Tess has a short and wretched life. Because of the subjective or objective reasons, she has always been drawn into the different incidents, which eventually lead to her tragic end. Not only she survives from struggling against the society, environment and fate, but also she falls into the claws of the fate due to her weakness and blindness.
Ⅱ. Social Tragedy of Tess
In this chapter, I will introduce the social tragedy of Tess in hardy’s life, which includes The invasion of capitalism in the Rural Areas, The victims of power, violence traditional ethics for spiritual destruction, and from the feminist perspective to explain Tess’s tragic life.
2.1 The Invasion of Capitalism in the Rural Areas
Hardy write the novel during what turned out to be nearly the last years of massive but complex shift of a nation’s economic forces. Agriculture was especially hart hit. The middle of the 19th century British industrial civilization invaded the countryside, England was gradually developing from an agricultural country to a mainly industrial society with the developing of capitalism, which leads to a strong shock to author’s hometown. The rapid disintegration of the patriarchal society makes the inpidual farmer into unemployment, more and more peasants becomes impoverished and live a miserable life. Capitalism brings a great harm to this old, rural and agriculture region. These years witnessed the disintegration and destruction of English peasantry. The author used by the view to local, from plane to point, the objective description of brushwork, deeply express people survival plight. Social tragedy is caused by people conflicted with the social environment. In a sense, Hardy pointed out: "pure girl Tess's tragedy is the tragedy of the old farmers, both abandoned by the modern civilization of capitalism,"(p.33) Tess lives in rural British capitalism invaded the countryside and poisoned the atmosphere of Victorian society. Her tragedy was caused by the times, while Alec and Angel represent two different objective social forces forced her into hell. They directly caused the social tragedy of Tess. Tess is living in the Victorian era, it was the time when capitalism eroded countryside and poisoned the conservative social atmosphere. Tess’s family was poverty-stricken without exception. As a daughter of a poor villager, and a wage-laborer later, it is difficult for her to live a better life. It is under the capitalist exploitation that Tess is seduced and ruined badly. The poor life pushes Tess into trap of the wicked man, and it is the capitalist exploitation that brings about their poor life, the tragedy of Tess is the tragedy of the times, society. 英文论文多角度分析苔丝的命运悲剧(2):http://www.751com.cn/yingyu/lunwen_10213.html