Gender Roles In Tess Of The D Urbervilles By Thomas Hardy

Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy was written and set in late nineteenth century England. The Victorian Era was a time of great change, as England’s economy was making the transition from agricultural-based to industry-based. This period of modernisation led to the examination of traditional ways of thinking and the scrutiny of many foundations of English society such as, class divisions, religion and gender roles. Hardy uses the characters and events in Tess of the D’Urbervilles to make comment on his world. Through his work, Hardy particularly demonstrates a moral sympathy towards England’s lower classes. Hardy became famous for his compassionate and often controversial depiction of young women victimised by the sanctimonious strictness of English social morality, which is illustrated through the novels protagonist Tess. (Context, 22/05/14)

Hardy uses characters who step outside their socially accepted class norm to express society’s changing moral standards. The Durbeyfields are important in describing the way in which social classes were no longer valued to the same standard, as they were in the Middle Ages. Tess Durbeyfield, who possesses an education that her unschooled parents lack, did not quite fit into the traditional rural culture of her ancestors. Her diction is better than her mother’s yet not quite up to the same standard as Alec or Angel’s, showing that she is on the verge both socially and culturally. Hardy uses Tess in this way to represent the indistinct and unstable notions of class in nineteenth century England. In the Victorian Era, old family lines were dying out and discounted. Sheer wealth became more important than lineage or inner nobility. This explains how Simon Stoke, Alec’s father, was able...

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...er a female (Themes, Motifs and Symbols, 25/05/14).

Hardy has also expressed male dominance in the Victorian Era using the relationship between characters Tess and Angel. Hardy particularly seems to criticize the concept of double moral standards (Why Should I Care, 28/05/14). This can be seen when Angel, ignorant of her past, likens Tess to ancient Greek goddesses calling her ‘Artemis’ and ‘Demeter’, due to her physical beauty. He also states that he believes to be a fortunate man to have her as his own. However, as soon as he learns of Tess’s loss of virtue during their confessions Angel is unwilling to forgive her and even asks her, “how can forgiveness meet such grotesque – prestidigitation as that!” (Hardy, 1981, p.228). This reflects that social bias towards chastity has been formed to the advantage of men, where their forgiveness comes at a minimal cost.