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Tess is regarded as an important figure in English literature。 Tess's life is a complete tragedy。 The peasant girl has an innocent heart and beautiful appearance and she goes to Alec's home for chicken-raising for the sake of her family。 She gets seduced by Alec and has a baby for lack of life knowledge and experience。 After that, she is regarded as dirty woman and gets contempt from the neighborhood。 With the aim of running away from the bitter experiences, she sets out for a new place where she meets Angle Clay and falls in love with him。 Tess informs Angel of her past on the day they get married。 Tess expects Angle to forgive her, but contrary to her expectation, Angle not only does not forgive Tess but also abandons Tess and goes to Brazil alone。 Tess suffers from mental agony and has to face the embarrassment of life。 She hopes that Angle can change his mind, but to her disappointment, 

Angel doesn’t give any response。 Tess is compelled to become Alec’s mistress for the heavy burden of her family。 When Angle returns back with regret, she feels desperate and angry。 Tess kills Alec revengefully and runs away with Angle。 After five days of happy days with Angle, she is caught and hanged by the police eventually。论文网

Tess's devastating tragedies include both men' tragedies and women' tragedies。 In Wu Jun’s book A brief discussion on the tragic meaning of the writing technique of Tess, Alec and Angel are taken as the two halves of a person, who together form a complete man。 Alec represents men' lust, and Angel represents men' reason。 It is the lust and reason that push Tess to the situation of destruction。 Alec is a male incarnation that only knows lust and can’t understand love, and his only dream is to possess Tess, for whom he has no love at all。 Alec destroys Tess on her body。 Angel represents reason, but his reason and sensibility are separated from each other。 When Tess has been completely absorbed in his love, he abandons Tess。 Angel destroys Tess from the spirit, which makes Tess become completely lost faith in men and life means nothing to her。

“Tess is a typical victim of the society。 Family poverty, social cruelty, injustice and hypocrisy determine her tragic fate。 The two men: one took her virginity and purity, another took her love and abandoned her at the wedding night。 Despite they are rivals in love obviously, they push her into the depth of despair together。 It is not only the tragedy of society and character, but also the tragedy of man。" (Li 326)

  Other critics analyze the novel from historical and social perspectives, ie, Wu Jun’s paper。 The capitalist mode of production has been spread out in the distant rural areas of England, causing the collapse of the peasant economy, the destruction of the ancient order, and brings great misfortune to different people who live on agricultural labor。 Since 1870s, a serious economic crisis has burst out in the capitalist world。 Hardy shows a picture of the beautiful country life。 The natural and rustic scenery of the countryside, the beautiful country girl and the tranquil pastoral life。 

"In May, the open-air dance to the three uninvited guests, one of them becomes the destroyer, which implies that this energetic dance is being threatened by urban life。 It is easy to find the sign of traditional agricultural economy when Tess comes home after being humiliated by Alec。 However, when she is abandoned by her husband and comes back home again, threshing machines have been widely used in harvest, their reliance on the traditional agriculture is being destroyed。 Hardy tries to portray the background of the story proving that traditional agriculture is changing, which also leads to the fate of Tess。 The country girl is a representative of the old economy, her life in the rural area was destructed by economic aggression and mental aggression。" (Wu 92)