difficulties in life and work. Moreover, she sacrifices
herself for others’ achievements. She lives in the
Victorian era of the UK, when the British have great
development as social productivity is promoted by
the industrial revolution. However, rural areas that
Tess lives in are hit by industrial civilization and
gradually decline. Therefore, she has to face many
hardships from an early age. As the eldest girl in the
d'Urbervilles family, Tess helps her parents care for
her younger brothers and sisters from very young.
Meanwhile, she will have deep remorse for playing
outside without taking care of family. The kindness
in Tess lies in her working hard. Meanwhile, it
brings her very heavy shackles. Due to her
unwillingness to abandon the family, she loses her
virginity at the lure of Yayle from d'Urbervilles. As
Tess worries she might harm her family and Clay,
she puts money Clay offers at home. After that, she
walks into the vicissitudes of the society and
wanders. Although it seems that Tess’s sad fate
results from the unfairness she suffers. In fact, it is
due to the goodness in her heart. Finally she leaves
her home to have street life because she dares not to
fight with the shameless people as Yayle.
After Tess’s father dies, the whole families are
exiled by the countryside. Therefore, she has to be
with Yayle to let family survive. Meanwhile, Tess’s
kindness gradually evolves into the endurance. It is
so huge sacrifice that presses and tortures Tess
spiritually, surpassing those of life and society.
Meanwhile, Tess’s brave sacrifice of herself also
comes from her kindness.
However, Tess’s kindness not only influences
the responsibilities in raising family, but also
inspires her friends and work. When Tess works in
the milk factory, three of her colleagues fall love
with Clay. Although she and Clay love each other,
she does not show it in front of them. Considering
that she has lost virginity, she decides to match one
of the three girls with Clay to make him happy. It is
shown in the plot that Tess praises their beauty and
hard working. Meanwhile, she belittles her
appearance and says it is brief. Due to her endurance
and tough hiding from Clay, she is thrown into the
tragedy of life. Therefore, despite touching, it is the
kindness that leads her to tragedy.
4 PURITY AND ITS INFLUENCE
IN TESS: MORAL
CLEANLINESS, AVOIDING
SELF AND REALITY
There is great purity in Tess’s character, which is
mainly shown in her attitudes towards love. She
regards love as a loyal activity. Therefore, it needs
more constancy and dedication. While going through
twists and turns in life, pure love is unswerving. It is
also the impact and projection of Tess’s pure
characters.
Therefore, the purity and pursuit for it have deep
impacts on the relationship between Tess and Clay.
In the novel, Clay, the hero of the novel, gets Tess’s
admiration. Unfluenced by the valve system, Clay
does not have the cunning and laziness of the rich.
Actually, he is polite, studious and diligent.
However, Yayle is the typical rich who is crafty,
rude, arrogant and luxury. Both the two men are
influenced by Tess’s purity.
Firstly, influenced by her pure love and pursuit
for purity, Tess dares not to be close to such a giant
and great man easily when she firstly faces Clay.
She regards Clay as gods in Roman mythology.
Therefore, she dares not to come too close to him as
she regards it as blasphemy. Meanwhile, Tess thinks
she is not innocent for being tarnished by the rich
playboy Yaely. Therefore, the moral cleanliness
makes Tess think she is filthy and there is no way to
accept Clay’s selfless love. Although influenced by
her true feelings, Tess accepts Clay’s wedding
proposal. However, there are contradictions and
conflicts in Tess as she never forgets the past. Thus,
she lives in the shackles of spirits and morals, unable
to get out of the barriers of inner heart. Finally, she
decides to write to show her misfortunes. The
contradictions of endurance and misfortunes make
Tess very painful spiritually.
Secondly, when Clay is informed that Tess has
lost virginity in the past, he is so angry that he goes
to the South America. Tess still stands on her
husband’s decisions purely, including that she agrees
to not use the first name Clay and does not write
often. Actually, she keeps Clay’s honor and dignity.
The behavior that is almost blindly honest shows her
pursuit for absolute purity and significant impacts of
moral cleanliness. Thus, to avoid losing virginity
again, she chooses to hide from life and covers her
beauty as she lives in moral cleanliness. Finally, she
comes to spiritual desperation. However, it is the
absolute obedience of chastity and purity when
judged from sense of roots.
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