Here is an excerpt from Tess of the D'Urbervilles. After reading through, point to specific sections where we see hints as to Hardy's attitudes towards sexual indiscretion. Thoughts on this?
Starting bottom of page 65:
The only exercise that Tess took at this time was after dark; and it was then, when out in the woods, that she seemed least solitary. She knew how to hit to a hair's-breath that moment of evening when the light and the darkness are so evenly balanced that the constraint of day and the suspense of night neutralize each other, leaving absolute mental liberty. It is then that the plight of being alive becomes attenuiated to its least possible dimensions. She had no fear of the shadows; her sole idea seemed to be to shun mankind--or rather that cold accretion called the world, which, so terrible in mass, is so unformidable, even pitiable, in its units.
On these lonely hills and dales her quiscent glide was of a piece with the element in which she moved. Her flexuous and stealthy figure became an integral part of the scene. At times her whimsical fancy would intensify natural processes around her till they seemed a part of her own story. Rather they became a part of it; for the world is only a psychological phenomenon, and what they seemed they were. The midnight airs and gusts, moaning amonst the tightly-wrapped buds and bark of the winter twigs, were formulae of bitter reproach. A wet day was the expression of irremediable grief at her weakness in the mind of some vague ethical being whom she could not class definitely as the God of her childhood, and could not comprehend any other.
But this encompassment by phantoms and voices antipathetic to her, was a sorry and mistaken creation of Tess's fancy--a cloud of moral hobgoblins by which she was terrified without reason. It was they that were out of harmony with the actual world, not she. Walking among the sleeping birds in the hedges, watching the skipping rabbits on a moonlit warren, or standing under a pheasant-laden bough, she looked upon herself as a figure of Guilt intruding into the haunts of Innocence. But all the while she was making a distinction where there was no difference. Feeling in herself in antagonism she was quite in accord. She had been made to break an accepted social law, but no law known to the environment in which she fancied herself such an anomaly
He first points out that the only exercise Tess takes part in is after dark which insinuates that she is doing something that she rather keep private. I think the quote "Her flexuous and stealthy figure became an integral part of the scene" describes her becoming one with the night scene or becoming a lady of the night. He further goes on to say "At times her whimsical fancy would intensify natural processes around her till they seemed a part of her own story". I think he suggests that she initiated these "natural processes" by seducing them with her whimsical fancy.
ReplyDelete"The midnight airs and gusts, moaning amonst the tightly-wrapped buds and bark of the winter twigs, were formulae of bitter reproach." - this alludes to the idea of virgins as buds, not yet "deflowered", and the image of the wind harshly blowing, as if trying to knock them off the branches altogether is a metaphor to the temptations of the world. It is said that they were "formulae of bitter reproach" for Tess. Further showing that Tess is no longer a bud.
ReplyDelete"Walking among the sleeping birds in the hedges, watching the skipping rabbits on a moonlit warren, or standing under a pheasant-laden bough, she looked upon herself as a figure of Guilt intruding into the haunts of Innocence. But all the while she was making a distinction where there was no difference." - I find this section kind of humorous. I think Hardy is somewhat mocking the ideals of innocence. He describes birds and rabbits, two creatures, especially rabbits, not known for "virginal innocence" in fact, quite the opposite. He draws the harsh contrast between "Guilt" and "Innocence" (both capitalized) but says that she is making a distinction where there isn't one. How can he say that they are the same thing? Does that not go against the entire point of the novel?
When Hardy is talking about Tess going outside only at night he says, "...she looked upon herself as a figure of Guilt intruding into the haunts of Innocence." This shows us that he recognizes the way women feel guilty and as if they have lost their innocence after going through something like what Tess went through. Hardy is very aware of society’s attitudes towards sexual indiscretion in these days and understands exactly how the women (especially Tess) feel. Hardy goes on to say, "But all the while she was making a distinction where there was no difference. Feeling in herself in antagonism she was quite in accord. She had been made to break an accepted social law, but no law known to the environment in which she fancied herself such an anomaly." It seems to me that Hardy does not think as lowly of Tess as she thinks of herself. He understands how she feels guilty and like a sinner, and he agrees that in a normal society (the society of daylight filled with other humans) Tess would feel those things because that is how society would treat her. Since Tess “exercising” after dark with the sleeping birds and other animals that are out in the forest, it is not unknown that Tess is a sinner or that she has done anything wrong at all.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that the author uses the phrase describing her as a "figure of Guilt intruding into the haunts of Innocence," would lead you to believe he had somewhat of a negative attitude toward the act. However, this negative attitude is limited to the structure side of mankind in government and society. When the author talks about Tess having sexual relations in the forest, he sets up a Romanic scene and talks of nature being in harmony with her. The author almost glorifies the act when it is in its innate setting with nature. Conversely, when he is speaking of the act within the realm of society, he has a more scornful tone; even pointing out that she is breaking laws. In the same sentence however, he shows he has no problem with the sexual indiscretion outside of the law when he talks of how Tess has broken no law of nature.
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