Revision Cards - Tess of the D'Urbervilles: A Level, Themes

Revise the key points

Hardy presents it as a cruel fate that ‘the man to love rarely coincides with the hour for loving’ (p. 43).
Tess sees the irony that Angel saw her ‘when I – was sixteen; living with my little sisters and brothers’ and would not dance with her (p. 195).
Hardy describes rural people as being fatalistic and accepting of what happens – the phrase ‘was to be’ is repeated (pp. 74, 146).
The final paragraph of the novel suggests that mankind is the ‘sport’ of the immortals and is without free will (p. 397).

Themes

Tess of the D'Urbervilles: A Level

A large number of chapters begin with reference to a specific month, so that we can trace Tess’s story chronologically.
Seasonal references accord with Tess’s happiness: Phases 1 and 3 open in May, a time of new life and hope, signifying Tess’s optimism.
Hardy employs parallelism: Chapter 12, when Tess leaves Alec, and Chapter 41, when Angel has deserted Tess, both open with her travelling in October.
In the dairy, the progress of the summer mirrors the burgeoning love between Tess and Angel. They separate in winter.

Themes

Tess of the D'Urbervilles: A Level

Angel declares he ‘hated impurity, as I do now’ when revealing that he spent two days in ‘dissipation’, highlighting his hypocrisy over sexual matters (pp. 224–5).
The principle concern of Angel’s evangelical Christian parents is whether Tess is ‘pure and virtuous’ (p. 262).
Although Tess suffers social degradation after her liaison with Alec, he, as the instigator of this, is able to recover his social position, even in evangelical Christian circles (p. 309).
Tess is despised by ‘people of scrupulous character’ for having had a child out of wedlock and her family is evicted partly in consequence (p. 353).

Themes

Tess of the D'Urbervilles: A Level

The mail-cart, a symbol of the modern world, symbolically pierces the ‘slow’ horse Prince.
The reaping machine kills wildlife and requires just one man to run it, in place of many workers with scythes (p. 87).
The train running near Talbothays Dairy allows urban citizens who, in a post-industrial society, may have ‘never seen a cow’ to access fresh milk easily (p. 187).
Hardy presents a vanishing way of life, with old customs and routine being superseded by new technologies.

Themes

Tess of the D'Urbervilles: A Level

Mrs Durbeyfield owns a book called the Complete Fortune Teller which, ironically, she will not keep in the house at night in case it brings bad luck (p. 22).
Mrs Durbeyfield tries to read Tess’s future in the book, and believes she will marry a ‘noble gentleman’, not foreseeing that Alec will precede Angel (p. 27).
Tess perceives Angel’s original failure to dance with her as an ‘ill-omen’ (p. 191).
As the newly married Tess and Angel leave the dairy, a cock crows unexpectedly. Other characters see this as bringing bad luck (p. 215).