Some Questions for Tess of the d’Urbervilles

Phase 1

1. To what does the title of the first section refer? What expectations does such a title set up for us?
2. What are some of the major themes introduced in the opening two chapters?
3. What are Tess’ parents like? What are their expectations of her? What are her expectations about herself? Why does Tess feel so responsible for her family? Do you think her feeling of responsibility is excessive?
4. What are we to make of Tess's dreaminess? What does it reveal about her character? Identify some key moments in the text where Tess passively submits? What are the consequences of her passivity?

Phase 2

1. Some critics point to Tess' life as a succession of journeys. Identify some of these journeys and explain what she learns from them and how is she affected by her experience.
2. Tess resists Alec's advances by jumping out of the gig for her hat, which she deliberately let fly away. Tess thinks of returning home but decides to stay; at this point, Tess still feels she has choice. Is she really free at this point so that she is responsible for her decision? Does this decision to stay make her responsible for Alec's sexually violating her later?
3. The title of the second phase deals with the significance of Tess' sexual experience in her view, in society's view, and in nature. With which of these does Hardy side? Is her sexual experience the turning point in her life, as the title suggests? Though it is clearly a crucial event, what actually happened is unclear. Was she raped or seduced? Once you decide that question, another question must be decided; how responsible is she for what happened?
4. When Tess hesitates in answering Alec’s request to become his mistress, is she flirting, and is her hesitation deliberately or even unconsciously encouraging? Is she inhibited by his social status, by his economic power over her and her family, or his gifts to her family?
5. Hardy's callling her sexual experiences "a liberal education," just a learning experience, shocks many readers. Is her liberal education a fortunate fall?

Phase 3

1. How are Hardy’s descriptions of Nature related to the characters in this part?
2. To what does the title of this phase refer? What signs suggest that the novel will not turn out well?
3. What sort of man is Angel? What are his strengths? his flaws? What is the significance of Izzy, Retty and Marion?

Phase 4

1. The meaning of the title, "The Consequence," is not as clear cut as previous titles. What is the consequence? and what is the source of the consequence?
2. What does Hardy mean when he says that Angel's fastidious love could "guard the loved one against his very self"? Is he protecting her against his baser nature? is he protecting his own idea of her? or does it mean something else altogether?
3. Tess makes two attempts to confess her past to Angel. The first time his indulgent attitude causes her to retreat and tell him about her d'Urberville ancestry. Her letter slips under the rug, so that this effort to confess also fails. Are circumstances stacked against her, or does she bear responsibility for not telling him about her past? Would her telling him before marriage have made any difference?

Phase 5

1. Why is Angel unable to forgive her when she just bestowed the gift of forgiveness on him? Is her sexual experience the cause or his character and misconceptions? Does her confession necessitate their separation, or do they part because of particular traits each has? Could Tess have averted the parting by behaving differently and thereby changed her destiny? Or is her destiny unchangeable? Is she victim, self-victimizer, or both?
2. Is she a victim of circumstance, of inevitable fate, of Angel's character, of her own character, of her heredity, or some combination of these factors?
3. The course of Tess's life parallels the seasons. The novel opens in late May, a hopeful time when life renews. She arrives at the d'Urberville home in late spring; her parents hoped for financial support from the wealthy d'Urbervilles, and Tess hopes to earn enough to replace their horse. A few years later, she has a renewal or rally in the spring. Her courtship with Angel takes place over the summer, a time of ripening and fulfillment in nature and of love and happiness in her life. She spends the winter, a time of death in nature, at Flintcomb-Ash. If Tess's life follows a natural cycle, does this mean that the course of her life is predetermined or fated?
4. Is arbitrary coincidence at work in her stopping at just the time and just the place where Alec is speaking? Is it coincidence that she stands in the sun so that he notices her movement when she leaves? Is their meeting again inevitable because life follows a pattern or occurs in cycles? Or is it inevitable because her personal past with Alec cannot be escaped in society?

Phase 6

1. To whom does the title of this section apply? How? What is the effect of Tess on the conversion of these converts?
2. When Tess falls again to Alec, does she have a choice, or is she overwhelmed by the hopelessness of her family's circumstances, her sense of responsibility for the children, and her loss of faith in Angel's return? Are other traits, like a tendency to self-sacrifice, operating? Has she ever had a choice? Are there times when she does have a choice and her decisions and actions are the result of her character? In answering these questions, consider the ways Tess is economically, socially, and sexually vulnerable, even powerless; how coincidence and historical movements determine events; and the role which her personal past and family past play in her life.
3. A well-traveled, open-minded stranger persuades Angel that he judged Tess too harshly and that his concept of purity was too rigid. How convincing is Angel's change, which is summarized in a page or so? Are other influences than the stranger working to change Angel?

Phase 7

1. How is the title of this section ironic?
2. How does Stonehenge figure in Tess’ end? What do you think it represents?
3. Is there a suggestion that another cycle is about to begin with Angel and Liza-Lu? Because she is "a spiritualized image of Tess", would such a relationship seem more likely to succeed than his relationship with Tess?
4. Is it Tess's misfortune to be pursued and loved by Alec and by Angel? Between them, do they unintentionally doom her? Is she their victim?
5. Does her past make her death inevitable?

General Questions

1. Is Tess of the D'Urbervilles a tragedy, and is Tess a tragic figure? The answer to these questions may depend on the way you define tragedy. Or you may apply Hardy's concept of tragedy to the novel and decide whether it fits his definition. Over the years, he made a number of references to tragedy.

"A Plot, or Tragedy, should arise from the gradual closing in of a situation that comes of ordinary human passions, prejudices, and ambitions, by reason of the characters taking no trouble to ward off the disastrous events produced by the said passions, prejudices, and ambitions" (1878).

"Tragedy: It may be put thus in brief: a tragedy exhibits a state of things in the life of an individual which unavoidably causes some natural aim or desire of his to end in a catastrophe when carried out" (1885).

"The best tragedy–highest tragedy in short–is that of the WORTHY encompassed by the INEVITABLE. The tragedies of immoral and worthless people are not of the best" (1892).

2. Do you agree with Hardy's definition(s) of tragedy? Is he really describing tragedy?
3. Hardy’s novel makes frequent use of animal imagery. How is this imagery used? What effect does this imagery have on your experience of the novel?
4. Hardy added the subtitle, A Pure Woman, at the last moment. It has created problems for readers and critics ever since the novel's appearance. The title offends many on moral grounds, for whom Tess is a "ruined," immoral woman. Others are puzzled intellectually; what is Hardy's basis for calling her pure?
5. The novel is organized around seemingly natural cycles. Her movement through the phases of one of these cycles is indicated by the headings for each of the seven phases. What is the effect of calling portions of our lives “phases”? To what discourse does such a term belong and how might this mixing of discourses affect our reading of the novel?
6. For most readers, the major issue in this novel is whether Tess is victimized, whether she is responsible for her fate, or whether she is partially victimized and partially responsible for her fate. What do you think about these questions?