Abstract

Tess of the D’Urbervilles came into conflict with Victorian morality. The novel describes a tragic life about a beautiful girl after disgrace. This paper analyses what causes Tess’ s tragic life. The first part is an introduction of Tess of the D’Urbervilles and its writer Thomas Hardy. And then is the analysis on the causes of her tragic life from external point and internal point. The external element consists of social background and family factor. It comes from the combined forces of Victorian patriarchal society, the injustice of social law, the hypocrisy of social prejudice and the inequality of male dominance. The internal cause mainly lies in her personal characteristics. She is lack of education, has limited capability, compromising characteristics and lack self-awareness. Though Tess fights against with the society individually, she is helpless at that time. Tess’ s tragedy is a tragedy of the whole society in fact. False of the moral standards of  capitalism is a social objective reality,t he heroine of weak character flaws are subjective reasons. Tess dare to resist traditional moral, but whose double character were yoke her completely. In the end, she turns out to be the sacrificial victim of the society like all the others who disobey the morality and ethics. 

Key words : Tess; tragic fate; cause analysis

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1.Introduction-1

1.1 Introduction of Thomas Hardy-1

1.2 Introduction of Tess of the D’Urbervilles  -2

2. Analysis of the Causes of Tess’ Tragic Fate-3

2.1 External causes-3

2.1.1 Victorian society-3

2.1.2 Family background-4

2.2 Internal causes-5

2.2.1 Lack of education-5

2.2.2 Limited capability-6

2.2.3 Compromising characteristics-7

2.2.4 Lack of self-awareness-8

3. Conclusion-10

References-11