Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)
Early Life: Thomas Hardy was born on June 2nd, 1840 in Dorset,
England to Jemima Hand and Thomas Hardy Sr. In 1862, he went to
London to begin his career in architecture and subsequently began
writing. His works have a fatalist outlook on the area in which he lived.
The fictional town “Wessex” was derived from his home town. He came
back to Dorset in 1867 where he worked as an assistant for John Hick s
and wrote his first novel, The Poor Man and the Lady. He then wrote
three more novels: Desperate Remedies (1871), Under the Greenwood
Tree (1872), and A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873).
Literary Career: In 1872, Hardy contributed a novel, Far from the
Madding Crowd, for serialization to the Cornhill Magazine. The book
sold out in two months, which led to his decision to devote his life to
writing fiction. In 1874, he married Emma Lavinia Gifford. They
eventually moved to London where his literary career was slow until
1885. During this time period he wrote were The Hand of Ethelberta
(1876), The Return of the Native (1880), The Trumpet Major (1881),
A Laodicean, Two on a Tower (1882), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), The Woodlanders (1887), Wessex
Tales (1888). He was criticized for being too pessimistic and preoccupied with sex. His last two novels, Tess of
the d’Urbervilles (1891), and Jude the Obscure (1895), were criticized for focusing on fallen women, sin,
religion and marriage. His characters were labeled “immoral” and “obscene” and Jude the Obscure was
considered pornographic. Due to the harsh criticism in this novel, he declared that he would never again
write a fictional novel.
Death: He focused on poetry and an epic drama called The Dynasts for the remainder of his career. His wife
died suddenly in 1912. He married his secretary, Florence Emily Dugdale, two years later. For the next ten
years he wrote his autobiography which his new wife published. He died on January 11th, 1928. His heart was
buried in a cemetery in Dorset while his ashes were set next to Charles Dickens’ in the Poets’ Corner of
Westminister Abbey.
The Victorian Era (1837-1901)
Significant Events
1837 Victoria ascends to the throne at 18 (beginning of Victorian era)
1847 Karl Marx and Frederick Engels publish The Communist Manifesto
1854 Dickens publishes Hard Times
1859 Darwin publishes Origin of Species
1867 Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli gives voting rights to taxpayers
1870 The Education Act is passed
1888 Jack the Ripper terrorizes the East End of London
1893 New Zealand grants female suffrage
1901 Queen Victoria dies
Victorian Society
1. Gender: Marriage laws during the Victorian era dictated that men were responsible for the protection and
supervision of their wives. Wives were expected to obey their husbands, repress their sexuality, and raise
children. Women could not vote or own property and were considered inferior mentally.
2. Industrialism: The Industrial Revolution caused Great Britain to shift from an agrarian society to an urban
society. Overpopulation, poverty, child labor, alcoholism, and suicide increased drastically. Disillusionment
was widespread, and many writers focused on the bleak state of the “modern world” or the loss of a more
“innocent” and natural past.
3. Elitism: The Victorian era saw a painful attention to etiquette, social status, and material possessions. The
high class looked down upon the middle and low classes with disdain, and the philosophy of “Social
Darwinism” (which held applied the idea of “survival of the fittest” to human beings) was highly popular.
Realism
Key Elements:
1. Pragmatism and the search for truth
2. Believers in democracy
3. Focus on what’s here and now
4. Against traditional patterns of a novel
5. Simplistic prose, not ornate or wordy
6. Focus on issues of ethics and conduct
7. Characterization
8. Response of characters to action
9. Psychological analysis of characters
10. Focus on overlooked actions and details/the commonplace
11. Avoidance of dramatic scenes
12. More comical or satirical
13. Generally optimistic
Naturalism:
1. Extension of realism
2. Characters face unpleasant situations which influence their actions
3. Commonplace events that lead to violence or emotional reactions
4. Fate and effect of the environment
5. Characters often act heroically because of their situations
Romanticism v. Realism
ROMANTICISM REALISM
1785-1830 1870-1914
“The Age of Revolution” Reaction against romanticism
Ex. William Wordsworth, Brontes Ex. Dickens, Hardy
Mysticism (characters, setting, etc.) More realistic, based on real world
Unusual events or circumstances Plot based on common events
More intricate language Simplistic dialogue and word choice
Sympathetic interest in the past Focus on present circumstances
Focus on plot Focus on character
Positive outlook, idealization Presentation of realistic circumstances
Objective narrator
Author’s voice present in narrator
Sources:
http://www.victorianweb.org/
http://home.comcast.net/~stephen.gottlieb/romantic/periods.html
http://webs.anokaramsey.edu/stankey/Eng2230/Docs2230/Romantic/RomReTbl.htm
http://www.macalester.edu/~hammarberg/russ251/romreal.html
http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap6/6intro.html
The Book of Great Books, A Guide to 100 World Classics (W. John Campbell, Ph.D.)
1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (Peter Boxall and Peter Ackroyd)
Tess of the D’Urbervilles (Introduction by Margaret Randolph Higonnet)
Handouts on AP Lit website