young man gets so sick that he is reduced to a "mere yellow skeleton." All these instances are typically interpreted as indications of the negative consequences of man's separation from nature, both in the creation of destructive machinery and in the inability to rejoice in pure nature.
Another important theme of the novel is the sexual double standard to which Tess falls victim—despite being, in Hardy's view, a truly good woman, she is despised by society after losing her virginity before marriage. Hardy plays the role of Tess's only true friend and advocate, pointedly subtitling the book "a pure woman faithfully presented" and prefacing it with Shakespeare's words "Poor wounded name! My bosom as a bed/ Shall lodge thee." However, although Hardy clearly means to criticise Victorian notions of female purity, the double standard also makes the heroine's tragedy possible, and thus serves as a mechanism of Tess's broader fate. Hardy variously hints that Tess must suffer either to atone for the misdeeds of her ancestors, or to provide temporary amusement for the gods, or because she possesses some small but lethal character flaw inherited from the ancient clan.
From numerous pagan and neo-Biblical references made about her, Tess can be viewed variously as an Earth goddess or as a sacrificial victim. Early in the novel, she participates in a festival for Ceres, the goddess of the harvest, and when she performs a baptism she chooses a passage from Genesis, the book of creation, over more traditional New Testament verses. At the end, when Tess and Angel come to Stonehenge, commonly believed in Hardy's time to be a pagan temple, she willingly lies down on an altar, thus fulfilling her destiny as a human sacrifice.
This symbolism may help explain Tess as a personification of nature—lovely, fecund, and exploitable—while animal imagery throughout the novel strengthens the association. Examples are numerous: Tess's misfortunes begin when she falls asleep while driving Prince to market, thus causing the horse's death; at Trantridge, she becomes a poultry-keeper; she and Angel fall in love amidst cows in the fertile Froom valley; and on the road to Flintcombe-Ashe, she compassionately kills some wounded pheasants to end their suffering. In any event, Tess emerges as such a vibrant, unforgettable character not because of this symbolism but because "Hardy's feelings for Tess were strong, perhaps stronger than for any of his other invented personages."
Tess in popular culture
* Art Garfunkel named his first post-Simon & Garfunkel solo album Angel Clare after the character of the same name.
* American writer Christopher Bram wrote a novel entitled In Memory of Angel Clare (1989).
* The British comedy troupe Monty Python mention Tess of the d'Urbervilles on their 1973 comedy record album Monty Python's Matching Tie and Handkerchief on the track "Novel Writing", in which Thomas Hardy writes Return of the Native before a live audience.
* Tess of the d'Urbervilles is mentioned towards the end of M.R.James' short ghost story 'The Mezzotint' (1904).
* Third Eye Blind's recent new song 'Summertown' refers to 'Nabokov, Miller, and Tess' as the favorite fiction of the song's protagonist.
* John Irving's novel A Prayer for Owen Meany mentions the narrator, John, teaching Tess of the d'Urbervilles to high school students.
* Tess of the d'Urbervilles is referred to in Margaret Atwood's short story entitled My Last Duchess, published in Moral Disorder (2006).
* The English songwriter and founding member of band, 'Half Man Half Biscuit', Nigel Blackwell, has placed a number of references to the novel in a number of his songs, including the song titled, 'Thy Damnation Slumbereth Not' from the album Cammell Laird Social Club. The E.P. 'Editor's Recommendation' also includes the lyrics "the serpent often hisses where the sweet birds do sing" and "my hands are stained with thistle milk" in the songs On Passing Lilac Urine and Lark Descending, respectively, the cover picturing a noose, perhaps a reference Tess's execution.
Adaptations
Theatre
The actress chosen by Hardy himself to play Tess, was Gertrude Bugler, a Dorchester girl from the original Hardy Players, for whom Hardy wrote the script in 1924 (Woodhall, 2006). The Hardy Players (now re-formed in 2005 by Gertrude's 104 year old younger sister Norrie) was an amateur group from Dorchester who re-enacted Hardy’s novels. Gertrude was stunning in the part and her acting was highly was acclaimed (Tomalin, 2006), but she was prevented from taking the London stage part by Hardy's wife, Florence Dougdale. Florence was jealous of Gertrude as Hardy had said that young Gertrude was the true incarnation of the Tess he had imagined. In truth Gertrude was newly married and expecting her first child and although she was fond of Hardy as a true friend, she was young enough to be his granddaughter and devoted to her husband (ibid.). The 'romance' was in Hardy's imagination, but he was in love with the character, not Gertrude. Years before writing the novel, Hardy had been inspired by the beauty of Gertrude's mother Augusta Way, then an eighteen year-old milkmaid, when he visited Augusta's father's farm in Bockhampton. It is suggested by her daughter Norrie, that Augusta was the true inspiration for Tess, and being so taken with Augusta's beauty, Hardy remembered her when writing the novel all those years later. When Hardy saw Gertrude (he rehearsed The Hardy Players at the hotel run by Gertrude's parents), he immediately recognised her as the young image of the now older Augusta (Woodhall, 2006).
The novel was otherwise successfully adapted for the stage twice.
* 1897: A production by Lorimer Stoddard proved a great Broadway triumph for actress Minnie Maddern Fiske, was revived in 1902, and subsequently made into a motion picture in 1913, of which no copies remain.
* 1946: An adaptation by playwright Ronald Gow became a triumph on the West End starring Wendy Hiller.
Opera
1906: An Italian operatic version written by Frederic d'Erlanger was first performed in Naples, but the run was cut short by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius. When the opera came to London three years later, Hardy himself attended the premier, at the age of 69.
Film
The story has also been filmed at least seven times, including three for general release through cinemas and four television productions.
* Cinema:
o 1913: The 'lost' silent version, mentioned above (in theatre), starring Minnie Maddern Fiske as Tess and Scots-born David Torrence as Alec.
o 1924: An extant silent version made with Blanche Sweet (Tess), Stuart Holmes (Alec), and Conrad Nagel (Angel).
o 1979: Roman Polanski's film Tess with Nastassja Kinski (Tess), Leigh Lawson (Alec), and Peter Firth (Angel).
* Television:
o 1952: BBC TV, directed by Michael Henderson, and starring Barbara Jefford (Tess), Michael Aldridge (Alec), and Donald Eccles (Angel).
o 1960: ITV, ITV Play of the Week, "Tess", directed by Michael Currer-Briggs, and starring Geraldine McEwan (Tess), Maurice Kaufmann (Alec), and Jeremy Brett (Angel).
o 1998: London Weekend Television's 3-hour mini-series Tess of the D'Urbervilles, directed by Ian Sharp, and starring Justine Waddell (Tess), Jason Flemyng (Alec), and Oliver Milburn (Angel), the latter himself Dorset-born.
o 2008: A 4-hour BBC adaptation, written by David Nicholls, aired in the United Kingdom in September and October 2008 (in four parts), and in the United States on PBS Masterpiece Classic in January 2009 (in two parts). The cast included Gemma Arterton (Tess), Hans Matheson (Alec), Eddie Redmayne (Angel), Ruth Jones (Joan), Anna Massey (Mrs. d'Urberville), and Kenneth Cranham (Reverend James Clare).
I
On an evening in the latter part of May a middle-aged man was walking homeward from Shaston to the village of Marlott, in the adjoining Vale of Blakemore or Blackmoor. The pair of legs that carried him were rickety, and there was a bias in his gait which inclined him somewhat to the left of a straight line. He occasionally gave a smart nod, as if in confirmation of some opinion, though he was not thinking of anything in particular. An empty egg-basket was slung upon his arm, the nap of his hat was ruffled, a patch being quite worn away at its brim where his thumb came in taking it off. Presently he was met by an elderly parson astride on a gray mare, who, as he rode, hummed a wandering tune.
"Good night t'ee," said the man with the basket.
"Good night, Sir John," said the parson.
The pedestrian, after another pace or two, halted, and turned round.
"Now, sir, begging your pardon; we met last market-day on this road about this time, and I said "Good night," and you made reply 'GOOD NIGHT, SIR JOHN,' as now."
"I did," said the parson.
"And once before that--near a month ago."
"I may have."
"Then what might your meaning be in calling me 'Sir John' these different times, when I be plain Jack Durbeyfield, the haggler?"
The parson rode a step or two nearer.
"It was only my whim," he said; and, after a moment's hesitation: "It was on account of a discovery I made some little time ago, whilst I was hunting up pedigrees for the new county history. I am Parson Tringham, the antiquary, of Stagfoot Lane. Don't you really know, Durbeyfield, that you are the lineal representative of the ancient and knightly family of the d'Urbervilles, who derive their descent from Sir Pagan d'Urberville, that renowned knight who came from Normandy with William the Conqueror, as appears by Battle Abbey Roll?"
"Never heard it before, sir!"
"Well it's true. Throw up your chin a moment, so that I may catch the profile of your face better. Yes, that's the d'Urberville nose and chin--a little debased. Your ancestor was one of the twelve knights who assisted the Lord of Estremavilla in Normandy in his conquest of Glamorganshire. Branches of your family held manors over all this part of England; their names appear in the Pipe Rolls in the time of King Stephen. In the reign of King John one of them was rich enough to give a manor to the Knights Hospitallers; and in Edward the Second's time your forefather Brian was summoned to Westminster to attend the great Council there. You declined a little in Oliver Cromwell's time, but to no serious extent, and in Charles the Second's reign you were made Knights of the Royal Oak for your loyalty. Aye, there have been generations of Sir Johns among you, and if knighthood were hereditary, like a baronetcy, as it practically was in old times, when men were knighted from father to son, you would be Sir John now."
"Ye don't say so!"
"In short," concluded the parson, decisively smacking his leg with his switch, "there's hardly such another family in England."
"Daze my eyes, and isn't there?" said Durbeyfield. "And here have I been knocking about, year after year, from pillar to post, as if I was no more than the commonest feller in the parish....And how long hev this news about me been knowed, Pa'son Tringham?"
The clergyman explained that, as far as he was aware, it had quite died out of knowledge, and could hardly be said to be known at all. His own investigations had begun on a day in the preceding spring when, having been engaged in tracing the vicissitudes of the d'Urberville family, he had observed Durbeyfield's name on his waggon, and had thereupon been led to make inquiries about his father and grandfather till he had no doubt on the subject.
"At first I resolved not to disturb you with such a useless piece of information," said he. "However, our impulses are too strong for our judgement sometimes. I thought you might perhaps know something of it all the while."
"Well, I have heard once or twice, 'tis true, that my family had seen better days afore they came to Blackmoor. But I took no notice o't, thinking it to mean that we had once kept two horses where we now keep only one. I've got a wold silver spoon, and a wold graven seal at home, too; but, Lord, what's a spoon and seal? ... And to think that I and these noble d'Urbervilles were one flesh all the time. 'Twas said that my gr't-granfer had secrets, and didn't care to talk of where he came from.... And where do we raise our smoke, now, parson, if I may make so bold; I mean, where do we d'Urbervilles live?"
"You don't live anywhere. You are extinct--as a county family."
"That's bad."
"Yes--what the mendacious family chronicles call extinct in the male line--that is, gone down--gone under."
"Then where do we lie?"
"At Kingsbere-sub-Greenhill: rows and rows of you in your vaults, with your effigies under Purbeck-marble canopies."
"And where be our family mansions and estates?"
"You haven't any."
"Oh? No lands neither?"
"None; though you once had 'em in abundance, as I said, for you family consisted of numerous branches. In this county there was a seat of yours at Kingsbere, and another at Sherton, and another in Millpond, and another at Lullstead, and another at Wellbridge."
"And shall we ever come into our own again?"
"Ah--that I can't tell!"
"And what had I better do about it, sir?" asked Durbeyfield, after a pause.
"Oh--nothing, nothing; except chasten yourself with the thought of 'how are the mighty fallen.' It is a fact of some interest to the local historian and genealogist, nothing more. There are several families among the cottagers of this county of almost equal lustre. Good night."
"But you'll turn back and have a quart of beer wi' me on the strength o't, Pa'son Tringham? There's a very pretty brew in tap at The Pure Drop--though, to be sure, not so good as at Rolliver's."
"No, thank you--not this evening, Durbeyfield. You've had enough already." Concluding thus the parson rode on his way, with doubts as to his discretion in retailing this curious bit of lore.
When he was gone Durbeyfield walked a few steps in a profound reverie, and then sat down upon the grassy bank by the roadside, depositing his basket before him. In a few minutes a youth appeared in the distance, walking in the same direction as that which had been pursued by Durbeyfield. The latter, on seeing him, held up his hand, and the lad quickened his pace and came near.
"Boy, take up that basket! I want 'ee to go on an errand for me."
The lath-like stripling frowned. "Who be you, then, John Durbeyfield, to order me about and call me 'boy?' You know my name as well as I know yours!"
"Do you, do you? That's the secret--that's the secret! Now obey my orders, and take the message I'm going to charge 'ee wi'.... Well, Fred, I don't mind telling you that the secret is that I'm one of a noble race--it has been just found out by me this present afternoon, P.M." And as he made the announcement, Durbeyfield, declining from his sitting position, luxuriously stretched himself out upon the bank among the daisies.
The lad stood before Durbeyfield, and contemplated his length from crown to toe.
"Sir John d'Urberville--that's who I am," continued the prostrate man. "That is if knights were baronets--which they be. "Tis recorded in history all about me. Dost know of such a place, lad, as Kingsbere-sub-Greenhill?"
"Ees, I've been there to Greenhill Fair."
"Well, under the church of that city there lie--"
"'Tisn't a city, the place I mean; leastwise 'twaddn' when I was there--'twas a little one-eyed, blinking sort o'place."
"Never you mind the place, boy, that's not the question before us. Under the church of that there parish lie my ancestors--hundreds of 'em--in coats of mail and jewels, in gr't lead coffins weighing tons and tons. There's not a man in the county o' South-Wessex that's got grander and nobler skillentons in his family than I."
"Oh?"
"Now take up that basket, and goo on to Marlott, and when you've come to The Pure Drop Inn, tell 'em to send a horse and carriage to me immed'ately, to carry me hwome. And in the bottom o' the carriage they be to put a noggin o' rum in a small bottle, and chalk it up to my account. And when you've done that goo on to my house with the basket, and tell my wife to put away that washing, because she needn't finish it, and wait till I come hwome, as I've news to tell her."
As the lad stood in a dubious attitude, Durbeyfield put his hand in his pocket, and produced a shilling, one of the chronically few that he possessed.
"Here's for your labour, lad."
This made a difference in the young man's estimate of the position.
"Yes, Sir John. Thank 'ee. Anything else I can do for 'ee, Sir John?"
"Tell 'em at hwome that I should like for supper,--well, lamb's fry if they can get it; and if they can't, black-pot; and if they can't get that, well chitterlings will do."
"Yes, Sir John."
The boy took up the basket, and as he set out the notes of a brass band were heard from the direction of the village.
"What's that?" said Durbeyfield. "Not on account o' I?"
"'Tis the women's club-walking, Sir John. Why, your da'ter is one o' the members."
"To be sure--I'd quite forgot it in my thoughts of greater things! Well, vamp on to Marlott, will ye, and order that carriage, and maybe I'll drive round and inspect the club."
The lad departed, and Durbeyfield lay waiting on the grass and daisies in the evening sun. Not a soul passed that way for a long while, and the faint notes of the band were the only human sounds audible within the rim of blue hills.
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