On The Social Cause of Tess’Tragedy

Abstract

“Tess of the D’urbervilles” is Thomas Hardy’s most famous novel. Under Hardy’s pen, the heroine Tess is created as an attractive and warm-hearted pure woman, who has the quality of endurance and self-sacrifice. Tess has long been regarded as the most exceptional woman character in English literary history. However , the life of this pure woman is tragic¹. She is firstly seduced², then abandoned and finally driven to murder for which she is hanged. What is responsible for her tragic fate? What is the reason for a pure woman to become a murderer? We couldn’t help thinking over these questions again and again. From the tragic story of Tess’ short life, we can see in a deeper sense that it is the capitalist society of the time that has ruined her. Living in a society overwhelmed by capitalist Law, religion and state apparatus³, Tess, a poor peasant, inevitably⁴ leads a tragic life and finally goes to her collapse⁵. This paper is trying to make comments on the social causes of Tess’ tragedy.

苔丝悲惨命运的社会根源
On the social cause of Tess's tragedy
作为19世纪英国批判现实主义最后一位代表哈代在其不朽之作<德伯家的苔丝>中描述了主人公苔丝的悲惨结局并批判了当时维多利亚盛世帷幕掩盖下的资产阶级的虚伪及传统道德的桎梏对苔丝的迫害.但由于其所处时代的阶级局限性,哈代并没有认清苔丝悲剧的社会根源.历史唯物主义从劳动是人类的本质活动出发,揭示了人本身最根本的特点,即人是一种社会存在物,人的本质是一切社会关系的总和.本文拟从人的社会存在的观点来探讨苔丝悲惨命运的社会根源.