Te of D’Urbervilles
Analysis of each character’s impact on Te’ adversity
1.The story of Te In the book Te of D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy portrayed a poor innocent girl Te who was seduced, abandoned and ultimately hanged on account of murder.The eay aims to explore the multiple reasons led to Te’ final mishap through the analysis of each character’s personal traits and influence on Te.Te, a comely innocent country girl, was born in an impoverished family.Her good-for-nothing father accidentally acquired the knowledge that they were kin to a noble family who was still in existence and sent her to claim kindred.Unexpectedly, the man called Alec D’Urbervilles was stunned by her beauty and sought all poible means to seduce her.Poor Te lost her virginity when she was asleep.Bearing the crushing guilty and shame, she left there and later gave birth to a baby who died before long.Te, in the hope of evading the floating rumors prevailed the village, sought a job in the adjacent dairy-house.It was there her fervor towards life was kindled again.She felt deeply in love with a gentleman named Angel Clare.Though shamed of her past misfortune, Te accepted his ardent pursuit and married him before she could sought the proper chance to confide her secret.On the very night of their marriage, Te retailed her heart-wrenching history to her loved one.Nonethele, the story was too much for Clare who had been regarding Te as a pure and innocent girl.He abandoned her in spite of her earnest and desperate imploration and left for Brazil.For the sake of her impoverished family, Te was forced to resume toiling in another village where she ran into the culprit of her misery——Alec D’Urbervilles.Detesting him to the utmost degree, Te rebuffed any favor he offered and wrote to Clare begging his forgivene and return.However, her father’s abrupt death plunged the whole family into a homele impae.With no one to turn to, desperate Te was forced to subdue to Alec’s pursuit.On the other hand, Clare, who had gone though a fierce psychological struggle, eventually resolved to forgive and accept her abandoned wife.However, things all changed dramatically.When Te found the return of her loved husband, she was again trapped in extreme anguish.She killed Alec in anger and despair.The couple, who have finally unit, enjoyed transient 1 bli and felicity before Te was hanged.And, the story ends.
2.Each characters personal traits and influence on Te The harrowing story of Te is no individual’s fault, but is the collective result of a bevy of people emerging in her life.They shaped the trajectory Te plodded along.Some of them were good in nature and bore no ill-will towards Te, however, their ignorance and selfish inflicted immense torment on her.In the paages to come, I shall analyze each character, with their influence decrease progreively, to better understand why fine innocent Te would end so tragically.
2.1.Alec D’Urbervilles
Alec D’Urbervilles is the arch criminal of Te miserable life.He is a profligate, skittish, self-centered, irresponsible and oscillatory dude.
Since the very first sight of Te, he had been obseed by her gorgeous appearance and coveting her body.Taking advantage of Te’ parents’ vanity and desire, he flattered, coaxed Te and even won support from her family with money and materials.Seeking his own happine and lusty desire, he seduced Te in the condition of her sound sleeping without the slightest consideration, especially in that time when girls’ virginity was so important, of the consequences of his conducts.Worse still, he left Te after the misconduct with no further inquiry of what might befall her.It was on account of his selfish and imperious behaviors that Te was pregnant with helplene and humiliation; it was because of his recklene and irresponsibility that Te lost her child grievously beyond measure even without a formal funeral for her baby.Seems that he had tortured Te enough, however, his reappearance after Te was abandoned by his husband once again stirred her life and exacerbated her misfortune.Years after their departure, Te encountered him when he was preaching among clusters of people.A former devil with bloody crime was persuading people to believe in God, he looked more like a clown.However, the outward devoted priest relinquished all his belief in God the moment he glanced at Te and resumed his ardent and brazen pursuit of her despite her marriage.In order to make him drop his love, Te told him the story of their poor baby and her tragic life after his departure.It seemed that there was a moment that Alec took on the coat of kindne.He offered to help her out but was
2 rebuffed decisively.Although Te was stoical enough to convince every one that she would not betray his husband, she had no choice when the whole family was on the verge of homelene and all burden was thrown on her shoulder.The then kind favor offered by Alec, however, turned out to be most heavy bonds trammeling her from returning to her husband.In order to talk Te into accepting his help, he repeatedly convinced her that her husband would never return.However, when Clare eventually reasoned out that his punishment imposed on Te was more than she should deserved and came back for her, Alec had already induced Te to be his mistre.What’s more evil about Alec is that he didn’t mean to comfort her when she was desperate about her husband’s return, instead, he taunted and scoffed at her.Grievous beyond description, Te stabbed him to death.
Alec D’Urbervilles’ emergences never gave Te a break.He distorted Te’ life to a miserable shape and ended up with a tragedy himself.In the eyes of Te, Alec D’Urbervilles is nothing but embodiment of devil who relentlely deprived her of her humble felicity.
2.2.Angel Clare Angel Clare, as his name denotes, was like an angel in Te’ life.When he presented, Te’ life would be brightly illuminated and safely protected; when he was absent, Te’ life was encroached by endle darkne and threatened by lurking dangers.Angel’s feathers have two distinct colors: white and black.When he put on the white one, he was a brilliant, versatile, learned and capable, upright, virtuous and promising man.While when he put on the other, he would transform into a hard-core, stubborn, cold-blood and cruel creature.Therefore, as he changed his color, Te’ life would be stirred drastically.
Angel made his first appearance in Te’ life when she was merely a pure and innocent girl.The two imprinted deep impreion on each other at their first mute encounter.The belated angel didn’t show up until Te was already hurt by evil Alec.However, the two fell so deeply in love to the degree that the stoical Te would subdue to his love.Brilliant Angel was fascinated by Te’ glamour as well as her unique insight of life which differed her from other girls.Te, similarly, could hardly resist Angel’s charm and tenderne as well as his extensive knowledge.Not only did Angel kindled Te’ paion and courage to life, but also enlightened her by imparting her knowledge.However, overshadowed by the past nightmare, Te was trying, though in vain, to
3 refuse his proposal.Even their marriage was disapproved by Angel’s parents, he married her whatsoever before Te could poibly find a proper chance to confe her history to him.
On the very evening of their marriage, the two were finally all by their own.Angel confeed to Te that he had been，for a short period of time, in a sexual relationship with a woman and begged for her forgivene.With no hesitation, Te forgave him and was expecting the same result after her confeing.Neverthele, Angel’s attitude changed drastically, or I would say to the opposite of his former attitude, that his paion and love for her died out in an instant. No matter how sincerely and pathetically Te implored him, his hardened heart would not soften and even insisted that the two should depart immediately.All of a sudden, angel flew away, leaving poor Te enduring the ceasele mental and physical toil.Though bitter in heart, obstinate Angel went to Brazil with the bid to evade the unbearable truth and inflicting more despair on his newly married wife.Trammeled by the then conventional mental bonds, he could hardly accept his incomplete wife who had had such a horrible history and still concealed it from his knowledge.Whereas, he was steeped in his own mishap so much so that he ignored what might befall his wife after his departure.Selfishne is by no means an exceive word for him.Should he had known that Te was bearing so much suffering, he would have come back earlier.But he aumed that his wife was not the one that he loved, only because she was deprived of virginity.It was not until the death of his friend, who claimed his doings as incorrect, that he eventually wakened from his obseion.Because of his obstinate, his wife’s attitude transformed from mute endurance to ardent imploration, and finally disfigured into despair and rage.Driven by the belated awakening, Angel scramble home for his abandoned wife, but only to had discovered all traces of her suffering.Regretted to the utmost degree, he found his wife in her ex-lover’s apartment.Seems that the story should have ended here, but it’s not over yet.Angel’s reappearance plunged Te into greater misery.She had been longing for his return so intensely and desperately, but when he did come back, she could not accept him.What a tragic.Being extremely despaired, Te killed Alec and went to Angel.Luckily, Angel didn’t refuse her this time.They had been escaping from arrest for several days, and it was for the transient felicity that Te would die with no regret.Those who are consistently evil are deplorable, but they are no match with those who transform from angel to devil.As is known, the one you love most is the one hurt you worst.If we call Alec D’Urbervilles the devil who took Te to the hell, then Angel Clare must be the one who
4 ascend Te up to the Heaven, than throw her back into inferno.
2.3.Te Durbeyfield No one should impute all his or her misfortune to others, so does Te.There is no doubt that a couple of defects imprinted in Te’ nature partly contributed to her mishap.Though it is widely acknowledged that Te is an innocent, kind-hearted, filial, single-minded, defiant, enduring and staunch country girl, we have to admit that she is easy to compromise both to Angel Clare and Alec D’Urbervilles, and timid to face her own history especially when she encountered Angel.Besides, her confiding nature also entails her miserable story.At the beginning of the story, Te was sent to claim kindred with the D’Urbervilles who were actually not genuine.Knowing that Alec D’Urbervilles had been coveting her beauty, she didn’t rebuff him decisively because his material endowment to her poor family.For one thing, she was responsible so much so that she didn’t want to fail her family.For the other, she was so confiding that she even enjoyed his teaching her whistling.Worst of all, in the very night of the accident, Te made the inconsiderate decision to go with Alec when she was trapped in a wrangling.Feeling deeply beholden to his favor, she distorted her own life trajectory on account of her innocence and purity.
Since her encounter with Angel Clare, Te gradually resumed her paion for life as well as her courage to love.Her sense of guilt eventually gave way to her ardent love for Clare.Never before in her life had she been so valiant and devoting.But still, the tainted past had always been the core stuck in her throat.We may, speaking for her sake, defend that she always mied the proper time to confe her history.However, she didn’t disclose her past, in my view, owing to her timidity and cowardline.She loved Clare with heart and soul so that she could hardly bear losing him before she even got him.Anguish beyond measure deep down, she was abandoned by her love and plunged into ceasele regret.All those agony, she felt she deserve.When her father abruptly died and placed her whole family on the verge of homelene, she had no alternative but turn to Alec.She compromised finally, but extremely unwillingly.When Angel came back for her, she was eventually overwhelmed by her love and stabbed Alec to death.What seems a wretched ending for us but a satisfactory one for Te.The final days’ company with her love was sweet enough to offset all her bitterne she had endured.
5 Te, innocent as she was, had being brewing her misery all her life.Therefore, she was also a major element contributing to her tragedy.
2.4.Mr.and Mrs.Durbeyfield As the parents of our heroine, Mr.and Mrs.Durbeyfield disappointed us with their ignorant, superficial, self-interested and irresponsible nature.It is never exaggerative to say that it was them who pushed their daughter into the misfortune aby.
Mr.Durbeyfield opened the story with his stupidity——he was so convinced by the story of being the descendent of an extinct noble family.Sluggish and stupid as he was, he even fancied to become rich by claiming kindred.As the elder daughter, Te was naturally became the tool for his ill-planned “blue-print”.With the knowledge of their daughter’s being molested, what came into the mind of Mrs.Durbeyfield was that she might marry noble and rich rather than that she might in danger.Never had they make self-examination.After Te was insulted, they didn’t comfort her, instead, Mr.Durbeyfield even regarded her as a stain on their reputation.A family without families’ due warmne is the reason why Te was so independent and shouldered everything herself.
Mrs.Durbeyfield was no better than Mr.Durbeyfield.In her letter to her daughter when Te was struggling with her choice of marrying Angel, Mrs.Durbeyfield persuaded Te to mine the secret forever.Although, it is understandable that a mother wish her daughter poe felicity, her conduct unconsciously laid the foreshadowing of the terrible end.If they were a slightly more competent and responsible, their daughter would not have to shoulder so many burdens and preure which ruined her due happine.As parents, they were far from competent.Family, as is known, is supposed to be the haven for those drifters.Whereas, Te’ family left her nothing but unbearable stre and became the last place she wanted to go.As parents, they are more than pathetic.
2.5.Te’ friends Izz, Retty and Marian
Not everyone emerged in Te’ life imposed misery upon her.There was some who did bring her goodne, her three companions who shared the same room with her, for example.They were equally innocent, pure enduring and tough as Te.Besides, they were also fascinated by Mr.Clare.
6 Rare animals they are.There is nowhere to find a girl who sacrifices her love for the sake of her friend and even helped her out of her adversity.However, the three are precisely the sort of rare girls.Unlike Te, the three had never had their past stained.They were brave in their fruitle love for Clare.Knowing that Clare and Te were in deep love with each other, they were envious but not hatred toward Te.On the day of their marriage, the three respectively did some stupid things because of their flooding emotion.However, when they found out that Te was abandoned long before her marriage, they did not gloat at her calamity.In stead, they tried to comfort and help her.What worth mention is Izz.Before Clare resolved to head for Brazil, he was so overwhelmed by sorrow that he asked Izz to go with him.Izz accepted his invitation.But when asked how much she loved Clare, Izz said she did love Clare, but her love was no a patch on Te who could die for him.It was her remarks that awakened Clare and he apologized for his repulsive movement.During Clare’s absent, Izz and Marian offered Te a job which was so urgent for her.Companionship was more than precious for the then calamity-stricken Te.
The three unsophisticated girls lived in their own world and influenced Te’ life unconsciously.
3.Conclusion Te, as Hardy portrayed, is a heroine with respectable traits but end up with adversity.Her misfortune is by no means an accident, but the collective result of all characters emerged in her life, including her own.No individual is accountable for her calamity.All of them shaped their respective traits under the influence of the temporal culture background and social convention.They were orbiting around their own tracks when accidentally intersected with Te’.The influence is mutual and can be great and small.Probably, some of them can hardly sense the existence of Te, but others’ life was altered dramatically for her presence.
Beneath the hand of Hardy portrayed a society trammeled by conventional and rigid codes, in which Te was one of those who were tragically stifled and deprived the right to enjoy a felicitous life.She is the epitome Hardy used to denunciate the dark society.Her calamity is by no means an accident, nor is it the only one.Through her story, we are provoked to pierce deeper into that society and ponder more.
