TESS is really a tragic figure in the book TESS of the d’Urberwilles

She was seduced by a so-called gentleman—Alec, and from then on her life totally changed from this loss of innocence. People looked down on her and respected her no more. Actually she did nothing wrong because before she was seduced she knew nothing of men. She was just a girl when she first met that terrible man.

She was forced by the gossips and the church to blame herself for this accident, so she thought she deserved nothing good. In order to get rid of the past she decided to go to a distant dairy farm but was still saying to herself that she was wrong. Maybe God didn’t agree with that, because the Lord gave her someone she loved with her whole heart and life—Angel Chare. Angel popped the question to her but she refused him without saying why. She said she loved him deeply and perhaps no one in the world could love him more than she did but she could not marry him for some unspoken reason. Angel wasn’t satisfied with this vague answer and did his best to win Tess. Somehow she agreed and they soon fixed the wedding day. Soon after their wedding Angel confessed the crime he committed to a woman long time ago and asked for Tess’s forgiveness. Tess was not at all angry and forgave Angel at once; in fact she was rather happy and excited for she also had things to confess.

She sat and told everything to Angel, hoping he would forgive her as he was forgiven but she was wrong. She was not forgiven, not as she thought she was. The woman pays.

Without Angel’s love, nothing meant anything to her. The result wasn’t important now. Tess was arrested for her murder of that so-called gentleman. Why? She still loved Angel and when he finally went back to her and asked for HER forgiveness, after he regretted what he had done unfair to Tess, she was desperate. That was too late—Alec had always told Tess that Angel would never come back so he won Tess’s trust. Unluckily Angel did come back and found Tess.! Everything was too late! Tess was deceived and she lost Angel for the second time! The strengh of her love was so strong that she had forgotten the difference between right and wrong. Before that she had done nothing wrong but when she killed Alec, everything really changed! She became a criminal! How could it be? She was as pure and innocent as the good wife in the Bible. Her whole character was honest and faithful. Angel figured out at last that a person should be judged not only on what he has done but also on what he wanted to do!

Tess didn’t want to be seduced by man and she had no power to defend herself so she lost her innocence and that’s all! Angel also did the wrong thing and it was even more serious than Tess’s crime but HE was not blamed for it. Why it is always the woman who pays? Why they are always hurt? Why was Tess’s girlish purity lost?

Why does the wrong man take the wrong woman? Why do the bad often ruin the good?

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Why is beauty damaged by ugliness? Women are too weak! Thousands of years of history have shown us that women have always been treated unfairly!

In old China there was a culture, which didn’t think of women as human beings. If you asked one if he was the oldest in his family, he would probably answer “the oldest one” even if he had some elder sisters. If you asked why then he would say, “Ha, they are not included!”

People gave birth to many girls in order to have only one boy to keep the family name going. They thought girls had no use for the family. They would be married and go to live with their husbands’ home and be their wives some day sooner or later. So they were extremely hard on girls.

Girls should be hard working, faithful, loyal, intelligent, and virtuous and the most important thing was she must be a maiden! If her husband was the first man who touched her then she was a good girl, a good wife no matter how she thought. If she wasn’t, then she would gain a very bad reputation and nobody would dare to go near her. What about men? People did not care whether he was an experienced man or not, nor did they care about his character. They thought man equals power and power equals rights…

Now let’s not be so bitter. Nowadays women’s situations have become much better. Some are because of the change of society and some are because of civilization. Just let those poor painful women like TESS be just a memory.

——邓小凤

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第二篇：苔丝英文读后感

Book Report of Tess of the D'Urbervilles

About the author

Thomas Hardy (1840---1928), is an English novelist who is famous for novels of character and Environment. When he was young, he derived a love of music from his father and a devotion to literature from his mother. He grew up in the Dorset shire, of which the environment there became the main backdrop of his writings. His writings often reflected the change after capitalism intruded the countries in England and the people?s hard life. The novel Tess of the D'Urbervilles was published in the year 1891, which was his most famous novel.

The summary of the book

It tells a story of a tragedy life of a pure girl .In the Victorian period, a rural clergyman in England tells D?Urbervilles, a simple farmer, that he was descended from the illustrious D?Urbervilles family. The D?Urbervilles couple sent his daughter Tess to a family named D?Urbervilles in order to improve their social status. Tess was asked to feed chickens there and Alec fell in love with Alec, who later raped her, so she left, pregnant. She went back home, gave birth to the baby, named Sorrow who died soon. Some time later, Tess began working as a milkmaid, and there she met her true love Angel Clare. They fell in love, but Angel does not learn of her previous relationship with Alec until their wedding night, and abandoned her. Deserted by her husband, Tess met Alec again, and poverty forced her to resume their relationship. Angel returned from travelling abroad, remorseful at his treatment of Tess, but found her with Alec. Tess murdered Alec in order to run away with Angel. They spent one night of happiness together, before she was arrested.

My viewpoint towards this book

After reading this book, what cause me to deeply think is that Tess?s tragedy is a result of lots of factors.

First of all, Family background caused Tess?s Tragedy

Tess?s father was a poor countryside hawker, who is lazy and is addicted to drinking and Tess?s mother was a dairymaid, who was sloppy and simply-minded. They sent Tess there not only wanted Tess to have a better life, but as well hoped that they could get rid of their poverty and led a noble life. In order to showed off own so-called "aristocrat" status and satisfied mere vanity, Tess?s parents wanted to claim relative relationship or marriage to improve own status. Although Tess felt anticipated towards her parents? hypocrisy and looked down upon her noble origin, she still went there because she thought she was the family's oldest daughter who should take the family burden. She loved her little sisters and brothers so deeply that she cannot cruel enough to look they suffer hardships. Afterwards, in order to protect her family from forcing to leave the native place after her father died, Tess came back to Alec again with no choice, just for her family. The God gave Tess a woman of glory soul, which was called the daughter of nature, such as considerate, caring for her families, responsibility. However, she was ruined by her family background and the cruel reality.

Secondly, Tess? personal characteristics were also the cause of her tragedy.

Towards life, Tess is never surrendered. No matter life is difficult, she tried her best to

overcome the hardships. Facing Alec, she always resisted the temptation. She gave up enjoying the comfort of life, raised children alone. She was not knocked downed by the discrimination around, and she kept silently, endured the injustice of life. Although her life was full of combat and disaster, but she endured and never made excessive demands of life. When she met Alec again, which were also the most difficult times of her life, however she is unmoved upon temptation. As it is said in the book “passionately swung the glove by the gauntlet directly in his face……A scarlet oozing appeared where her blow and alighted, and in a moment the blood began dropping from his mouth upon the straw.”（Hardy, 2004, P389）,how uncompromising she was. But on the other hand, Tess was not a successor in love. She was slavery in love. “To her sublime trustfulness he was all that goodness could be——knew all that a guide, philosopher, and friend should know. She thought every line in the contour of his person the perfection of masculine beauty, his soul the soul of a saint, his intellect that of a seer. The compassion of his love for her, as she saw it, made her life up her heart to him in devotion.” (Hardy, 2004, P230) In this sentence, we can clearly see how cheap she was. In love, Tess lost herself, lost her own dignity. It was this blind, unequal loves that made Tess lose some rights of a true wife, who could seek happiness.

At last, it was the morality and ethic in the Britain's Victorian era that caused Tess? tragedy. Tess was a poor peasant girl who wanted to rely on her hands to pursuit individual happiness right, but the society forced her to change. Reading this novel can let us know the view of morality and ethic in the hypocritical bourgeoisie in the Britain's Victorian era, Tess?s tragedy is due to the moral root of society and the stable view of women chastity in the society which male is center. “An immeasurable social chasm was to divide our heroine?s personality thereafter from that previous self of hers who stopped from her mother?s door to try her fortune at Tran ridge poultry-farm.”(Hardy, 2004, P86) Tess was no longer virginity. She blamed her herself, but she had no choice because she is the weak in that society. Instead, Alec, who should be blamed, still led a carnal life, just for he was the upper class who had a lot of property. This book became the one of the most great works in the late of Victorian era, because it boldly expose hypocritical moral in the Capitalist society and condemned the Capitalism in the late 19th century caused impoverishment and decay of small farmers in rural England .

Of course, there were some other factors that caused Tess? tragedy, but some factors are beyond my understandings. Maybe I don?t have a deep understanding of capitalism in the 19th century, some behaviors of Tess seems unreasonable to me.

Love is great and selfless. If you love a person, you should accept her past, because her past is also a part of her life and is a part of her soul. If you can not accept her past, you will never be able to enter her heart world just like Angel. If he can accept Tess?s past, he would not abandon her. Of course, Tess would not come back to Alec, and she would lead a happy life. Being a man or a woman, I suppose we should be tolerant when facing love. There is no doubt that Tess?s love far greater than Alec?s and Angel?s. Alec thought Tess was just a toll. He hurt Tess so deeply partly because his nature of being a upper class person and partly because he was a playboy. Angel?s love was no greater than Alec. Although he claimed he thought every one was equal in this world, he could hardly carry it out when facing the lower class. In contrast with the two man? love, Tess?s love was nature. She tried her best to make her love perfect. No matter who she was facing, if this man deserved her love, she devoted all her heart to love him. Her love is selfless. Love is understandment and tolerance. You can let our hearts as wide as the blue sky, the sea all because love.

Having read this novel, I like the heroine very much because of her purity, warmness, nobility and the spirit of devotion, she dared to fight against the evil, bravely seek and struggle for the rights of love. People gave birth to many girls in order to have only one boy to keep the family name going. They thought girls had no use for the family. They would be married and go to live with their husbands? home and be their wives some day sooner or later. So they were extremely hard on girls.

Girls should be hard working, faithful, loyal, intelligent, and virtuous and the most important thing was she must be a maiden! If her husband was the first man who touched her then she was a good girl, a good wife no matter how she thought. If she wasn?t, then she would gain a very bad reputation and nobody would dare to go near her. What about men? People did not care whether he was an experienced man or not, nor did they care about his character. They thought man equals power and power equals rights…Nowadays women?s situations have become much better. However, in today?s society, we can see that woman is no longer an attachment of man. Thought study and working, woman can have a right to choose their own lives, as a housewife or as a career woman．It is a symbol of the development of our society. On the other hand, some class consciousness still exists. Some are because of the change of society and some are because of civilization. Just let those poor painful women like TESS be just a memory.

If the beauty of Carmen is the wild treason, the beauty of Jane Eyre is stubborn tenacity, and then the beauty of Tess is pure nature. She is the daughter of nature. She's as pure as the blue sky even though occasionally obscured by clouds. When the clouds disappear, she is still beautiful.

Thomas Hardy was famous for the poetical novels. "Tess of the D?Urbervilles" is one of these kinds. The novel is so fresh that it is nearly like a poem. For nearly a century, it has been popular with the people all over the world.

Tess Durbeyfield

The young daughter of a rural working class family at the start of the novel, Tess Durbeyfield is sent to claim kinship with the wealthier side of her family, the d'Urbervilles, when her family faces imminent poverty. After being seduced by Alec d'Urberville, she bears his child, which dies in infancy, and must leave her home to start a new life elsewhere. Although Tess is dutiful and obedient as the novel begins, she gains great strength and fortitude through her suffering, but remains unwavering in her love for Angel Clare and is prepared to do anything that Angel might wish.

Angel Clare

The son of a parson and the youngest of three brothers, Angel did not enter college as his siblings, despite his superior intellect, but rather diverged from the career path his father intended for him, the ministry, to study agriculture so that he might become a farmer. Despite holding more liberal opinions than his father and brothers, Angel Clare is nevertheless equally dogmatic and obstinate. He has a deeply theoretical mindset; it is this quality that causes him to reject Tess when he learns information about her past that contradicts his idealistic view of her.

Alec d'Urberville

The sophisticated, urbane son of the elderly, blind Mrs. Stoke-d'Urberville, Alec is rapacious and possessive, believing that his status in society and his financial situation gives him power to possess and control Tess after he gives her a job caring for his mother's chickens. After seducing Tess, Alec reforms his hedonistic ways to become a fundamentalist preacher, but soon deviates from his newfound spirituality once he sees Tess again.

Mrs. Brooks

She is the householder at The Herons, the boarding establishment at Sandbourne where Alec and Tess stay together. She discovers Alec after Tess stabs him in the heart. Mercy Chant

Reverend Clare and his wife intend this young woman from Emminster to marry Angel, despite his affection for Tess, for she holds proper religious views, according to the Clares.

Reverend Clare

A fundamentalist parson in the style that has nearly died out when the novel begins, Reverend Clare does not send his son, Angel, to college because the two disagree on religious philosophy. Reverend Clare is responsible for Alec d'Urberville's conversion after he confronts Alec.

Cuthbert Clare

He is one of Angel's older brothers.

Felix Clare

He is one of Angel's older brothers.

Mrs. Clare

Angel's mother is a conservative woman who dislikes the idea that Angel has married Tess, believing her to be a simple country girl unsuitable for her more refined son.

Richard Crick

The dairyman and owner of Talbothays Dairy, he employs both Tess and Angel. Dairyman Crick is a gregarious, jovial man who treats Tess well as an employer.

Abraham Durbeyfield

The younger brother of Tess, Abraham accompanies his sister when she must deliver a cart of bees in place of their father.

Joan Durbeyfield

Tess's mother is a bawdy, irresponsible woman who views her daughter only in exploitative terms, believing that she can send Tess to the d'Urbervilles explicitly to marry a gentleman and thus raise the fortunes of her family. Tess returns home when Joan is deathly ill, but she makes a sudden recovery just as her husband's health worsens.

John Durbeyfield

A jovial, irresponsible man, John Durbeyfield sets the plot of the novel in motion when he learns that the Durbeyfield family is descended from the renowned d'Urbervilles. John suffers from heart disease, and when he dies his family is evicted from their home and forced to move to Kingsbere.

Liza-Lu Durbeyfield

Tess's younger sister travels to Flintcomb-Ash to request that her sister return home when her parents are ill. Before Tess is caught, she asks Angel to marry Liza-Lu after Tess has died.

Car Darch

Nicknamed the Queen of Spades, this woman nearly fights Tess when Tess laughs at Car when she stains her dress with treacle. Tess is only saved from a brawl when Alec saves her. Tess later meets Car again when the two work together at Flintcomb-Ash.

Nancy Darch

Nicknamed the Queen of Diamonds, Nancy is the sister of Car and accompanies her sister to Flintcomb-Ash to work.

Farmer Groby

When Angel and Tess are in town before their wedding, this former Trantridge Cross resident identifies Tess as a woman of ill repute, causing Angel to defend her honor. Later he nearly accosts Tess as she travels to Flintcomb-Ash, and appears a third time as her employer at Flintcomb. Because of her early cold treatment of him, Farmer Groby is a difficult taskmaster who treats Tess poorly.

Izz Huett

One of the dairymaids at Talbothays Dairy with whom Tess stays, Izz Huett is also in love with Angel Clare, but after his separation from Tess when he invites her to accompany him to Brazil, Izz refuses because of Tess's love for Angel. Izz later works with Tess at Flintcomb-Ash and sends a letter to Angel telling him to forgive Tess.

Jonathan Kail

A servant at Talbothays' dairy, he delivers news of the other works to Tess and Angel during their honeymoon.

Marian

One of the dairymaids at Talbothays with whom Tess stays, Marian is also in love with Angel Clare and becomes an alcoholic after Tess and Angel marry. Marian invites Tess to come to Flintcomb-Ash where she works, and with Izz Huett sends a letter to Angel telling him to forgive Tess.

Retty Priddle

One of the dairymaids at Talbothays with whom Tess stays, Retty is also in love with Angel

Clare. After Tess and Angel marry, Retty attempts to drown herself, but soon joins her former dairymaids at Flintcomb-Ash.

Mrs. Stoke-d'Urberville

An elderly, blind woman and the mother of Alec, she employs Tess to look after her chickens. She dies not long after Tess leaves Trantridge Cross.

Parson Tringham

This clergyman in Marlott tells John Durbeyfield that his family is descended from the noted d'Urberville family.

Tess of the D'Urbervilles Summary

Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles begins with the chance meeting between Parson Tringham and John Durbeyfield. The parson addresses the impoverished Durbeyfield as "Sir John," and remarks that he has just learned that the Durbeyfields are descended from the d'Urbervilles, a family once renowned in England. Although Parson Tringham mentions this only to note how the mighty have fallen, John Durbeyfield rejoices over the news. Durbeyfield arrives at home during the May Day dance, in which his daughter Tess dances. During this celebration, Tess happens to meet three brothers: Felix, Cuthbert and Angel Clare. Angel does not dance with Tess, but takes note of her as the most striking of the girls. When Tess arrives at home, she learns that her father is at the tavern celebrating the news of his esteemed family connections. Since John must awake early to deliver bees, Tess sends her mother to get her father, then her brother Abraham, and finally goes to the tavern herself when none of them return.

At the tavern, John Durbeyfield reveals that he has a grand plan to send his daughter to claim kinship with the remaining d'Urbervilles, and thus make her eligible to marry a gentleman. The next morning, John Durbeyfield is too ill to undertake his journey, thus Tess and Abraham deliver the bees. During their travels, the carriage wrecks and their horse is killed. Since the family has no source of income without their horse, Tess agrees to go to the home of the Stoke-d'Urbervilles to claim kinship. There she meets Alec d'Urberville, who shows her the estate and prepares to kiss her. Tess returns home and later receives a letter from Mrs. Stoke-d'Urberville, who offers Tess employment tending to her chickens. When Alec comes to take Tess to the d'Urberville estate, Joan thinks that he may marry Tess. On the way to the d'Urberville estate at Trantridge, Alec drives the carriage recklessly and tells Tess to grasp him around the waist. He persists, and when Tess refuses him she calls her an artful hussy and rather sensitive for a cottage girl.

When Tess meets Mrs. Stoke-d'Urberville, she learns that the blind woman has no knowledge that Tess is a relative. Tess becomes more accustomed to Alec, despite his continual propositions to her. She finds Alec hiding behind the curtains while Tess whistles to the bullfinches in his mother's bedroom.

During a weekend visit to Chaseborough, Tess travels with several other girls. Among these girls are Car and Nancy Darch, nicknamed the Queen of Spades and the Queen of Diamonds. Car carries a wicker basket with groceries on her head, and finds that a stream of treacle drips from

this basket down her back. While all of the girls laugh at Car, she only notices that Tess is laughing and confronts her. Car appears ready to fight Tess when Alec d'Urberville arrives and takes her away. As Alec whisks Tess off, Car's mother remarks that Tess has "gotten out of the frying pan and into the fire."

On the journey home, Alec asks Tess why she dislikes when he kisses her, and she replies that she does not love him and in fact is sometimes angered by him. When Tess learns that Alec has prolonged the ride home, she decides to walk home herself. Alec asks her to wait while he ascertains their precise location, and returns to find Tess, who has fallen asleep. Alec has sex with Tess.

Several weeks later, Tess returns home. Tess tells Alec that she hates herself for her weakness and will never love him. While at home, Tess admits to her mother what happened and asks her why she did not warn Tess about the danger that men pose. Rumors abound concerning Tess's return to the village of Marlott. In fact Tess is pregnant and has bears the child months later. However, the child becomes gravely ill before she has had it baptized. Without the opportunity to call a minister, Tess baptizes the baby herself with the name Sorrow before it dies. When Tess meets the parson the next day, he agrees that the baby had been properly baptized, but refuses to give Sorrow a Christian burial until she convinces him otherwise.

Tess leaves Marlott once again to work at Talbothays dairy, where she works for Richard Crick and finds that Angel Clare, whom she vaguely remembers, now works at the dairy. The other milkmaids (Izz Huett, Retty Priddle, Marian) tell Tess that Angel is there to learn milking and that, since he is a parson's son, rarely notices the girls. Although his brothers are each clergymen and he was expected to be as well, Angel did not attend college because of philosophical and religious differences with his father and established church doctrine. He works at Talbothays to study the workings of a dairy in preparation for owning a farm himself one day.

Angel grows fond of Tess, and begins arranging the cows so that she may milk the ones that are her favorites. However, Tess learns from Dairyman Crick that Angel has scorn for members of noble families, even those whose families have fallen from prominence. Tess realizes that the three other milkmaids are attracted to Tess, but they know that Angel prefers Tess. When Tess overhears the three milkmaids discussing this, she feels jealousy at the others' attraction for Angel, and begins to believe that, as a working woman, she is more suited to be a farmer's wife than a woman of equal rank as Angel. Still, Tess retreats from Angel's affections until he finally declares his love for her.

Angel visits his home in Emminster, where he discusses the possibility of marriage with his parents. While visiting his family, Angel realizes how life at Talbothays had changed him. Although his parents suggest that Angel marry a local girl, Mercy Chant, Angel suggests that he should marry a woman with practical talents. His parents only consent when they feel certain that the woman is an unimpeachable Christian. When Angel returns from Emminster, he proposes to Tess, who rejects him without giving him a reason. Although he persists, she finally admits that she is a d'Urberville, thus a member of the type of family that he despises. When Angel remains

unfazed by this news, she agrees to marry him.

Tess writes to her mother to ask whether she should admit the entirety of her past to Angel, but her mother assures her that she should not. Tess remains nervous concerning her impending marriage, attempting to postpone the date and forgetting to make important wedding plans. While in town with Angel, Tess sees a man who recognizes her from Trantridge and remarks on her questionable reputation. Angel defends her honor, but Tess realizes that she must tell him about her past with Alec d'Urberville. Tess writes Angel a letter and slips it under his doorway. The next morning Angel behaves normally. It is only on the day of her wedding that Tess finds that the letter slid under the carpet and Angel thus never found it.

After Angel and Tess marry, they go to Wellbridge for their honeymoon and remain at a home once owned by the d'Urbervilles. Tess learns from Jonathan Kail, who delivers a wedding gift from the Cricks, that the girls at Talbothays have suffered greatly since Angel and Tess left. On their wedding night, Angel and Tess vow to tell one another their faults. Angel admits that he had a short affair with a stranger in London, while Tess admits about Alec d'Urberville.

After telling Angel her story, Tess begs for forgiveness, but he claims that forgiveness is irrelevant, for she was one person and is now another woman in the same shape. She vows to do anything he asks and to die if he would so desire, but he claims that there is discordance between her current self-sacrifice and past self-preservation. Although he claims to forgive her, Angel still questions whether or not he still loves her. Angel's obstinate nature blocks his acceptance of Tess's faults on principle, and he remains with Tess only to avoid scandal until he tells her that they should separate.

That night, Angel begins sleepwalking and carries Tess out of their home and across the nearby river to the local cemetery, where he places her in a coffin. She leads him back to bed without waking him, and the next morning he seems to remember nothing of the event. Angel tells Tess that he will go away from her and she should not come to him, but may write if she is ill or needs anything.

Tess returns home, where her family remains impoverished and Tess has no place to stay. When Tess receives a letter from Angel telling her that he has gone to the north of England to look for a farm, Tess uses this as an excuse to leave Marlott. Angel visits his parents and tells them nothing about his separation, but they sense that some difficulty has occurred in his marriage. Angel decides to go to Brazil to look for a farm, although he realizes that he has treated Tess poorly. Before leaving for Brazil, Angel sees Izz Huett and proposes that she accompany him to Brazil. When he asks her whether she loves him as much as Tess does, Izz replies that nobody could love him more than Tess does, because Tess would give up her life for Angel. Angel realizes his foolishness and tells Izz that her answer saved him from great folly.

Tess journeys to Flintcomb-Ash, where she will join Marian at a different farm. On her way to the farm, Tess finds the man from Trantridge who identified her when she was with Angel, and he demands an apology for allowing Angel to wrongfully defend her honor. Tess hides from him,

and after she is propositioned by young men in a nearby inn the next morning, she clips off her eyebrows to make herself less unattractive.

Tess works as a swede-hacker at Flintcomb-Ash, a barren and rough place. Marian believes that Tess has been abused and thinks Angel may be to blame, but Tess refuses to allow Marian to mention Angel's name in such a derogatory manner. Izz Huett and Retty Priddle join Marian and Tess at Flintcomb-Ash, and Tess learns that the man who insulted her is the owner of the farm where she works. Car and Nancy Darch work at this farm as well, although neither recognize Tess. Since the conditions at Flintcomb-Ash are so arduous, Tess visits Emminster to ask the Clares for assistance, but does not approach them when she overhears Felix and Cuthbert Clare discussing how disreputable Angel's new wife must be. While returning to Flintcomb-Ash, Tess learns that a noted preacher is nearby: Alec d'Urberville.

When Tess confronts Alec, he claims that he has a newfound duty to save others and feels that he must save Tess. Still, he seems to blame Tess for her tempting Alec to sin, and makes her swear never to tempt him again. Alec begins to visit Tess frequently, despite her overt suspicion and dislike for him, and even asks her to marry him and accompany him to Africa where he plans to be a missionary. Tess refuses and admits to Alec that she is already married, but Alec derides the idea that her marriage is secure and attempts to refute Tess's (and Angel's) religious views. Alec accuses Tess once more of tempting him, and blames her for his backsliding from Christianity. Alec soon disavows his faith and loses the adornments of it, returning to his more fashionable ways and giving up preaching. When Alec tells Tess that she should leave her husband, she slaps him and then refuses to back down when Alec appears ready to return her blow. She tells Alec that she will not cry if he hits her, because she will always be his victim.

Alec soon tries a different tactic to get Tess to submit to him; he attempts to dominate her by exerting financial superiority. Alec offers to support her family, but only as a means to make Tess and her family dependent. Tess returns home to Marlott when she learns that her mother may be dying and her father is quite ill, but soon after her return her father dies instead, while her mother recovers. After the death of John Durbeyfield, the family loses their home and must find accommodations elsewhere. They move to Kingsbere, where the d'Urberville family tomb is located. Although Alec offers to support the Durbeyfields, Tess refuses, even when he offers a guarantee in writing that he would continue to support them no matter the relationship between Tess and himself. When the Durbeyfields reach Kingsbere, they find no room at the inn where they were scheduled to stay, and thus must remain in the church near the d'Urberville family vault.

Angel Clare returns home from Brazil, weak and sickly, and finds the letter from Tess in which she claims that she will try to forget him. Angel writes to her home at Marlott to search for her, but only later finds out that the Durbeyfields are no longer at Marlott and that Joan does not know where her daughter is. Angel decides to search for Tess, and eventually finds her mother, who reluctantly admits to Angel that Tess is at Sandbourne, a thriving village nearby.

Angel finds Tess at an inn at Sandbourne, where she has been living a comfortable life with Alec d'Urberville. Tess tells Angel that it is too late, and that Alec convinced her that he would

never return. Tess admits that she hates Alec now, for he lied to her about Angel. After Angel leaves, Tess returns to her room and begins to sob. Alec finds her, and after a heated argument Tess stabs Alec in the heart, killing him.

As the dejected Angel leaves town, he finds Tess following him. She admits that she has killed Alec, and the two continue along together to escape. They remain at a deserted mansion before continuing northward to find a boat out of England. They rest at Stonehenge; there Tess, who realizes that she will inevitably be captured, asks Angel to marry her sister, Liza-Lu, after she is gone. As Tess sleeps a party of men surround Angel and Tess to capture her and arrest her for Alec's murder. Tess is executed for her crime, while Angel does her bidding and presumably marries Liza-Lu.