第一篇：淺析哈代《德伯家的苔絲》的悲劇性及其原因 英文

On the Tragedy of Tess and Its Causes 淺析哈代《德伯家的苔絲》的悲劇性及其原因

Abstract

This paper states the writing background and main contents of the novel Tess of the D’urerviles, introduces the author----Thomas Hardy, the most outstanding realistic writer of the 19th century, describes the struggling spirits of the beautiful and innocent girl Tess when she was facing sufferings;and at the same time, reveals Tess’s failure in marriage, and the miserable destiny of being hanged.This paper also analyses the family background and social phenomena, and her personality, summaries all kinds of reasons leading to Tess’s miserable fate, and deeply exposes the darkness of the capitalist society and the more miserable destiny of the women.Key words: Tess, Tess’s tragedy, Social causes, Character, Inevitability

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摘 要

本文簡要陳述了小說《德伯家的苔絲》的寫作背景及主要情節，介紹了該小說的作----19世紀杰出的現實主義作家托馬斯·哈代，描寫了美麗純真的主人公苔絲姑娘面對苦難生活而表現出的那種不屈不撓的抗爭精神，同時也揭示了苔絲失敗的婚姻，以及苔絲最后被處以絞刑的悲慘命運。本文還分析了苔絲的家庭情況，當時的社會背景，以及她的個人性格特點，總結了導致苔絲悲慘命運的種種原因，深刻地揭露了資本主義社會的黑暗及婦女更加苦難的命運。

關鍵詞: 苔絲, 悲劇, 人物性格, 必然性錯誤！未找到引用源。

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Table of Contents ChapterⅠ.Introduction..............................................................................................1 ChapterⅡ.The background of the novel: Tess of the D’Urbervilles......................2 2.1.About the author: Thomas Hardy........................................................................2 2.2.The main content of the novel.............................................................................3 ChapterⅢ.Inevitable causes of Tess’s tragedy.........................................................5 3.1.Objective factors..................................................................................................5 3.1.1.Social phenomenon and Social background.................................................5 3.1.2.“Impetus” from her family...........................................................................6 3.1.3.Hypocrisy of bourgeois morality and religion..............................................8 3.1.4.Unequal legal system....................................................................................9 3.2.Subjective factors..............................................................................................10 3.2.1.Tess’s figure and character..........................................................................10 3.2.1.1.Purity, diligence, self-esteem.............................................................10 3.2.1.2.Obedience, kindness, bravery............................................................11 3.2.2.Weakness of Tess’s personality and fate.....................................................11 3.2.2.1.Compromise, ignorance.....................................................................11 3.2.2.2.Traditional mind and weak personality..............................................12 3.2.2.3.Pessimistic fate theory.......................................................................12 Chapter Ⅳ.The influence of Tess.............................................................................14 ChapterⅤ.Conclusion..............................................................................................16 Bibliography...............................................................................................................17 Acknowledgements....................................................................................................18 畢業設計小結.............................................................................錯誤！未定義書簽。

ChapterⅠ.Introduction

Tess of D’Ubevilles, published in 1891, is one of Hardy’s last and most important novels, undoubtedly, one of his most significant masterpieces.The story tells us the tragic life of an intelligent and sensitive country girl, she turns from a simple and native girl to a woman who commits a supposedly criminal or immoral action, and she endures a great deal of tragedy during her brief life.Hardy demonstrates his deep sense of moral sympathy for England’s lower class during his era, particularly for rural woman.Tess, the heroine of this novel, was full of ups and downs in her whole life, and her tragic fate has always been a hot topic in the literary research.However, when considered it deeply, Tess’s pathetic life is not merely a story or an accidental event.What are the reasons for this unfortunate, poor peasant girl to have such sufferings? what lead to her tragedy? What killed her? So the aim of this paper is to look back the novel together, step by step, and make a detailed analysis on the novel to demonstrate the various causes of the heroine’s tragedy from the following prospective of social background, a main and objective factor.Family background, a promoting factor, and unequal legal and religion system as well as Tess’s imperfect personalities are being discussed to show the era of Hardy and Tess and Tess’s unavoidable tragedy.ChapterⅡ.The background of the novel: Tess of the

D’Urbervilles

2.1.About the author: Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy was born in 1840 in a small town near the Dorchester where later became the famous “Wessex” in many of his novels.When he was young, he showed a strong interest in religion and music.At the age of 16, he left school and was apprenticed to a local architecture.He left the rural South West at the age of 22 and traveled to London where he worked as an architect for Arthur Bloomfield.During his years in London, he continued his studies in his leisure time.He read works of Charles Darwin, Herbert Spenser, and John Stuart Mill.Their philosophy had a quite strong influence on him.At the same time, he began to write poetry.But the poetries were all refused by the magazines, thus he embarked to write fiction.The first novel of Hardy was Desperate Remedies.Later he became one of the most important realism writers in the 19th century in England.The age Hardy wrote was called Victoria Period.There were many famous works of Hardy’s whole life, including Under the Greetwood, A Pair of Blue Eyes, Far fromthe Madding Growd, The Return of the Native, Major of the Casterbridge, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Jude the obscure.By the vivid description of the health, the fields, the seasons, the weather, Wessxs attained a physical presence in the novels and acted as a mirror of the psychological conditions of the characters.Hardy's poetry, first published in his 50s, has come to be as well-regarded as his novels and has had a gigantic influence over modern English poetry, especially after the movement poets of the 1950s and 1960s cited Hardy as a major figure.Thomas Hardy devoted most of his life to literary career and created a large amount of significant literary works which bring the society spiritual values and profound influence.2.2.The main content of the novel

Tess of the D’Urbervilles was published at the beginning of the last decade of the 19th century which was a time of considerable intellectual and social ferment.According to the novel, Tess is a beautiful, innocent, strong and diligent girl, but she is born in a poor and peasant family.One day, Tess’s father of the Durbeyfield household is wandering home when he is told that he is of the ancient line of the D’Urbervilles, a once powerful family.Knowing this, he returns home happily and relays the news to his family.Although being from a once great family, his current family is in need and decides to seek help from relatives by the name of D’Urberville.So, Tess is arranged and persuaded by her mother to claim kindred with this more prosperous branch of the D’Urbervillies family.Tess reluctantly agrees and begins working for them.However, she finds out that they are not truly of the D’Urberville line but simply changed their names to D’Urberville.Also, she finds out that the son of the house, Alec, is not of good character.There she is seduced and raped by Alec and gets pregnant;Then, Tess has to return home in disgrace.After she goes home, she gives birth to a baby, while unfortunately;the baby dies in a couple of days.Tess is hurt deeply again, she decides to look for a new life elsewhere where no one knows of her and the incident.Afterwards, she ends up at a farmland working as a milk maid.There, she meets three girls and a man, Angel Clare, the intellectual and free-thinking son of a clergyman.And soon, they two fall in love with each other and want to get married.There, Tess does live a most joyful life in her whole life.All the hurts in her heart are diluted and forgotten immediately.She starts to begin her new life full of love, passion, and hope.But, the virtual and kind Tess would not like to continue her life with the shadow by Alec and the guilty in her heart.Thus she decides to tell Clare all the truth about her history.She writes a letter to Clare, however, Clare doesn’t see it.With a restless heart, she comes to the church to marry Clare.On their wedding night, Tess and Angle tell each other about their past, Tess forgives him about Angle’s embarrassed past because she loves and cherishes him so much.But after hearing

Tess’s confession, Clare cannot accept the truth.He becomes so angry that he leaves her abruptly for Brazil.Poverty forces Tess to work at a farm Flincomb Ash.At the same time, Alec appears again, and tempts Tess by many methods, although Tess doesn’t change her mind.But her dad’s death makes the family lose their home.Then Tess is in contradiction and confusion in the periods.She writes several letters to Clare to ask for help, but gets nothing reply, meanwhile, Alec keeps in persuading her and cheating her, hopeless and helpless Tess, only can choose to be with Alec again, though her heart still goes with her lover Clare, who, on the other hand, is ill in Brazil.He knows none of the troubles of Tess.Eventually, noticed by a friend in Brazil, Clare realizes his fault and decides to come back to forgive Tess and begins their new life in Brazil together.When he finally finds his dear wife and tells he is still loves her so much.Tess is so excited and broken-hearted but only to tell him it’s too late.Angle gets to know everything and leaves the boarding house lonely.At the time of his getting into the train, somebody runs to him, it’s his wife, Tess.They get in to the train together;Tess tells Clare that she killed Alec, Clare makes up his mind to share anything with his wife.After several days of escaping for no destination, they are found by the police.Tess is arrested for murder and sentenced to death.Finally, Angel Clare marries Tess’ younger sister as Tess’ last wish.Soon after Tess of the D’Urbervilles was published some critics had already recognized that Mr.Hardy’s latest novel is his greatest.ChapterⅢ.Inevitable causes of Tess’s tragedy

3.1.Objective factors

Compared with the other heroines in the Hardy novel, Tess is more beautiful, passionate and dynamic.But so kind-hearted a girl has suffered a lot in his short life unfortunately and eventually forced to destruction.Thomas Hardy emphasizes the unavoidability of death.Actually, even though Hardy try to explain the misfortune of his characters from the viewpoint of the unseen but potential fate, his characterization and truthful representation of the lives of his characters reveal that their unfortunate fate is evidently determined by the objective factors.Tess’s life is closely connected with the world and background she lives in.Tess’s miserable life, Hardy shows in many different ways how her life was determined only partly by her own efforts, and how much it depends upon the pressure of things over which she had no control.To a large extent, the bourgeois society should assume much more responsibility for Tess’s pathetic death.Following, the paper is going to analyze the external factors from 4 angles which are classified to the Objective Causes that lead to Tess’s tragedy.3.1.1.Social phenomenon and Social background

As a heroine in the novel, Tess’s tragedy，to some degree, is arranged and determined by the Author’s tragic consciousness.Tess lived in the time of Victorian, when the rural areas were invaded by the British capitalist industrial civilization.At that time, as something new, capitalistic economy developed rapidly, meanwhile, the Enclosure Movement prevailed, which also reflected and coincided with Hardy's awareness of social tragedy.Tess of the D’Urbervilles is one of Hardy’s Wessex novels, which gives the background of his home town Wessex.In the mid 19th century, the English capitalist industrial civilization penetrated the countryside;Hardy’s home also suffered the impact strongly.The rapid disintegration of patriarchal society and unemployment of

individual farmers lead to the poverty and plight.Confronting with the consequences brought by industrial civilization, Thomas Hardy, as a humanist, his heart was hit strongly.He was attached to the ancient patriarchal civilization deeply in emotion and hated the industrial civilization which was a radical destruction to people’s harmonious life.So the awareness of social tragedy in Hardy’s novel existed for the social background at that time.It starts from the clash between individual civilization and patriarchal civilization, and from the panorama to the local, from the surface to the point, it gives an objective description and comprehensively expresses people’s living troubles.In the book, Hardy creates a panoramic picture of the impact from industrial civilization on the rural, deeply shows the throes in their physical plight.The social tragedy, however, mostly is caused by the conflicts between human and the environment they live in.Tess lives in the Victorian age which British capitalism assaults the countryside even poisons the social atmosphere.Under this circumstance, people’s social status is classified by their economic status.People who rank top class always are those rich in material.Just like the slave owners in slave society, the landlord in feudal society and the capitalist in capital society.Hardy witnessed the emerging of the local bourgeoisie and ruination that farmers suffered;sensitive he intuitively realized that this is the kind of conflict between human and social environment, which is totally objective as well as irreversible.Tess is smart, beautiful and diligent, but she was born in a family as poor as washed, as a labor and a farm worker with no right and money, which compels her to fall into Alec’s trap gradually.This kind of economic status only can belong to the bottom society of that time and dooms to suffer from sorts of social oppression and abuse.From this angle, Tess’s tragedy comes from society;also as a micro social side consciousness exists in the Hardy’s exploration of life and fate.3.1.2.“Impetus” from her family

Family, as a small unit, has a substantial influence to each family member.People’s character and attitude link with their living background, and a great extent

inherited from their parents.Tess’s family belongs to a particular rural community—the small traders, and lives together with traditional agricultural laborers, but Tess’s family’s status is slightly higher than the traditional one’s.They are more knowledgeable, and not only the backbone force of the ancient village life, but also a storeroom for rural customs and tradition.They are better educated, have received many advanced ideas and live a purposeful life with a quite stable career.Relatively speaking, they are supposed to be more independent.However, they are not engaged in agricultural work even though they live in rural areas.So, there’s no wonder that they don’t be liked by others.Tess’s family is big with lots of children;generally speaking, the parents should be diligent and work very hard to take up the important task of raising children and sustaining a family.But the fact is totally on the contrary, what is the attitude of this poor couple? They refuse through efforts and to use their own hands to improve their social status a little bit, but merely rely on the tiny and trivial achievements.When noticed that their family possibly be one branch of a noble descent, meantime, there is a wealthy relative lived not afar, the immediate idea came out of their mind is to persuade Tess to claim kindred and daydreaming she could be able to marry a gentleman in order to gain many benefits without any efforts.They immediately undertake the idea into reality.Upon such a heavy burden, Tess, with a special responsibility, an innocent country girl has been sent to the road of destruction without any other choices.Thus, confront of Alec’s material temptation and an opportunity to get a perfect job, together with the special task from her family as well as nature greed, even if she has already aware of Alec is a dangerous role on their way to Alec’s home, she still cannot get rid of him.Eventually, Tess has been raped by Alec, lost her chastity and falls into Alec’s trap step by step.Nevertheless, when Tess’s parents find that Tess cannot satisfies with what they want, they keep blaming Tess instead of comforting and helping the injured daughter.Later, when Tess is abandoned by Angel and hurts deeply again, both of her father and mother seem indifferent to explore the truth, what’s more, out of vanity and

narrow mind, they boast to the villagers about their daughter has obtained a satisfactory marriage.This is undoubtedly a heavy pressure on Tess, to protect her poor self-esteem, Tess have to spare half of her little money to satisfy the greedy parents, and pretend to be very happy and rich.However, Tess’s method only promotes her parents’ laziness, vanity and greed.They think they have a noble birth and now the daughter marries a rich man, so it is almost unnecessary to work any more.But Tess, she couldn’t be much poorer and become penniless soon.Meanwhile unfortunately, her father’s sudden death, withdrawal of rental lease and family house, which almost destroys this family, make Tess feel hopeless and into desperation.In order to maintain family, helpless Tess has to abandon her dignity, but commit herself to Alec once again.As mentioned above, it is the poor family impact that forces Tess head to the destruction.Under the circumstance of that time, because of the limitation and narrow mind of peasantry, Tess’s tragedy is unavoidable.3.1.3.Hypocrisy of bourgeois morality and religion

Hypocrisy of feudal ethical morality is another important factor that leads to Tess’s tragedy.In Victorian era, women are still men’s appendages.Their natural attributes are the objectives of slavery.Treated as an incomplete beings, women are under the oppression of that society, where dominated by men’s core power.It’s impossible for a man and a woman that could be equal in marriage and love.Triangle love relations, divorce and outside marriage relationship and so forth, are also considered as unethical behavior.Tess, exactly, is the victim of this unfair ethics and morals.Her whole life is under the force and violence, nevertheless, the society and the law regards those insults and persecution as justified.Tess couldn’t self-defense.In this traditional patriarchal society, women will be considered as not pure if they lost virtue and will suffer from endless abuse despite they are willing or not.Men can do everything they want, women, however, because of restriction from traditional morality, they had no right, no freedom.Alec is a representative who put his particular male right into practice perfectly, constantly torture, makes Tess under a huge

pressure both physical and emotional.As to Angel Clare, the love between him and Tess is pregnant with tragedy from the beginning.Apparently, he loves Tess, but he couldn’t as selfless and frank as Tess.To some degree, most of his love is a sense of satisfaction came from completely possess.In his eyes, Tess is “the daughter of nature”, the symbol of purity and the perfect masterpiece, no one can compare with her.Even so, when his sweet lover Tess confesses her embarrassed and terrible past to him, her perfect image collapsed momentarily.Clare can’t accept the fact;he abandons Tess and goes away resolutely.What Clare has done is a deadly hit to Tess again.Thus, externally, Clare is open and broad minded, but actually, the traditional moral concept firmly rooted in his heart.His prejudice of chastity and indifferent attitude to Tess reflect the hypocrisy of bourgeois morality, which traps Tess into an abyss of tragedy.Religion, serviced as a spiritual tool used by governing class also has to be responsible for Tess’s tragedy.There is an extreme irony plot said that, Alec, who directly lead to Tess’s tragic fate, he is rude, misbehaving and “sensual”.He depends on the business and soon become a rich bourgeois.He sets a trap to lure Tess, but use the allusion from bible to shirk the responsibility to Tess.Later, he even becomes a cleric to deliver Christian sermon.Obviously, in capitalist society, religion is only a tool for ruling class to cheat and fool the people.Through the Author’s depiction about Alec, Hardy spares no efforts to expose the darkness and hypocrisy of British society and religion.Live in this environment, no matter how hard Tess’s struggling and resisting, she can not survive and escape from the tragedy.3.1.4.Unequal legal system

Tess’s tragedy is the product of contradiction between human beings and that society.Also, unjust legal system is one of the important reasons leading to Tess’s tragic fate.During the Victorian era of late 19th century and early 20th century when Capitalism invade the rural region, the society in which Tess’s living, similar as religion, the bourgeoisie and the legacy of feudal nobility are the ruling class.All of

the national systems are worked for the government class.Of course, the legal system has no exception.Farmers are at the bottom of the society who never hold equal right as the capitalist class.Alec, however, is the typical representative of capitalist power and violence.He dares to do what he want, on one hand, is because he has lots of money and ranks as a top class of that society, on the other hand, is also because his evil behavior is always protected by the capitalist law and rules.As a young upstart, in the eyes of Victorian people, Alec is noble, nevertheless, Tess is considered as a bad girl who lures Alec in order to get his money.Tess has to endure all the injustice alone and silently all the way.And, she is hanged for paying, when she encouraged defending herself for the first time.Just as what Hardy says at the end of this novel: “Justice was done, and the President of the immortals, in Aeschylean phrase, had ended his sport with Tess”.(Tess, 467)Thus, obviously, hypocritical law should assume responsibility for Tess’s tragedy.3.2.Subjective factors

The basic principle of dialectic said that, the cause of all things, the inner reason is always the dominant factor.In this book, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, undoubtedly, the author has deep mercy on Tess, whom, to a large extent, is a innocent victim of social environment.Well, however, when throughout the whole text, it is not hard to find that, in addition to condemning the social background, Hardy holds a criticism attitude toward the heroine’s tragedy between the lines.He believes Tess’s weak character is a deadly factor that should be responsible for her inevitable tragic fate.Here, this paper is going to analyze the heroine’s figure and character weakness to clarify the internal cause that lead to Tess’s tragedy.3.2.1.Tess’s figure and character 3.2.1.1.Purity, diligence, self-esteem Tess is a significant figure in Hardy’s masterpiece, under Hardy’s writing, Tess is a pure country woman although she has been seduced and lost virginity.From the beginning, the author gives a special depiction to Tess, and prominent her pure, beauty, outstanding.She dares to sacrifice herself, set at defiance for good wishes.She is kind，love and believe others, gentle as well as strong enough.She is loyal and honesty as all the other people in Wesex.That is why she has courage to confess to her husband about her embarrassing past.As the oldest daughter in her family, Tess keeps a diligent habit all the time.When she first goes to claim kindred with another branch of D’Urbervilles, she doesn’t mean to please the host by her beauty, but would like to work for pay.After she is cheated and seduced by Alec, she doesn’t marry him or live with him, but leaves the manor without hesitation.From the above, we can feel that Tess is self-respect that when even she gives birth to her baby, she never asks for Alec’s help either asks for help from Angle’s parents when she is abandoned by Clare.3.2.1.2.Obedience, kindness, bravery On the other hand, Tess is obedient, she always obey what her parents say.What’s more, Tess’s sense of responsibility plays a central role in tragedy.When the horse Prince dead, she becomes self-blaming and think that is her fault, what exists in her mind all the time is that as the oldest child, she has the responsibility to her family.In order to save her mother, brothers and sisters out of the difficult life and heavy burden after her father’s death, Tess compromised and turns to Alec for help again and again and neglects her own feelings.Tess’ kindness provides Alec with a perfect opportunity to cheat her.Even suffers a lot, Tess always keep an optimistic mind and a hot heart full of hope to future.She is brave enough and finally not flinch when encounter with love.She loves Clare so much, that when Clare’s back from Brazil, she breaks out courage and determines to get rid of Alec forever.Thus, she is forced to choose a wrong way to kill Alec and eventually fails to escape from the legal sanctions.3.2.2.Weakness of Tess’s personality and fate 3.2.2.1.Compromise, ignorance The biggest feature of Tess’s character is pure and innocent, however, in the society at that time, her selflessness and self-sacrifice offers an opportunity to the evil force to ruin her.Her own pursuit of purity and candor makes her miss the chance with happiness.After the death of horse Prince, to look after her family, she comes to a chicken farm which gives Alec chances to lure her.In case of been ridiculed, she

even jumps onto Alec’s horse, we can easily find, her pure mind and lack of the sense of self-protection traps her into dangerous.When it is already dark and only Alec and herself in the forest, she shouldn’t have realized that Alec is attempting to infringe on her.During the wedding night, her pure nature makes her to confess her past to Clare regardless of her mother’s objection.She innocently thinks, Clare is kindhearted, selfless and generous as her.But the fact is she is abandoned by her husband.Finally, she picks up weapon to resist and kills Alec and also destroy herself.3.2.2.2.Traditional mind and weak personality

Arthur Schopenhauer, a very famous philosopher said, personality plays an important role in our lives and works every moment.It can affect our mind to make different choices when face to different problems and determine our fate to a large extent.So Tess is a good example.Even though, lots of external causes lead to her tragic fate, but her weakness in character is the radical and decisive inner reason contributed to her tragedy.Tess is born in a farmer family, when resisting the old tradition and morality;she presents her weakness because of the remnants of traditional morality and fatalistic view.She is obedient, and never disobey her parents words regardless what they said is correct or not.According to her father and mother’s order, she goes to claim kindred with Alec, when she knows that Alec is not a good person, she cannot rebel and protect herself.While, after losing her virginity, she feels guilty, unconfident, complex, flinched and concessive.It is this mentality that makes her refuse Clare’s proposal repeatedly.Her heart is struggling in a great contradiction.When confesses her past to Clare, her husband’s unforgiveness and abandon deepen her inferiority.To get his heart back and live with Clare forever, she explains and begs his forgiveness continuously, willing to be his slave and even sacrifice for him.Tess used to be a brave and strong country girl, but after raped by Alec, the painful memory tortures her so much.Clare’s love is a heavy burden to her and increases her fear, anxiety, shame and regret.It seems that she is born with guilty and pain.All of these characters illustrate the weakness of Tess.3.2.2.3.Pessimistic fate theory

Thomas Hardy, however, to some degree is a pessimistic person, He believes in fatalism.There is a definition of fatalism in Cliff's Notes, it says fatalism being view of life which says that all action is controlled by the nature of things or by fate which is a great, impersonal, primitive force existing through all eternity, absolutely independent of human wills and superior to any god created by man.As the author, heroine's tragic fate is arranged by Hardy, so Tess's character, to some extent is influenced and similar with Hardy.There is also a weakness of fatalism in Tess's character.Many coincidences are linked with her fate.Through the novel, we can get many clues that present her mind of fatalism.When first time Tess go to claim kindred with Alec, she is injured by rose, which she thinks is an unlucky sign and shadowed her life.Tess believes a folk idiom said “The wedding dress will never fit a bride who lost her chastity”, when she is trying her new wedding dress.She worries about that and become heavy in mind.Besides, she feels anxious and fear if it is not a good sign when seeing the picture of ancestor in her wedding room.This kind of fatalism always exists in Tess mind and tortures her all the time, impairs her courage.All these tiny plots display Tess's mentality of fatalism, from this aspect, Tess's tragedy seems a more reasonable and inevitable result.Chapter Ⅳ.The influence of Tess

Tess of D’Urbervilles, when published first time, becomes a bestseller and hot topic and attracts attention of literary research.Tess, a pure kind country girl, her whole fate is full of ups and downs.However, it seems that her tragic fate is more determined by the social background than her own reasons.Hardy’s depiction gives us a intuitive idea about the author and Tess’s society, reflects a backward feudal society.Bourgeois society is not a mature society, for it is not harmony and equal in human rights.Tess is innocent, her pure mind, simplicity and diligence could not prevent her from being ruined in the circumstance of bourgeois society, only because she is a poor and weak female who is never respected by others and eventually becomes a victim of hypocritical morality of the capitalist society.Literature is a mirror of real life which can reflect many aspects of people’s lives and also can be meaningful and inspiring to our contemporary life.Generally speaking, the only way for a society to survive and be sustainable is that equal in human rights and harmony in people’s relations.Tess of D’Urbervilles, through this novel, we can easily see the impact of ideology on society, nation, families and individuals is crucial.As a ruling class, to some degree, their mentality determines the whole society, they have to aware of that, equality of status of human rights, and establishment of a sound legal and religious system is directly related to a long term

survival of an era.The promotion and penetration of culture ideas affect the people’s way of thinking and behaving.Besides, as the folk, we have to be better educated and open-minded, improve our quality and keep a positive mind.As far as I am concerned, under this circumstance, Tess’s tragedy is not her own tragedy, but a whole feudal society.The bourgeois society is full of injustices and destruction.Thus, connecting with the above many aspects, the society Tess lived in, fool ruling class, narrow minded people, hypocritical in morality and religion and unjust in legal system as well as unequal status between men and women, dooms to be an end society.Besides, I want to highlight that, Tess’s rough and rugged life is not only the fate tragedy, but the tragedy of our female.So, for the female, we should keep our pure, self-esteem nature, and, at the same time, we only to break the bound of tradition morality find our right position, self-worth and equal social status, we can get our happiness and realize our life value.ChapterⅤ.Conclusion

Comprehensive speaking, Tess's tragedy is linked with social elements, while her character has an inescapable responsibility to her tragic fate as well.Further more, all these causes are directly related to the bourgeois society and Tess's tragedy is a vivid reflection of it.Under that environment, the purer and poorer a woman is, the easier she will get hurt.Thomas Hardy is a giant;his depiction of this novel gives us a much clearer knowledge of the society he lives in.After a thorough appreciation to this touching novel, we can't help having mercy on Tess, and her figure is unforgettable.But, when we think about this story rationally, the society of Victorian era together with Tess's kind and weak character lead to Tess's unavoidable destruction.Just as Soviet literary critic Alnwick Manchester says the real reasons for Tess's destruction are the reality, the heroine's nature, the dispossession, and the social prevailing conventions.All these determine the poor lady's miserable fate.From the above narrative, we can easily see Tess’s tragedy is inevitable;besides, we can have a general knowledge about Thomas Hardy’s society of 19th century and deeply educated that we’d better to take the essence and discard the dregs of different eras and histories.Thomas Hardy is a great author, his affection and contribution to the literature

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[11] 祁壽華．[美]WilliamWMorgan．回應悲劇繆斯的呼喚．上海：上海外語教育出版社.2001．

Acknowledgements

Firstly I would like to show my gratitude to my supervisor Sun zhonglun for his guidance during my studies.Although he was very busy then, he was willing to spare time to give me generous guidance and support, especially to provide me with a good environment, which benefits me a lot.With his serious and responsible attitude, rigorous scientific research methods, keen academic insight, diligent style of work, innovative and pioneering spirit, Mr.Sun has set a good example for me.Here I extend my deep appreciation and heartfelt thanks to Mr.Sun

I’m also grateful to my parents for their hard working.Then I thank those who help me in course of the writing and whose names I can’t list here one by one.

第二篇：從托馬斯.哈代的《德伯家的苔絲》看小說人物的社會悲劇性

《英國文學》課程論文

行政班級：A1021

學號：11006190129

姓名：范瑀

Theory：Causes of Tragedy of Tess of the D’Urbervilles Abstract: Tess of the D’Urbervilles, the greatest novel of British famous writer Thomas Hardy, describes the unfortunate, short life of a poor peasant girl, Tess.It is also a realistic novel which reflects the miserable fate of the individual farmer of England in the late of 19th century.Tess’s tragedy is a true portrayal of the poor of her time.The cause of her tragedy is always a concern of people.This passage illustrates three different opinions about the cause of Tess’ tragic fate, which include destiny tragedy, accidental tragedy, and psychological determinism.Within the three theories, the social reasons play an important role.Being a beautiful, innocents honest, sweet-natured, and hard-working country girl, she is easily taken in and abused by the bourgeoisie, constantly suppressed by the social conventions and moral values of the day, abandoned by her husband and eventually executed by the unfair legal system of the society though Clare（her husband）came back to her.Key words: Tess, destiny tragedy, accidental tragedy, psychological determinism.前言

十九世紀是英國資本主義迅速發展的黃金時期，英國著名小說家托馬斯.哈代的創作時期包括從自由資本主義過渡到帝國主義的階段。他看到資本主義社會給勞動人民，尤其是給農民帶來的不幸和災難，對他們表示同情。他的小說一直以故鄉道塞特郡和該郡附近的地區作背景。這是一個幾乎沒有工業可言的農業區，但它同樣受到資本主義的滲透。特別是七十年代以后，資本主義的侵入破壞了整個農村，使農村的宗法社會的基礎徹底崩潰。他觀察了農業危機在道塞特郡所造成的悲慘后果，描寫這一地區農民所受的災難。但是他用唯心主義解釋社會變化的原因，認為支配人的命運的是一種“彌漫宇宙的意志”。這是宿命論的觀點。

作者簡介

托馬斯·哈代，英國詩人、小說家。他是橫跨兩個世紀的作家，早期和中期的創作以小說為主，繼承和發揚了維多利亞時期的文學傳統；晚年以其出色的詩歌開拓了英國20世紀的文學。《德伯家的苔絲》(Tess of the D'Urbervilles)（1891）是他最優秀的小說，故事情節

《德伯家的苔絲》(1891)描寫貧窮的農家女子苔絲一生的遭遇。她渴望憑自己的勞動過日子，但是在當時的社會中卻接二連三地受到沉重珠打擊。苔絲還非常年輕的時候，就因為家庭貧困，不得不上德伯家去當女工，遭到資產階級紈绔子弟亞雷·德伯的污辱，懷了身孕，成為一個“失了身的女子。她忍受周圍人們歧視和道德偏見的壓力，孩子病死后，她在一家牛奶場工作，認識了一個牧師的兒子，青年大學生安璣·克萊，不久便和他相愛。苔絲向克萊講述了自己過去的不幸經歷之后，充滿資產階級的虛偽的倫理偏見的克萊，突然一反往常的態度，遺棄了苔絲，使她走上更加悲慘的道路。苔絲轉到另一個農場勞動，受到資本家更為殘酷的剝削。后來父親死去，一家人淪落街頭，紈绔子弟亞雷又來糾纏她，她不得已而又遷就了他。克萊的突然歸來使苔絲受刺激太深終于釀成了她殺死亞雷的悲劇。她成了一個殺人犯，被法庭判處死刑。

《苔絲》問世后，哈代開始與維多利亞時代道德觀念發生沖突。有的情節在連載時已被刪去，其他一些也被改動；而該書的副標題：“一個純潔女子的真實寫照”引起某些人的強烈不滿。他們說，書中的女主人公不僅生了私生子，最后還由于謀殺同居的男人而被判絞刑，但作者在處理上卻給這樣一個女人以同情和諒解，這是對公認的道德標準的公然侮辱。

正文

苔絲的命運看似是巧合，其實有其深刻的社會根源。如果不是他父親希望從德伯家撈點好處，如果她父親沒有遇到那個教士，也許他就不會遇上亞雷。有人說害死她的是克萊，因為克萊的拋棄使她失去了希望。但真正扼殺她的是無情的資產階級的倫理道德，當克萊得知苔絲并非處女，甚至還有過一個小孩時，他馬上對苔絲產生了厭惡，并毅然決然選擇了拋棄她，這無疑是給已經傷痕累累的苔絲雪上加霜，當她再次回到農場時，家庭已經破敗不堪，父親酗酒而死，他們一家也被趕出農廠(其實折射了英國圈地運動給窮苦勞動人民帶來的不幸)，她們一家落到了流落街頭的結局。所以，如果我們仔細分析小說，不禁發現真正左右她命運并把她扼殺致死的是那個無情的資本主義社會。

在哈代的《無名的裘德》一書中，裘德好學深思、刻苦自修，卻始終被拒之于大學門外。女主人公淑聰穎美貌，更重要的是具有獨立的人格和思想，蔑視世俗和僵化的宗教，但她與裘德的愛情卻為教會所不容、世俗所不齒。裘德壯志難酬、謀職無路、告貸無門，絕望中，他的長子與弟妹一同吊死。

苔絲與裘德，這兩個毫不相干的人物，但是他們都成為了資本主義宗教倫理的犧牲品，生活在19世紀資本主義社會下的廣大窮苦大眾的生活可見一斑。用魯迅先生的話講，他們都被那個無情的社會吞噬了，宛如他筆下的祥林嫂，孔乙己，阿Q…..無獨有偶，說起人物的社會悲劇性，老舍先生的《駱駝祥子》與哈代的威塞克斯小說有“異曲同工”只妙。

老舍先生以二十年代末期的北京市民生活為背景，以人力車夫祥子的坎坷、悲慘的生活遭遇為主要情節，深刻揭露了舊中國的黑暗，控訴了統治階級對勞動者的剝削、壓迫，表達了作者對勞動人民的深切同情，向人們展示軍閥混戰、黑暗統治下的北京底層貧苦市民生活于痛苦深淵中的圖景。

祥子的悲劇是也一個社會悲劇，他的“做一個獨立的勞動者”善良愿望的最終破滅，帶有歷史的必然性。軍閥的亂兵、反動政府的偵探、車行老板的強取豪奪，是中國社會半殖民地化過程中的產物，而生存權利的最終被剝奪，則是下層勞動者無法規避的歷史命運。

我們不禁發現無論是苔絲，裘德，還是中國的祥子，祥林嫂，孔乙己諸如此類的，他們身上都不免帶有深深地時代烙印。人是社會中的人，社會是由人組成的社會，社會給人的發展提供機會，當然也會淹沒，甚至是吞噬。

關于批判資本主義倫理宗教道德觀念的西方文學作品并不少，挪威作家易卜生的《玩偶之家》對資本主義更是進行了強烈譴責。

海爾茂律師剛謀到銀行經理一職，正欲大展鴻圖。他的妻子娜拉請他幫助老同學林丹太太找份工作，于是海爾茂解雇了手下的小職員柯洛克斯泰，準備讓林丹太太接替空出的位置。娜拉前些年為給丈夫治病而借債，無意中犯了偽造字據罪，柯洛克斯泰拿著字據要挾娜拉。海爾茂看了柯洛克斯泰的揭發信后勃然大怒，罵娜拉是“壞東西”、“罪犯”、“下賤女人”，說自己的前程全被毀了。待柯洛克斯泰被林丹太太說動，退回字據時，海爾茂快活地叫道：“娜拉，我沒事了，我饒恕你了。”但娜拉卻不饒恕他，因為她已看清，丈夫關心的只是他的地位和名譽，所謂“愛”、“關心”，只是拿她當玩偶。于是她斷然出走了。

易卜生在《玩偶之家》中揭露和批判了社會上的丑惡現實，把改造丑惡現實的希望寄托在具有反叛精神的少數人身上。娜拉出走就是反叛。他在作品中提出了問題，但是他與哈代一樣沒有指出正確的斗爭道路。從他所處的階級地位和生活的社會環境來看，他找不到也不可能找到答案，這是與他們的所處時代是分不開。

再說哈代這個人，他是十九世紀英國杰出的現實主義作家，同時也是一位造詣非凡的詩人。哈代一生對希臘悲劇、莎士比亞悲劇研讀不已，并受叔本華悲劇意識影響，認同近代科學思想上的懷疑派論調，致使他對人生的見解悲觀宿命。他認為人類文明無論發展到何種地步，人類終是無法擺脫宿命的捉弄。這一思想成為囿哈代創作的一大框窗。哈代作品，巧合頻頻可見，自然氣息彌漫侵入；融性格與環境于一體。

他將這些小說大體分為3類：性格與環境的小說、羅曼史與幻想的小說和精于結構的小說。其中以第一類最為重要。屬于此類的長篇小說有《綠林蔭下》、《遠離塵囂》、《還鄉》、《卡斯特橋市長》、《林居人》、《德伯家的苔絲》、《無名的裘德》。一般認為它們是哈代思想、藝術上最成熟的作品，其中又以悲劇故事《德伯家的苔絲》和《無名的裘德》最為杰出。前者寫貧苦美麗的擠奶女工苔絲因年輕無知而失身于富家惡少亞雷·德伯，受盡精神上和物質上的煎熬，最后失去自己真心愛戀的安璣·克萊，悲憤絕望之中，殺死亞雷，坦然走上絞架。后一部小說寫貧苦善良的孤兒裘德·范立奮發自學欲赴高等學府深造，但無入門之道。他與志趣相投的表妹淑·布萊德赫雙雙擺脫法定配偶而自由結合，但為社會所排斥，流浪街頭，最后家破人亡。

一百多年過去了，女主人公苔絲也早已樹立在世界文學畫廊之中，這不僅僅因為人們對傳統美德有所超越，更因為作品主人公所擁有的人性與靈魂深處的巨大魄力使之成為最動人的女性形象之一。哈代以小說女主人公苔絲的悲慘命運替西方悲劇作了一個形象的闡釋：苔絲本是一位純潔美麗又非常勤勞的農村姑娘，她向往人生的真和善，但又時時遭到偽和惡的打擊。苔絲的悲劇始于為了全家人生計去遠親家打工，卻因年幼無知而被亞雷騙去了處女的貞操，成了一個“墮落”的女人，受到社會輿論的非議，把她看成不貞潔的罪人；苔絲后來與青年克萊相愛，又因為新婚之夜坦誠有污點的過去而被丈夫遺棄，而與近在眼前的幸福失之交臂；出于高度的家庭責任感和自我犧牲精神，苔絲為換取家人的生存而再次違愿淪為亞雷的情婦；最后因為丈夫的回心轉意使得絕望的苔絲憤而舉起了復仇的利刃，終于成了一個殺人犯，最后不得不付出了生命的代價，導致“像游絲一樣敏感，像雪一樣潔白”的苔絲最后終被完全毀滅。這一切悲性遭遇全由于無情命運所精心謀劃和設計，安排世事的宇宙主宰通過命運的巨網毫無憐憫地將人倫道德意義上的好人、善良人籠罩于進退維谷的苦難陷阱。

那么，苔絲的悲劇是社會悲劇？是命運悲劇？還是性格悲劇？抑或是三種之外的什么？我就我個人見解下面作以簡要剖析與闡釋。

毫無疑問，苔絲的悲劇首先是社會悲劇。哈代的“威塞克斯”小說是以其故鄉威塞克斯為背景的。19世紀中期英國資本主義工業文明侵入農村，哈代的故鄉也遭到強大的沖擊，其宗法社迅速解體，個體農民在經濟上陷入失業、貧困的悲慘境地。面對工業文明帶來的后果，哈代作為一個人道主義著者，心靈受到強烈沖擊，在感情上深深地依戀古老的宗法文明，痛恨工業文明對人們和諧生存狀態的摧毀。哈代鄉土小說的社會悲劇意識立足于當時的社會背景，以工業文明與宗法文明的沖突為切入點，采用由全景到局部、由面到點的客觀描述筆法，深入地表現人們的生存困境。《苔絲》中，哈代對當時工業文明對鄉村的沖擊進行了全景式描繪，然后以苔絲家作為個體農民的縮影，深入展現人們在物質困境中的痛苦掙扎。社會悲劇是人同社會環境的沖突造成的。苔絲生活在英國資本主義侵襲到農村并毒化社會氣氛的維多利亞時代。這位弱女子，盡管聰明美麗，勤勞善良，但家貧如洗、經濟拮據，負擔沉重，她處于低下的社會地位，作為一個勞動者、一個無權無錢的農業工人，自然會受到資本主義社會的種種壓迫和凌辱，這些壓迫和凌辱有經濟的、權勢的、肉體的、更有精神的、宗教的、道德的、傳統觀念的。她的悲劇是時代造成的，同時，亞雷和克雷代表了把苔絲推向深淵的兩種不同的客觀社會勢力，他們直接地共同造成了苔絲的社會悲劇。

苔絲悲劇的第二個原因，也是其悲劇的直接原因，即她是暴力、惡勢力及維護它們的法律、國家機器的受害者。這種暴力、惡勢力的集中代表就是亞雷·德伯。

亞雷的父親是個有錢的商人，而后冠以貴族德伯的姓氏。這個闊少憑借父親的金錢、權勢在鄉野稱霸，為非作歹。他第一次見到苔絲，荒淫好色的嘴臉就暴露無遺。由于苔絲年幼無知，缺乏經驗，而周圍的環境又是那樣黑暗，沒有一個人幫助，沒有一個人保護，因此，他趁人之危，設下圈套，蹂躪、玷污了苔絲，毀壞了苔絲少女的貞潔和一生的幸福。盡管后來他在老克萊牧師的幫助下一度改邪歸正，自己也作了牧師并打算變賣家產到非洲去傳教，然而幾十年的惡習并未根除。當他再度碰見苔絲以后，邪念再生，幾年的教誨前功盡棄，倒是苔絲看透了這個身著道袍的牧師的靈魂：“象你這種人本來都是拿我這樣人開心作樂的，只顧自己樂個夠，至于我怎么受罪你就管不著啦；你作完了樂，開夠了心，就又說你悟了道了，預備死后再到天堂上去享樂；天下的便宜都叫你占了去了。”苔絲一針見血地揭穿了亞雷皈依宗教的虛偽，亞雷行為的本身也表明作者對宗教力量的懷疑。此后，亞雷又百般來糾纏、脅逼苔絲，他罵她是傻老婆，欺騙苔絲說她丈夫再也不會回來了，并威脅說：“你記住了，我的夫人，你從前沒逃出我的手心去，你這回還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，苔絲寧可繼續留在農場里忍受殘酷的剝削和壓榨，承受超負荷的重體力勞動，也不愿意屈服于亞雷，并接受他的幫助。然而父親病死，母親身體不好，弟妹失學，房子租賃到期，一家人被攆出村子無處安身，為了一家人的活命，苔絲不得不忍辱含垢，接受了亞雷的幫助，作了他的情婦。從此，徹底斷送了她終生的幸福。苔絲一生都是強權和暴力的受害者。亞雷之所以敢稱霸四野，為非作歹，為所欲為，不僅因為他有錢、有勢，而且更主要的是有資產階級機器、法律的保護。社會和法律都認為侮辱和迫害苔絲的人是正當的，而受迫害的苔絲則是有罪的。苔絲一生都必得逆來順受，忍受含垢，不能自衛，而當她有生以來第一次起來自衛的時候，“‘典型’明證了，埃斯庫羅斯所說的那個眾神主宰對于苔絲的戲弄也完結了。”苔絲成了資產階級國家祭壇上的祭品。苔絲的悲慘遭遇，社會對苔絲的不公正，表明了資產階級法律的不仁道和虛偽。

傳統倫理道德對苔絲精神上的摧殘，是苔絲悲劇的又一主要原因。如果說以亞雷為代表的惡勢力及其強大的后盾——國家機器、法律對苔絲的迫害是一種無形的更可怕的精神殘害。

苔絲受到亞雷的玷污、凌辱后，內心的自尊使她不愿屈居亞雷身邊，作他的情婦，成為他享樂的工具。毅然決然離開亞雷，回到父母身邊。然而世俗的輿論、傳統的道德，像一支支利箭一樣向她射來。為了躲避輿論，也為了躲避人類，她不出家門，只有等天黑以后，她才跑到樹林里面，只有在最孤獨的時候，“她才好像最不孤獨”，才能體驗到一種心靈上的自由。苔絲是一個勇敢的女性，她勇敢地接受了一個不貞潔女人的地位，為了她的忍氣吞聲地活著。孩子死后，為了躲避輿論和忘掉不幸的往事，同時，她體內“沒有消耗的青春”，“尋找快樂的本能”，對未來的憧憬，都促使她第二次離開故鄉，受雇于克里克老板的牛奶廠，當了擠奶工。就是在這里，她認識了克萊，度過了她一生短暫而美好的時光。

克萊是與亞雷完全不同的人。他是個有開明思想的知識分子，他不象他的兩個哥哥那么庸俗。他雖然出身牧師家庭，卻不愿意當牧師“為上帝服務”，更愿意從事實業——務農，克萊鄙視階級偏見和等級觀念，厭棄都市繁華生活，自愿到鄉間務農。他不怕吃苦，和農工一樣從事繁重的體力勞動，力圖掌握各種門類的農業技術，以便實現自己的理想，成為一個大農場主。在大自然的懷抱中，和天真無邪的農家少女朝夕相處，使他更感到鄉村生活的純樸，也更向往著自然，純樸、清新的生活，為此，他不愿意娶有錢人家的小姐，而要娶農家姑娘為妻。這些都表明克萊思想上進步、開明的一面。在對待女性和戀愛問題上，他和亞雷也大相徑庭。他對女性溫文爾雅，對戀愛問題嚴肅認真，認為如果要愛，就要認真，就要負責任。這也顯示他精神上高尚的一面。正是由于克萊身上這些閃光之處和他對苔絲鍥而不舍的追求，使苔絲在經歷了一個時期情與理的內心沖突后，改變初衷，答應了他的求婚，狂熱地愛上了他。然而，他們的愛情一開始就孕育著悲劇因素。克萊愛苔絲，不象苔絲愛他那樣無私和真誠，無論他“變成什么樣子”，“栽了多少跟頭”，“都要一樣地愛”。“他愛的是真火少，虛火多”，更趨于理性和“輕靈”。因此，在他眼里，苔絲是“大自然的新生女兒”，純潔的象征，完美無暇的杰作，“天地間沒有什么象苔絲那樣純正，那樣甜美，那樣貞潔了。”然而，一旦苔絲誠實地向他坦白了自己過去所受凌辱，那么克萊心目中的偶像就崩塌了。首先他感到的是受到了愚弄，“非常殘酷”的愚弄，這一下子“把他的生命、他的宇宙，全都給改變了。”他不能接受現實，不止一次地對苔絲說：“我原來愛的那個女人不是你！是另一個模樣兒跟你一樣的女人”。這種從理性、從觀念出發的愛，不僅扼殺了他心中真實的感情，也斷送了苔絲一生的幸福。當然，這只是造成克萊和苔絲愛情悲劇的一方面因素，他們的愛情悲劇另一重要原因是克萊心理深層那種根深蒂固的傳統倫理道德觀念作祟的結果。他自己也有過放蕩行為，并得到苔絲的原諒，但是卻不肯原諒、饒恕原本無辜的苔絲；他也反抗過傳統觀念、階級偏見，但是卻不徹底，靈魂深處仍舊深深地烙有本階級的印記；他卑視出身，瞧不起大戶人家，但從傳統出發，仍舊認為“身份不一樣，道德觀念也不一樣。”他說：“我不愿娶有身份、有財產、通達世務的女人，我把那一切野心一概放棄了，那我就不但可以得到一個天然美麗的女人，也可以得到一個樸素純潔的女人了??”正道出了她的心曲，他正是從傳統貞操觀來看待一個女人的“純潔”與否。克萊對苔絲不僅沒有絲毫同情，甚至“不能優容苔絲”，他視而不見苔絲對他的一片深情厚意，冷酷無情地拋棄了她，置苔絲于痛苦絕望之中，而且永遠撲滅了愛情在她心中重新喚起的希望。如果說是亞雷·德伯毀壞了苔絲的肉體，那么安璣·克萊帶給她的則是精神上的毀滅打擊。貞潔的喪失帶給苔絲深深的痛苦，但還未能泯滅她求生的欲望和對未來的希望，而被情人的遺棄，愛情的挫折，則摧毀了她生活的精神支柱，令她萬念俱滅，喪失了生活的勇氣。如果說苔絲第一次受到亞雷的欺騙和凌辱是由于她年幼無知，貧窮無依，那么第二次又被迫回到亞雷身邊，則是克萊的冷酷無情使然，從而也就更加深了苔絲的不幸。

克萊拋棄苔絲后，遠涉異國來到巴西，飽受生活磨難之后，才真正了解人生，才認識到自己所固守的傳統道德是何等的迂腐，既坑害了苔絲，也坑害了自己。內心的悔恨，對苔絲的思念，使他又重新去找苔絲，然而，苔絲的幸福早已被他斷送了，他的到來，只能更加深苔絲的不幸，使她更感受到自身的屈辱，此時苔絲心中痛苦、悔恨、絕望之情達到頂點。丈夫的歸來，兩人的重逢，使苔絲看到自己再一次受騙，一怒之下，殺死亞雷，復了仇，對自己長期所受的痛苦，所遭受的折磨和屈辱，以及命運對自己的不公正，進行了大膽的、強烈的抗議。她用自己的行為，不僅向自己所愛的人——克萊證明，而且也是對自己證明無罪。在這里，盡管惡人遭到報應，但主人公的悲劇并未能轉化為喜劇。苔絲復仇，只是殺了一個亞雷，造成社會悲劇的因素依然猖獗。何況，等待著苔絲的是絞架。苔絲的死是社會悲劇的集中和濃縮。

綜上所述，苔絲的悲劇既有社會的因素，也與她的性格和作者的悲觀主義宿命論有關，但這些因素都與當時的資本主義社會有著直接的聯系，是資本主義社會的種種反映。她的毀滅是必然的，是資本主義社會中無法逃避的。正如蘇聯文學批評家阿尼克斯特所說：“苔絲招致毀滅的真正原因是屬于現實的性質，女主人公的貧苦和無依無靠，社會上盛行的社會風習——這些情況都決定了這個女子的悲慘命運。”這句話也正指出了苔絲悲劇的根源是當時資本主義社會。

第三篇：德伯家的苔絲英文讀后感

This is a book of grievous mood.A beautiful young girl’s life was destroyed gradually and really---not by her energy, but by the people who said love to her.What kind of this love is? What make the love destroy its lover?Tess could be a happy girl though her family was very poor.But “noble, status, and money” were strongly in her father’s mind, just because of the discovery that a parson said to him.Without their horse’s carrying load, life became rather difficult.Tess blamed herself completely, and she wondered what she could help her parents.Then Tess obeyed her mother’s idea, to work at the d’Urberville’s home, and met her cousin, Alec d’Urbervilles.This then was the beginning.Tess had to meet the wrong man, and one who was so strongly attracted to her.Yet to the right man, she was only a half-forgotten impression from an evening’s dancing party in a country field.This mistake was to have tragic results.Alec used his clever brain to help Tess’s parents, and this made Tess feel grateful to him.Because of her slackening vigilance, Alec’s intention came true---Tess would be maiden no more.As the people of her village said, “It was to be.” And from now on, Tess’s life was to be completely different.Tess left Alec’s home, returned her village.But all had changed, Tess wouldn’t be happy, people in village wouldn’t see her as before.After her baby’s death, she had to leave her home, went to a far place.Perhaps at that time we should thank Alec, thank baby’s death, or Tess wouldn’t leave her home and met Angel Clare, her right man in the dairy.Tess was a so lovely girl that Angel was soon crazy for her.At last, they conquered many difficulties and got married.But Tess’s experience was still her mortal wound, Angel couldn’t accept the truth and left her.The story came to its turning point again.When Angel realized his mistake and went back to look for Tess, all was too late, the poor girl again dropped into Alec’s trap.With the intertwine of love and hatred, Tess had to end herself with a tragic results.God played with Tess so much.When her right man appeared, God yet didn’t give her happiness.Tess’s parents loved her, but it was just an instinctive love;Alec said love to her, but it was a evil love;Angel said love to her as well, but it was a immature and selfish love.He wanted Tess to forgive him, but he couldn’t forgive Tess.Tess didn’t make any mistakes, but at last, she born all punishments and sufferings.At first, God had let the two persons miss each other.A tragedy was

doomed.But perhaps no love, no hatred, no dignity, death was the best way for Tess to extricate herself.We have nothing to do but watching world changing, destroying Tess, then continuing changing.The tragedy recurs every day in fact.I can’t help asking, have we missed our happiness?

第四篇：德伯家的苔絲 英文讀后感

Character Analysis of Tess Tess of D' Ubervilles is the most famous novel of Thomas Hardy, the tragic end of Tess is painful and affecting.The paper supposes the tragic experience of Tess result from her character.Her character of responsibility is the flashpoint of her tragic fortune.Her responsibility convinced herself that she is to blame for killing the horse, and her responsibility urges her ask her fake relatives for help after the horse died, as a result she is acquainted with Alec D' Uberville and seduced by him eventually.Her responsibility impels her confessing her mistake to her husband Clare before their wedding, because she believes it's unfair to Clare if she doesn't, as a result her husband leaves her into suffering.She refuses Alec's proposal when they meet again, but after her father died, her family live a hard life, her responsibility to her family forces her live together with Alec.Her character of infatuated makes her a miserable fate, and blinds her good sense.The chapter 31 narrates “to her sublime trustfulness he was all that goodness could be-knew all that a guide, philosopher, and a friend should know.”Owing to the infatuated, she is lost her own judgment.It's wrong that her infatuated makes her lack of equal consciousness and totally controlled by Clare, and ready to be a slave of Clare and it also put herself in an unequal position like a servant..The character of obedience of Tess also makes her sad fate.When her mother asks her seeks help to their fake relatives, although she is reluctant to do that, she yields at last.When they sit on the high-speed dogcart, Alec speaks “Let me put one little kiss on those lips, Tess, or even on that warmed cheek, and I will stop-on my honor, I will.” “But I don't want anybody to kiss me, sir!” She implored a big tear beginning to roll down her face, and the corners of her mouth trembling in her attempts not to cry.He was inexorable, and she sat still, and D'Urberville gives her the kiss of mastery.It is shown that her character of obedience gives Alec has a chance to molest her.When they miss their way in an old wood, she believes Alec easily, accept his terms and waits for him in the wood, therefore, she was seduced by Alec.She should have left Alec as soon as possible, but her obedience leads her to a sad end.Tess is a girl as pure as the driven snow.When her mother tells her if she asks for help from their relatives, she would have the opportunity to marry a gentleman.Tess doesn't want to do that, because her pure heart despises worldly marriage.Although she was seduced by Alec and lives together with him, she is a pure girl, because she has no choices expect yield to her tragic fate.Even though she experiences a serious of hardships, she never gives up herself and works hard, and always believes her cruel-hearted husband who leaves her and preserves his reputation.It is her simplicity that causes her a bad end, but it also touches the readers, and the pure character of Tess is the beauty of the regretful end.As Jung said: “your character is your destiny.” The connection between Tess's fate and character is not occasional, her tragic end result from her

第五篇：德伯家的苔絲英文鑒賞

Reaction to Tess of the D’Urbervilles

It’s the second time I have read the novel “Tess of the D’Urbervilles”.I have a great impression on this novel, and its author, Thomas Hardy.Thomas Hardy, born in 1840 in Dorsetshire and died in 1928, was an English novelist and poet.Thomas's father was a stonemason and his mother was interested in literature.Under his mother's influences, Hardy began to write at 22.In 1856, Hardy left school and then he apprenticed under a local architect.After that, he became an assistant to a British architect.In this time, he learned literature and philosophy by his own.In 1867, he returned to his hometown and started to write novels.“Tess of the D'Urbervilles” was one of the two most famous novels which were written in 1890s.“Tess of the D'Urbervilles” narrates a story about a country girl, who is innocent, beautiful, bright and plain killing a man after being driven desperate.At the beginning of the novel, Tess helps her father to deliver goods into the town by driving a cart.However, she bumps into a mail cart in the dark night.As a result, the old horse is hurt to death in this accident.So Tess gets into a big trouble.In order to atone for her crime and also to support her family, she goes to work in D'Urbervilles'.During these days, one day Alec rapes her in woods.After losing her virginity, Tess leaves Alec and goes home.She gives birth to a child at home, but unfortunately, the child dies soon.Then, she works in a dairy factory and falls in love with Angel Clare.On their wedding night, Clare knows that Tess has lost her virginity.So, he leaves Tess to Brazil.Poor Tess goes to work in anther factory.After her father's death, the landlord takes back the house.Tess has to go back to Alec, so that her families could have a place to live.One day, Clare returns to look for Tess suddenly when he realizes his false.In great pain, Tess kills Alec with a knife.At the end, Tess is hung to death as a murder.In the novel, Tess is a modern woman idealized by Hardy.In an ideal world of Hardy, Tess is the symbol of beauty and the embodiment of love, representing the Wessex people of all good merits: beautiful, kind, pure, plain, love and tolerance.She dares to sacrifice herself with the hope to have a good life.She has a characteristic feeling of the love and trust.The women’s gentle and brave are melted well in her.Tess is a beautiful woman with temperament, strong will and warm feelings.She’s also upright and honesty.Instead of pursuing vanities by marriage, she chooses to pursue freedom basing on self-esteem.However, the end of Tess’s life is pathetic.I felt great sympathy for her.I wonder why this beautiful and pure girl has such a pathetic ending.But, this is Tess’s fate.I never believe fate, but I have to doubt my opinions after reading the novel.Every man who has read the novel knows that her life has always been passive.She has tried to revolt her fate only once, but has lost her life.Compared with fate, she is too small, and the tragedy of Tess maybe caused by the age.Dark ages brought the opportunists a lot of money meanwhile it makes the kind people suffer the misfortunes.Although Tess fails in revolting her fate, she is so brave that I want to give her my best respect.To me, she is a brave woman who wants to get rid of the bondage of fate.Tess’s death is superior to her fate, instead of yielding to it, and we need this kind of unyielding soul.But, there are also some weaknesses in Tess’s characters.Tess is bold and she dares to fight against traditional morals to pursue her happiness, but she can’t completely set herself free from traditional morals.It shows the weak side of her characters.She has been criticized by people and persecuted by the traditional morals.And it’s so pathetic that she has always been tortured by the same traditional standard.Thus, the tragic appears deeper.Considering her tragedy, I can’t help asking who is to blame for that.Besides I’ve mentioned above, I think, at least two men have to be responsible for Tess’s tragedy, Aleck and Angel.Maybe, you’ll ask why Angel doesn’t accept the cruel truth that Tess has been raped by Alec and has given birth to a child.Why Angel leaves her? Doesn’t he love Tess? Well, I’d like to say that he loves Tess so much that he can’t stand her impurity.In his eyes, Tess is beautiful and kind, and she is the symbol of purity.He can’t accept the cruel fact and makes his best to control his love to Tess.He thinks that the girl before him is not Tess, but a girl looks like her.In his mind, the real Tess has died.His heartlessness and abortion of Tess show his hates to the fate.As for Aleck, I don’t want to say more.The tragedy he has brought to Tess is obvious.All he has done to Tess is not out of love, because love is noble, but all he wants to get from Tess is lust.Alec is wealthy and evil.He seduces Tess, and that’s the direct cause of Tess’s tragedy.We all know that another name of this novel is “A Pure Woman”.In Hardy’s eyes, Tess is pure and brave.He shows great sympathy to Tess.At that age, men dominated the society, while women didn’t realize their rights.They are limited by the traditional morals and religion rules.In the novel, Tess is a poor victim, but because of the culture of the society, the other women don’t show their sympathies to her.They criticize her and fabricate rumors to defame her.It’s such a tragedy that women don’t help women.As a boy, after reading the novel, I feel more sympathy for Tess.I don’t understand the thoughts of those people living in that age, but today, well, men and women are equal.