1.Research Intention
Te of the D’urbervilles, the greatest novel of British famous writer Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), describes the misfortune of a poor peasant girl Te.In this novel, we can see Te resist her unjust fate again and again, suffer setbacks again and again, till to be destroyed.We can not help but feel the intense emotions of pity and fear.At the same time we deeply feel that her tragedy is inevitable.The cause of her tragedy has always been the concern of people, such a beautiful, noble and pure woman as Te should suffer inevitable ruin.What leads to her tragic destiny? What killed her? This paper will try to make a detailed analysis on the novel, to show the various causes of the heroine’s tragedy.
2.Literary Review
From the later nineteenth century until now,Thomas Hardy and his works have been the important topics of the criticism for a long time.After the Second World War, with the development of modern literary criticism, different critics interpret Te of the D’urbervilles and Thomas Hardy’s other novels from various perspectives.For instance, Profeor Webster begins with a discuion of Hardy’s intentions in writing Te.According to his views, Te of the D’urbervilles is a contribution to Hardy’s war against man’s inhumanity.Arnold Kettle takes a different point of view.For him the subject of Te of the D’urbervilles is not the tragedy of a “pure woman”, but rather the destruction of the English peasantry.Mr.Kettle sees it as complete as a social novel.In China, Prof.Zhang and Wu have published their own books on Hardy’s novels and other works.There are
3.Research Proce
This paper comprises three parts dealing respectively with several main factors that lead to Te’s final tragedy, including the background, the social environment, two persons who are very closely related to Te’s fate and finally the weakne of the central character’s personalities.Besides, Te’s sufferings were the result of some mysterious and incidental factors.The following is the outline of the paper.Part 1.Introduction
This part is a brief introduction to the author and his masterpiece.
1.1Thomas Hardy and his works
1.2Te of the D’urbervilles
Part 2.Causes for the tragedy of Te
The cause of Te’s tragedy has always been the concern of people, such a beautiful, noble and pure woman as Te should suffer inevitable ruin.What leads to her tragic destiny? What killed her? In this paper, I try to make a detailed analysis on the novel, to show the various causes of heroine’s tragedy.
2.1 The impoverishment and decay of small farmers
This novel has for its setting the agricultural region of the southern countries of England.The writer truthfully depicts the impoverishment and decay of small farmers who become hired field hands and roam the country in search of seasonal job.These laborers are mercilely exploited by the rich landowners.In this novel, we can see clearly that one of the real reasons that lead to her extermination is her impoverishment.
2.2Alec and Clare
In this novel, Hardy describes how Te was killed by the times she lived in clearly.There are two persons who are very closely related to Te’s fate.She, a daughter of poor peasants had been reduced to a wage laborer, so Alec--- the vicious capitalist power of the Victorian Times and Clare --- the representative of liberal bourgeoisie killed her cruelly and without mercy.It seemed that Alec was the prime culprit of Te, but in fact, it was Clare who killed Tees more cruelly.
2.3 The weakne of her character
Apart from fierce Alec and hypocritical Clare, it is the weakne of her character that leads to her sad fate.Te was able to fight against the unfairne of the society.She could face various difficulties in life bravely, yet she couldn’t extricate herself from traditional moral principles.She was aware that she was the victim of social violence and moral principles.On the other hand, though she dared to beat back the unjustne, she couldn’t break with traditional morality completely.
2.4 Some mysterious and incidental factors
The last but not the least, Te’s sufferings were the result of some mysterious
and incidental factors.Examples of the fateful incidents abound in the novel.Part 3.Conclusion
It is the times she lived in and the weakne of her nature put her in such a poor situation.Cruel Alec and his peers are the direct reason for her death, but it is Angel who killed her indirectly but more cruelly.Facing such a serious situation, the weakne of her character became the accomplice.The tragic fate is not only that of Te herself, but also the tragedy of the times she lived in.
4.Conclusion
Through studying the representative workTe of the D’urbervilles, we will be able to have a better appreciation of the great achievements of Thomas Hardy.It seemed that if there were no unexpected happenings, she might have a happy life; maybe she would finish her life peacefully.It appeared there were unexpected factors in her every important life stage, those factors lead to her tragedy.But in fact, just as we infer from our previous discuion, it is the times she lived in and the weakne of her nature put her in such a poor situation.Cruel Alec and his peers are the direct reason for her death, but it is Angel who killed her indirectly but more cruelly.Facing such a serious situation, the weakne of her character became the accomplice.The tragic fate is not only that of Te herself, but also the tragedy of the times she lived in.
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