Tess of the D'Urbervilles

Time passes: Angel avoids Tess and spends all of his time working at the mill or studying. Tess tells Angel that he should divorce her if he can no longer love her and is shocked when he bitterly explains that divorce is not possible. Tess tells him, “I never thought but that you could! I hoped you would not, yet I believed without a doubt that you could cast me off if you were determined” (258). Angel is at a loss as to what to do but tells Tess that he does not think they should live together. Tess offers to return to her home, and Angel agrees to this plan.

Late that night, Tess wakes when she hears Angel coming up the stairs to her room. When he enters, she realizes that he is sleepwalking. Angel murmurs about Tess being dead and speaks about her in a loving way. Tess stays silent and perfectly still, even when Angel picks her up and carries her out of the house. He carries her out to the ruins of the church, where an empty stone coffin stands. Angel lays Tess gently in the coffin and then lies down nearby.

Tess climbs out and leads Angel back to the house without awakening him. The next morning, Angel has no memory of what transpired. Angel and Tess leave the farmhouse and make a stop at the dairy, where they pretend to be a happy couple. Then they drive to Tess’s hometown of Marlott, where he drops her off. Angel explains to Tess that his feelings might change, and if so, he will reach out to her. However, she must not contact him. Tess replies, “I agree to the conditions, Angel; because you know best what my punishment ought to be” (272).

As Tess gets closer to home, she worries about what to tell her parents. She hears people talking about how John and Joan Durbeyfield have been proudly celebrating the marriage of their eldest daughter and feels even more ashamed. When Tess arrives at the Durbeyfield house, Joan is surprised and confused. Tess explains that Angel was upset when she told him about her past, and Joan scolds her daughter, reiterating that Tess should never have disclosed the truth.

John Durbeyfield is also confused by the estrangement between Angel and Tess, and Tess overhears him wondering if Tess is even married or has entered into a second extramarital relationship. Tess is ashamed and realizes that she cannot stay at home. After only a few weeks, Tess receives a letter from Angel, informing her that he is looking at farms in the north of England. Tess tells her parents that she is going to join him. She also leaves her parents half of the money that Angel has given her, which improves their outlook.

Angel impulsively decides to move to Brazil and start a farm there. He goes to his hometown to tell his parents; they are very surprised when Angel arrives without his wife since he has only been married for three weeks. Angel vaguely tells them that Tess is staying with her parents and will remain there while he goes to Brazil. His mother is worried and asks Angel more questions about Tess; he insists that she is pure and virtuous and will only hint that he has some doubts about their compatibility. His mother reassures him, telling him that “there are few purer things in nature than an unsullied country maid” (283).

Angel sets some money aside for Tess and deposits his godmother’s jewels at the bank. He also calls at the farmhouse where they stayed immediately after their wedding, as he needs to pay the landlord. While there, he runs into Izz, one of the other dairymaids who had been close with Tess. Izz explains that she was coming to visit Angel and Tess. Angel tells her that he and Tess are not living at the farmhouse and offers to drive Izz home.

During the drive, Angel impulsively confides to Izz that he and Tess have separated and that Tess will not be accompanying him to Brazil. He asks Izz to go with him, explaining that she would be living as his mistress. Angel asks about Izz’s feelings for him, and she says that she loves him but that Tess loves him more than anyone else could. Hearing about the intensity of Tess’s love startles Angel, and he retracts his offer to take Izz to Brazil. Angel begins to have doubts about whether he should reunite with Tess, but he ultimately stays firm and departs for Brazil.

It is now October; Tess and Angel have been separated for eight months. Tess has been travelling around and working on different farms. She has not spent much of the money that Angel gave her, but now it is harder to find work, and she is relying more on these funds. Her parents need money to repair their roof. They do not know that Tess’s husband has left England, and she is too embarrassed to tell them, so she sends them money from her own meager savings. Meanwhile, Angel is struggling in Brazil; he is not prospering financially and is ill.

One autumn day, Tess is making her way towards a new farm, hopeful that she will find work there. By chance, she runs into the same man who shamed her when she was shopping with Angel just before their wedding. The man makes another comment about Tess’s promiscuity, and she flees into the woods. There, she collapses, thinking about how unhappy she is before falling asleep. When Tess wakes up, she comes upon some pheasants whom hunters have shot and left for dead. Taking pity on their suffering, Tess gives them a swift death by breaking their necks. She resolves to dwell less on her own pain.

As Tess continues towards her destination, she notices some men flirting with her. She changes her appearance to be as unattractive as possible, resolving, “[M]y husband that was is gone away, and never will love me anymore; but I love him just the same, and hate all other men, and like to make ’em think scornfully of me” (299). When Tess arrives at the new farm, she reunites with her friend Marian, who worked alongside her at the dairy. Marian is curious about why Tess and Angel have separated, but Tess declines to explain. The farm’s owner is absent, but his wife hires Tess, and Tess finds lodgings nearby.

Tess and Marian work hard in their new jobs, especially since a harsh winter has set in. They also write to Izz, suggesting that she come and work alongside them since employment is scarce. On the day that Izz arrives, the farmer also comes to see them for the first time: He is the man who recognized Tess and knew about her illicit relationship with Alec. Tess is unhappy and uncomfortable working for him; he mocks her and complains that she is not working hard enough. Tess offers to work harder and longer hours. She is working when Izz arrives, and the other women bring up Angel. Tess is overwhelmed and nearly collapses, begging them not to make her talk about her husband. After she has recovered and resumed work and after Izz has left, Marian reveals something Izz confided: that Angel invited Izz to go to Brazil with him. Tess is devastated and wonders “how could she write entreaties to him, or show that she cared for him any more?” (313).

It is now December—almost one year since Tess and Angel married. Growing increasingly anxious, Tess decides to find Angel’s parents, hoping that they can help her contact Angel. Anxious to make a good impression, Tess dresses up and changes her walking boots into more delicate footwear when she reaches the village. A short time later, she comes upon Angel’s brothers and hears them gossiping about their disappointment over Angel’s marriage. They happen upon Tess’s boots and assume they belong to a peasant. Ashamed, Tess decides not to approach. As Tess begins to make her way home, she passes a barn where a religious gathering is taking place. She overhears a man testifying about his experience being saved and turning away from a life of sin; when she peeps inside, she is shocked to see that Alec d’Urberville is the one speaking.

Tess is stunned to see that Alec has become religious; she is also embittered that “he who had wrought her undoing was now on the side of the spirit, while she remained unregenerate” (326). Tess hurries off, but Alec has caught sight of her and chases after. He eagerly explains to her that he has been converted through the hard work of Parson Clare (Angel’s father) and now travels around preaching and converting others. Tess lashes out, telling Alec that she doesn’t believe he has changed or truly found faith. Tess is bitter because she thinks that Angel is a better man but cannot maintain religious faith, and yet the more sinful Alec can readily claim salvation. Tess tells Alec about giving birth to their child, and he seems genuinely upset.

The sight of Tess’s beauty begins to unsettle Alec, and he acknowledges that she still tempts him. He makes her promise to never try to seduce him, which Tess readily agrees to. In fact, she makes it clear that she never wants to see him again, and the two of them part ways.

A few days later, Tess is working at the farm when Alec shows up. He tells her that he has been unable to stop thinking about her: He wants the two of them to marry and go to Africa to work as missionaries. Tess refuses and explains that she loves someone else; when Alec presses her, she also admits that she is now married. Alec is astonished and confused as to why Tess’s husband does not live with her or provide for her financially. The two of them part when the farmer whom Tess works for shows up and angrily confronts Alec.

A few weeks later, in February, Tess encounters Alec again. Alec insists that he cannot stop thinking about her. He is worried about Tess being unprotected in the absence of her husband, and he and Tess argue about religion. Tess tells him Angel’s explanations about why he is not a believer, and Alec begins to doubt his own conversion.

In March, Tess and the other farmwomen are hard at work when Alec returns to see Tess. Since his last conversation with her, Alec has abandoned his faith and recommenced living as a wealthy libertine, which he attributes to her: “[E]ver since you told me of that child of ours, it is just as if my feelings, which have been flowing in a strong puritanical stream, had suddenly found a way open in the direction of you” (349). Alec continues to fixate on his desire for Tess and complains about her husband neglecting and abandoning her. Tess becomes angry and strikes Alec in the face with a leather glove. He is unperturbed and tells her that he is her true husband. Alec leaves, telling Tess that he will be back to collect her.

Alec returns to the farm; he comments on the hard physical labor that Tess must endure and urges her to accept his financial help. Tess hesitates because she does not want to be indebted to Alec, but her resolve falters when Alec mentions that he would also be willing to help her family. Tess sends Alec away with difficulty and that night writes to Angel. She begs him to come back to her and tells him that she is afraid of giving in to temptation if he continues to ignore her. In the letter, Tess is very humble and tells Angel, “I would be content, ay glad, to live with you as your servant, if I may not as your wife” (357).

Tess’s letter goes first to Angel’s parents, who forward it to Brazil, where Angel has been suffering. These experiences, as well as absence, have softened his attitude towards Tess, such that “from being her critic he grew to be her advocate” (361). Meanwhile, Tess receives word from her sister, Liza-Lu, that both of her parents are ill. She hurries home, even though she has not completed her contract of employment at the farm.

Tess arrives home to find her mother is seriously ill; her father is less sick but not inclined to work. Over the course of a few days, Tess takes charge of the family and farm, doing whatever she can to make things better. She and Liza-Lu begin planting crops since their father cannot. One night, Tess is working alone when Alec comes upon her and begins laboring next to her. Again, he pressures her to accept his help; when he mentions how his money could improve the lives of her siblings, “he [is] touching her in a weak place” (370). Finally Alec leaves, angry with Tess for continuing to refuse him.

No sooner has Alec departed than Liza-Lu comes rushing to tell Tess that their father has suddenly died. This loss is particularly devastating because upon his death the Durbeyfield family loses their lease on their cottage and will be homeless.

Within a few weeks of John Durbeyfield’s death, Tess, her mother, and her siblings are preparing to leave their cottage. Even though their lease ended, they might have been allowed to stay on, but some villagers who knew Tess’s history objected to her presence. The Durbeyfields have rented some rooms nearby, but the move saddens them. Alec comes and proposes a plan to Tess: She and her family can move back to the poultry house where Tess once worked, and he will arrange for her siblings’ education. He tells Tess that they can go there immediately and pleads with her to give him “this opportunity of repaying [her] a little” (376).

Tess refuses yet again, and Alec storms off. Tess writes an angry letter to Angel, telling him that she will never forgive him for abandoning her.

Tess and her family journey towards their new home with whatever belongings they can bring. On the road, they run into Marian and Izz, Tess’s fellow dairymaids, who feel sorry for Tess’s fate. Things get even worse when the Durbeyfield family arrives at their destination and realizes that they do not have lodgings after all. With nowhere else to go, they are forced to shelter in an old graveyard, amidst the ruins of a monument once dedicated to the d’Urberville family. In desolation, Tess “ben[ds] down upon the entrance to the vaults, and [says], ‘Why am I on the wrong side of this door!’” (384). Alec approaches yet again, urging her to accept his help. Meanwhile, Marian and Izz lament Tess’s situation and write to Angel, urging him to reunite with Tess.