所谓悲剧，纯属必然

——《德伯家的苔丝》读后感

悲剧，可谓是徘徊在爱恨边缘的一个词。它把美好的一切玩弄于鼓掌之间，然后硬生生的在你面前打碎，叫人无法一味的去爱它。可当那美好不再完整的时候，却反而让人觉得平静，它逼你不得不承认，那才是真实。

《德伯家的苔丝》里的女主人公苔丝是被托马斯·哈代理想化了的现代女性。在哈代的世界中,苔丝是美的象征和爱的化身，具有大自然纯真的本性，代表着威塞克斯人的一切优秀的方面：美丽、纯洁、善良、质朴、仁爱和容忍。苔丝一生追求幸福，对亚雷敢恨，对克莱敢爱。哈代坚持道德的纯洁在于心灵的纯洁，不在于一时的过错，因此在他看来，苔丝是“一个纯洁的女人”。

不过，这世上，没有什么是偶然，有的，只是必然。

苔丝的悲剧如果归于命运弄人无疑显得牵强。她虽然在一定程度上大胆反抗传统道德，但又囿于它的观念成为传统的维护者。这在一方面更深层次表现了传统道德对苔丝人性的迫害，心灵的扭曲，另一面，苔丝的人生价值观、情感观所体现出来的对男权社会的服从与忍耐成为她命运悲惨的最终原因。

苔丝的父亲异想天开要17岁的苔丝到附近一个有钱的德伯老太太那里去认“本家”，幻想借此摆脱经济上的困境。苔丝根本不愿意去认亲，却因心有愧疚，只好硬着头皮去了。家庭的重担和自身的责任感一开始就给她的命运笼上了一层阴影。面对亚雷，她充满疑惧但年幼无知，贫穷无依又使她无法回避亚雷，最后轻信了亚雷，遭到玷污。在资产阶级的道德面前，她被看成是侵犯了清白领域的“罪恶化身”。苔丝在受到世俗舆论、传统道德摧残的同时，可悲的是她同样用这一道德标准来静观自己，这就使她的悲剧显得更浓重、更深沉。苔丝是暴力的受害者，是无辜的，她明白这一点，但是在受到乡里人非议的同时，她也认为自己是“有罪”的，她选择默默的承受。这种静观的结果，必然造成她内在的自我折磨和谴责，因此，使她所受的磨难，所遭受的不幸和痛苦，就更加沉重和强烈。苔丝按照传统的贞操观来衡量自己的清白与否，她比别人更不能忘记自己的“耻辱”。

苔丝来到另外一个农场谋求生活，那是一个新的生活起点。同时，有了足够的经济基础去追求自己的生活。可是，她并没有看到这些，自我价值认同的缺乏最突出表现在苔丝对爱情的态度上。

克莱的出现注定了苔丝的又一次的悲剧。克莱爱苔丝，但不像苔丝爱他那样无私和真诚，在他眼里，苔丝是“大自然的新生女儿”，纯洁的象征，完美无暇的杰作，这种过于理想化与观念化的爱，以及克莱心里深层那种根深蒂固的传统伦理道德观念都扼杀了克莱真实的感受。所以当苔丝诚实地向他坦白了自己过去所受凌辱，克莱心目中的偶像就彻底崩塌了。他不能接受现实，不止一次地对苔丝说：“我原来爱的那个女人不是你！是另一个模样儿跟你一样的女人”。 如果说是亚雷·德伯毁坏了苔丝的肉体，那么安玑·克莱带给她的则是精神上的毁灭打击。

而苔丝并没有意识到克莱狭隘的爱，一方面因为苔丝受到过伤害，所以在她内心对真爱是非常渴望的，她是希望被疼爱被保护的，因此当她遇到克莱后，她心底迸发出的爱会更加的强烈。苔丝崇拜克莱以至于把他视为天使，在这种炽热的爱情面前，苔丝完全失去了自主性，被自己的爱蒙蔽了双眼，成了爱情的奴隶。

另一方面，她仍然把自己定位于一个“应受到社会谴责与唾弃的不净女子”，不敢把自己与克莱尔放在同一地位上，用悬殊的地位来衡量自己的爱。克莱的爱使她感到幸福，可是在体验到幸福的同时，感受到更多的是内心的痛苦与折磨，是恐惧、不安、悔恨和羞耻。这一切都表明苔丝无法忘记过去，更无法卸掉背在自己身上沉重的精神十字架。她似乎天生灵魂有罪，注定永远受折磨，永远遭痛苦，心灵永远不的平静。这种“灵魂有罪”，使她始终处在负疚、自责、自卑的状态。

苔丝一直处于感性与理性的矛盾之中。在结婚前，她既对克莱正直的为人，自立的意志和对她的关怀有好感，又自哀失身于人，不配做他的妻子。在结婚后，她既无法控制对克莱强烈的爱，但又怀着犯罪感和内疚感，觉得必须得“坦白”。苔丝深陷这种纠结的矛盾之中，却可以完全不在乎克莱其实也有过放荡的过去这个事实。她对克莱的爱其实是处于被动地位的，这也正是她对克莱“奴隶式”的爱以及她无法磨灭的自卑感造成的。

克莱对苔丝不仅没有丝毫同情，甚至“不能优容苔丝”，他视而不见苔丝对他的一片深情厚意，冷酷无情地抛弃了她，置苔丝于痛苦绝望之中，而且永远扑灭了爱情在她心中重新唤起的希望。贞洁的丧失带给苔丝深深的痛苦，但还未能泯灭她求生的欲望和对未来的希望，而被自己完全依赖的情人所遗弃，则摧毁了她生活的精神支柱，令她万念俱灭，丧失了生活的勇气。至此，苔丝仍然在自责着，即使被克莱无情抛弃，也认为是自己的罪过，默默忍受命运的摆布。在她心里，失去贞操是她的不对，是她对克莱的不忠诚。她渴望得到谅解，即便在克莱抛弃她后远去巴西，她都依然苦等他的归来，企盼得到他的原谅。

此后，“冤家路狭”，苔丝又碰见自己深恶痛绝的亚雷。亚雷纠缠苔丝，无耻的企图与她同居，面对困难重重的窘境，孤立无援、百般无奈的苔丝在亚雷的金钱诱逼、花言巧语之下，选择了妥协，又一次落入了亚雷的圈套。她不得不以牺牲自己的人格为代价，和亚雷在一起，充当他的情妇，为一家人换取一个安身之所。克莱抛弃苔丝后，远涉异国来到巴西，饱受生活磨难之后，才真正了解人生，才认识到自己所固守的传统道德是何等的迂腐，既坑害了苔丝，也坑害了自己。内心的悔恨，对苔丝的思念，使他又重新去找苔丝，然而，苔丝的幸福早已被他断送了，他的到来，只能更加深苔丝的不幸，使她更感受到自身的屈辱，此时苔丝心中痛苦、悔恨、绝望之情达到顶点。丈夫的归来，两人的重逢，使苔丝看到自己再一次受骗，一怒之下，杀死亚雷，复了仇，对自己长期所受的痛苦，所遭受的折磨和屈辱，以及命运对自己的不公正，进行了大胆的、强烈的抗议。可无奈的是，她恰恰选择了最极端的方式。

他们在荒漠的原野里度过了几天逃亡的欢乐生活，最终等待苔丝的，是无法逃避的绞刑架。她永远都不能从克莱的情感世界中走出来，直到临死的那一刻。她希望克莱尔能娶自己的妹妹来表达她对他的爱，所以可以说，直到她死，她的思想依然是被束缚的。

苔丝性格中真善美的毁灭，是社会的扼杀的结果，但悲剧的形成又同性格的内在矛盾不可分割。故而说，苔丝悲剧的美学特质在社会悲剧总前提下，又属于性格悲剧。因而她的悲剧更深刻、更感人。苔丝一生都逆来顺受，忍受含垢，不能自卫，而当她有生以来第一次起来自卫的时候，“‘典型’明证了，埃斯库罗斯所说的那个众神主宰对于苔丝的戏弄也完结了。”苔丝成了资产阶级国家祭坛上的祭品。苔丝的悲剧不仅仅源于命运注定了她的不幸,无法逃脱。而是,在那个时代背景下,女性心理的不健全,对自我意识的缺失,最终成了她悲剧人生的助推器。

第二篇：德伯家的苔丝读后感

Tess of D’Urbervilles

Analysis of each character’s impact on Tess’ adversity

1. The story of Tess

In the book Tess of D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy portrayed a poor innocent girl Tess who was seduced, abandoned and ultimately hanged on account of murder. The essay aims to explore the multiple reasons led to Tess’ final mishap through the analysis of each character’s personal traits and influence on Tess.

Tess, a comely innocent country girl, was born in an impoverished family. Her good-for-nothing father accidentally acquired the knowledge that they were kin to a noble family who was still in existence and sent her to claim kindred. Unexpectedly, the man called Alec D’Urbervilles was stunned by her beauty and sought all possible means to seduce her. Poor Tess lost her virginity when she was asleep. Bearing the crushing guilty and shame, she left there and later gave birth to a baby who died before long. Tess, in the hope of evading the floating rumors prevailed the village, sought a job in the adjacent dairy-house. It was there her fervor towards life was kindled again. She felt deeply in love with a gentleman named Angel Clare. Though shamed of her past misfortune, Tess accepted his ardent pursuit and married him before she could sought the proper chance to confide her secret. On the very night of their marriage, Tess retailed her heart-wrenching history to her loved one. Nonetheless, the story was too much for Clare who had been regarding Tess as a pure and innocent girl. He abandoned her in spite of her earnest and desperate imploration and left for Brazil. For the sake of her impoverished family, Tess was forced to resume toiling in another village where she ran into the culprit of her misery——Alec D’Urbervilles. Detesting him to the utmost degree, Tess rebuffed any favor he offered and wrote to Clare begging his forgiveness and return. However, her father’s abrupt death plunged the whole family into a homeless impasse. With no one to turn to, desperate Tess was forced to subdue to Alec’s pursuit. On the other hand, Clare, who had gone though a fierce psychological struggle, eventually resolved to forgive and accept her abandoned wife. However, things all changed dramatically. When Tess found the return of her loved husband, she was again trapped in extreme anguish. She killed Alec in anger and despair. The couple, who have finally unit, enjoyed transient 1

bliss and felicity before Tess was hanged. And, the story ends.

2. Each characters personal traits and influence on Tess

The harrowing story of Tess is no individual’s fault, but is the collective result of a bevy of people emerging in her life. They shaped the trajectory Tess plodded along. Some of them were good in nature and bore no ill-will towards Tess, however, their ignorance and selfish inflicted immense torment on her. In the passages to come, I shall analyze each character, with their influence decrease progressively, to better understand why fine innocent Tess would end so tragically.

2.1. Alec D’Urbervilles

Alec D’Urbervilles is the arch criminal of Tess miserable life. He is a profligate, skittish, self-centered, irresponsible and oscillatory dude.

Since the very first sight of Tess, he had been obsessed by her gorgeous appearance and coveting her body. Taking advantage of Tess’ parents’ vanity and desire, he flattered, coaxed Tess and even won support from her family with money and materials. Seeking his own happiness and lusty desire, he seduced Tess in the condition of her sound sleeping without the slightest consideration, especially in that time when girls’ virginity was so important, of the consequences of his conducts. Worse still, he left Tess after the misconduct with no further inquiry of what might befall her. It was on account of his selfish and imperious behaviors that Tess was pregnant with helplessness and humiliation; it was because of his recklessness and irresponsibility that Tess lost her child grievously beyond measure even without a formal funeral for her baby. Seems that he had tortured Tess enough, however, his reappearance after Tess was abandoned by his husband once again stirred her life and exacerbated her misfortune. Years after their departure, Tess encountered him when he was preaching among clusters of people. A former devil with bloody crime was persuading people to believe in God, he looked more like a clown. However, the outward devoted priest relinquished all his belief in God the moment he glanced at Tess and resumed his ardent and brazen pursuit of her despite her marriage. In order to make him drop his love, Tess told him the story of their poor baby and her tragic life after his departure. It seemed that there was a moment that Alec took on the coat of kindness. He offered to help her out but was 2

rebuffed decisively. Although Tess was stoical enough to convince every one that she would not betray his husband, she had no choice when the whole family was on the verge of homelessness and all burden was thrown on her shoulder. The then kind favor offered by Alec, however, turned out to be most heavy bonds trammeling her from returning to her husband. In order to talk Tess into accepting his help, he repeatedly convinced her that her husband would never return. However, when Clare eventually reasoned out that his punishment imposed on Tess was more than she should deserved and came back for her, Alec had already induced Tess to be his mistress. What’s more evil about Alec is that he didn’t mean to comfort her when she was desperate about her husband’s return, instead, he taunted and scoffed at her. Grievous beyond description, Tess stabbed him to death.

Alec D’Urbervilles’ emergences never gave Tess a break. He distorted Tess’ life to a miserable shape and ended up with a tragedy himself. In the eyes of Tess, Alec D’Urbervilles is nothing but embodiment of devil who relentlessly deprived her of her humble felicity.

2.2. Angel Clare

Angel Clare, as his name denotes, was like an angel in Tess’ life. When he presented, Tess’ life would be brightly illuminated and safely protected; when he was absent, Tess’ life was encroached by endless darkness and threatened by lurking dangers. Angel’s feathers have two distinct colors: white and black. When he put on the white one, he was a brilliant, versatile, learned and capable, upright, virtuous and promising man. While when he put on the other, he would transform into a hard-core, stubborn, cold-blood and cruel creature. Therefore, as he changed his color, Tess’ life would be stirred drastically.

Angel made his first appearance in Tess’ life when she was merely a pure and innocent girl. The two imprinted deep impression on each other at their first mute encounter. The belated angel didn’t show up until Tess was already hurt by evil Alec. However, the two fell so deeply in love to the degree that the stoical Tess would subdue to his love. Brilliant Angel was fascinated by Tess’ glamour as well as her unique insight of life which differed her from other girls. Tess, similarly, could hardly resist Angel’s charm and tenderness as well as his extensive knowledge. Not only did Angel kindled Tess’ passion and courage to life, but also enlightened her by imparting her knowledge. However, overshadowed by the past nightmare, Tess was trying, though in vain, to 3

refuse his proposal. Even their marriage was disapproved by Angel’s parents, he married her whatsoever before Tess could possibly find a proper chance to confess her history to him.

On the very evening of their marriage, the two were finally all by their own. Angel confessed to Tess that he had been，for a short period of time, in a sexual relationship with a woman and begged for her forgiveness. With no hesitation, Tess forgave him and was expecting the same result after her confessing. Nevertheless, Angel’s attitude changed drastically, or I would say to the opposite of his former attitude, that his passion and love for her died out in an instant. No matter how sincerely and pathetically Tess implored him, his hardened heart would not soften and even insisted that the two should depart immediately. All of a sudden, angel flew away, leaving poor Tess enduring the ceaseless mental and physical toil. Though bitter in heart, obstinate Angel went to Brazil with the bid to evade the unbearable truth and inflicting more despair on his newly married wife. Trammeled by the then conventional mental bonds, he could hardly accept his incomplete wife who had had such a horrible history and still concealed it from his knowledge. Whereas, he was steeped in his own mishap so much so that he ignored what might befall his wife after his departure. Selfishness is by no means an excessive word for him. Should he had known that Tess was bearing so much suffering, he would have come back earlier. But he assumed that his wife was not the one that he loved, only because she was deprived of virginity. It was not until the death of his friend, who claimed his doings as incorrect, that he eventually wakened from his obsession. Because of his obstinate, his wife’s attitude transformed from mute endurance to ardent imploration, and finally disfigured into despair and rage. Driven by the belated awakening, Angel scramble home for his abandoned wife, but only to had discovered all traces of her suffering. Regretted to the utmost degree, he found his wife in her ex-lover’s apartment. Seems that the story should have ended here, but it’s not over yet. Angel’s reappearance plunged Tess into greater misery. She had been longing for his return so intensely and desperately, but when he did come back, she could not accept him. What a tragic. Being extremely despaired, Tess killed Alec and went to Angel. Luckily, Angel didn’t refuse her this time. They had been escaping from arrest for several days, and it was for the transient felicity that Tess would die with no regret.

Those who are consistently evil are deplorable, but they are no match with those who transform from angel to devil. As is known, the one you love most is the one hurt you worst. If we call Alec D’Urbervilles the devil who took Tess to the hell, then Angel Clare must be the one who 4

ascend Tess up to the Heaven, than throw her back into inferno.

2.3. Tess Durbeyfield

No one should impute all his or her misfortune to others, so does Tess. There is no doubt that a couple of defects imprinted in Tess’ nature partly contributed to her mishap. Though it is widely acknowledged that Tess is an innocent, kind-hearted, filial, single-minded, defiant, enduring and staunch country girl, we have to admit that she is easy to compromise both to Angel Clare and Alec D’Urbervilles, and timid to face her own history especially when she encountered Angel. Besides, her confiding nature also entails her miserable story.

At the beginning of the story, Tess was sent to claim kindred with the D’Urbervilles who were actually not genuine. Knowing that Alec D’Urbervilles had been coveting her beauty, she didn’t rebuff him decisively because his material endowment to her poor family. For one thing, she was responsible so much so that she didn’t want to fail her family. For the other, she was so confiding that she even enjoyed his teaching her whistling. Worst of all, in the very night of the accident, Tess made the inconsiderate decision to go with Alec when she was trapped in a wrangling. Feeling deeply beholden to his favor, she distorted her own life trajectory on account of her innocence and purity.

Since her encounter with Angel Clare, Tess gradually resumed her passion for life as well as her courage to love. Her sense of guilt eventually gave way to her ardent love for Clare. Never before in her life had she been so valiant and devoting. But still, the tainted past had always been the core stuck in her throat. We may, speaking for her sake, defend that she always missed the proper time to confess her history. However, she didn’t disclose her past, in my view, owing to her timidity and cowardliness. She loved Clare with heart and soul so that she could hardly bear losing him before she even got him. Anguish beyond measure deep down, she was abandoned by her love and plunged into ceaseless regret. All those agony, she felt she deserve. When her father abruptly died and placed her whole family on the verge of homelessness, she had no alternative but turn to Alec. She compromised finally, but extremely unwillingly. When Angel came back for her, she was eventually overwhelmed by her love and stabbed Alec to death. What seems a wretched ending for us but a satisfactory one for Tess. The final days’ company with her love was sweet enough to offset all her bitterness she had endured.

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Tess, innocent as she was, had being brewing her misery all her life. Therefore, she was also a major element contributing to her tragedy.

2.4. Mr. and Mrs. Durbeyfield

As the parents of our heroine, Mr. and Mrs. Durbeyfield disappointed us with their ignorant, superficial, self-interested and irresponsible nature. It is never exaggerative to say that it was them who pushed their daughter into the misfortune abyss.

Mr. Durbeyfield opened the story with his stupidity——he was so convinced by the story of being the descendent of an extinct noble family. Sluggish and stupid as he was, he even fancied to become rich by claiming kindred. As the elder daughter, Tess was naturally became the tool for his ill-planned “blue-print”. With the knowledge of their daughter’s being molested, what came into the mind of Mrs. Durbeyfield was that she might marry noble and rich rather than that she might in danger. Never had they make self-examination. After Tess was insulted, they didn’t comfort her, instead, Mr. Durbeyfield even regarded her as a stain on their reputation. A family without families’ due warmness is the reason why Tess was so independent and shouldered everything herself.

Mrs. Durbeyfield was no better than Mr. Durbeyfield. In her letter to her daughter when Tess was struggling with her choice of marrying Angel, Mrs. Durbeyfield persuaded Tess to mine the secret forever. Although, it is understandable that a mother wish her daughter possess felicity, her conduct unconsciously laid the foreshadowing of the terrible end. If they were a slightly more competent and responsible, their daughter would not have to shoulder so many burdens and pressure which ruined her due happiness. As parents, they were far from competent.

Family, as is known, is supposed to be the haven for those drifters. Whereas, Tess’ family left her nothing but unbearable stress and became the last place she wanted to go. As parents, they are more than pathetic.

2.5. Tess’ friends Izz, Retty and Marian

Not everyone emerged in Tess’ life imposed misery upon her. There was some who did bring her goodness, her three companions who shared the same room with her, for example. They were equally innocent, pure enduring and tough as Tess. Besides, they were also fascinated by Mr. Clare. 6

Rare animals they are. There is nowhere to find a girl who sacrifices her love for the sake of her friend and even helped her out of her adversity. However, the three are precisely the sort of rare girls.

Unlike Tess, the three had never had their past stained. They were brave in their fruitless love for Clare. Knowing that Clare and Tess were in deep love with each other, they were envious but not hatred toward Tess. On the day of their marriage, the three respectively did some stupid things because of their flooding emotion. However, when they found out that Tess was abandoned long before her marriage, they did not gloat at her calamity. In stead, they tried to comfort and help her. What worth mention is Izz. Before Clare resolved to head for Brazil, he was so overwhelmed by sorrow that he asked Izz to go with him. Izz accepted his invitation. But when asked how much she loved Clare, Izz said she did love Clare, but her love was no a patch on Tess who could die for him. It was her remarks that awakened Clare and he apologized for his repulsive movement. During Clare’s absent, Izz and Marian offered Tess a job which was so urgent for her. Companionship was more than precious for the then calamity-stricken Tess.

The three unsophisticated girls lived in their own world and influenced Tess’ life unconsciously.

3. Conclusion

Tess, as Hardy portrayed, is a heroine with respectable traits but end up with adversity. Her misfortune is by no means an accident, but the collective result of all characters emerged in her life, including her own. No individual is accountable for her calamity. All of them shaped their respective traits under the influence of the temporal culture background and social convention. They were orbiting around their own tracks when accidentally intersected with Tess’. The influence is mutual and can be great and small. Probably, some of them can hardly sense the existence of Tess, but others’ life was altered dramatically for her presence.

Beneath the hand of Hardy portrayed a society trammeled by conventional and rigid codes, in which Tess was one of those who were tragically stifled and deprived the right to enjoy a felicitous life. She is the epitome Hardy used to denunciate the dark society. Her calamity is by no means an accident, nor is it the only one. Through her story, we are provoked to pierce deeper into that society and ponder more.

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