苔丝悲剧产生的原因

苔丝悲剧产生的原因 On the causes of Tess?s tragedy 【摘要】小说《苔丝》是十九世纪末二十世纪初英国著名作家托马斯·哈代最具影响的作品之一,也是他小说创作中最具有争议的作品,争议的焦点多集中于这部小说所采用的不同寻常的叙述技巧。而小说的女主人翁苔丝与同时代作家笔下的女性相比有更强的震撼力,哈代通过对人物苔丝的刻画和对她命运的安排从而控诉父权统治对女性的压迫和损害,更深入地揭露和控诉这种外在的压迫和损害如何通过社会各种途径,内化为女性心理所认可的社会身份 标准 excel标准偏差excel标准偏差函数exl标准差函数国标检验抽样标准表免费下载红头文件格式标准下载 ,从而使其作品具有更高的悲剧审美价值和社会意义。 【关健词】苔丝悲剧资产阶级社会 Abstrad:Novel "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" is the late 19th century early 20th century British writer Thomas Hardy one of the most influential works, he Fiction is the most controversial works, the focus of controversy and more focused on the novel adopted by the unusual narrative skills. The novel Tess of the masters and contemporary female writers to write about women compared to a stronger power, Hardy's Tess through the figures and descriptions of the fate of her father for the right to rule on the complaints of female oppression and prejudice, in-depth expose and denounce this oppression and external damage to the community through various means, into a female recognized by the psychological community identity standard, making it works with the tragedy of a higher aesthetic value and social significance. Keyword: Tess tragedy Bourgeois society Thesis: Son of a mason, Thomas Hardy was born near Dorchester, the area that later became the famous”Wessex" in many of his novels.At 16, he was apprenticed to a local architect. But architecture was never his desired profession. So he changed to write poetry. When that failed, he began to write novels. Most of his novels are set in Wessex which is fictional primitive and crude naval region. They are known in an agricultural setting menaced by the forces of invading capitalism. Teas, is a poor peasant girl. Persuaded by her mother, she goes to claim kindred with a more prosperous branch of the D'Urberville family. And there she is seduced by the young master of the house, Alec,and then has to return home in disgrace. After giving bieth to a child who dies in infancy, she meets Angel Clare, son of a clergyman, and he falls in love with her and marries her. On their wedding night Tess and Angel Clare, son of a clergyman, and he falls in love with her and marries her. On their wedding night Tess and Angel tell each other about their past. After hearing Tess's confession, angel leaves her abruptly for Brazil. Poverty forces Tess to work at a farm Flintcomb Ash where she is insulted and ill一treated by master. Then her father's death and the expulsion of her family from their cottage drive her to seek for assistance from Alec, and the later, now a preacher, soon resumes his former illicit relations with her. Angel Clare returns repentant and ready to be reconciled to Tess, but the girl finds that her living with Alec hinders her from re- turning to Angel. She kills Alec and is speedily arrested, tried and hanged. With Tess's death, the tragedy ends. From a close study of the novel, we can find:it's poverty of her family forces Tess to claim kindred with Alec and finally be seduced; Angel who gets the hypocritical morality deserts her because of her seduction by Alec; Then poverty makes her come back to Alec again and tragedy happens. So, we can analyze her tragedy Crom her Camily first. Tess is the daughter of a very poor villager. Her parent is very benighted. When her father finds he is the descendent of an ancient aristocratic family, D'Urbervilles, he is immensely proud of himself although there is nothing valuable left in his hand. He even goes to hotel and drinks very much until Tess and her mother come to look for him. When Tess and her mother support him his arms to go back home, there is such conversation: On reaching the fresh air he was sufficiently unsteady to incline the row if three at one moment as if they were marching to London and at another as if they were marching to Bath一with produced a comical effect, frequent enough in families on nocturnal homegoings;and, like most comical effects, not quite so comic after all. The two women valiantly disguised these forced excursions and countermarohes as well as they could from themselves; and so they approached by degrees their own door; the head of the family bursting suddenly into his former refrain as he drew near; as if to fortify his soul at sight of the smallness of his present residence: "I've'got'a family vault'at Kings'一bere! " "Hush一don't be so silly, Jacky.”Said his wife , "Yours is not the only family that was of 'eount in wold days. Look at the Anktells,and Horseys, and the Thringhams themselves一gone to seed a most"much as you一though you was bigger folks than they, that that's true.Thank God , I was never of no family, and have nothing to be ashamed of in that way! " "Don't you be so sure othat. From your natertis my belief you've disgraced yourselves more than any o ins , abd was kings and queens out righjt at one time. " Tess turned the subject by saying what was far more prominent in her own mind at the moment than thoughs of her ancestry:”I am afraid faher won't be able to take the journey with the beehives tomorrow so early.” "I? shall be all right in an hour or two.”said Durbeyfield.(Chapter4) From their conversation and the description of Durbeyfield's drunkenness, We can see the foolishness of Tess a parents, and of course, which is mainly caused by poverty. The author Hardy takes some very humorous words to describe their bitterness caused by poverty: All these young souls were passengers in the Durbeyfield shipentirely dependent on the judgment of the Durbeyfield adults for theirpleasures,their necessities. Their health, even their existence.If the heads of the Durbeyfield household chose to sail into diifficulty disaster; starvation, disease, degradation, death, thither were these halfdozen little captives under hatches compelled to sail with them一six helpless creatures, who had never been asked f they wished for life.any ternis , much less if they wished for it on such hard conditions as were involved in being of the shirtless house of Durbeyfteld.(Chapter3) Under the great poverty, Tess's parents become more and more apathetic and vulgar. When they have a more prosperous relative,what they have in mind is to ask Tess to claim kindred with Alec.Tess isnt willing to go, but she has no ideal about her family's poverty. On the day when she is going to visit Alec there's such a conversalion in her family; Her mother expostulated.”Yoa will never set out to see your folks without dressing up more the land than that?" " But l an going to work !”said Tess. "Well , yes,”said Mrs Durbeyfield ; and in a private tone , " at fast there mid be a little pretence o', but I think it will be wiser of'ee to put your best side outward.”She added. V ery well; I suppose you know best,”replied Tess with calm abandonment. And to please her parent the girl put herself quite in Joan's hands,saying serenely,”Do what you like with。,mother;”(Chapter7) Along these lines, we can see a very apathetic father and a vulgar mother, and also a pure girl who is weak and incompetent. Why Tess's family is so poor? From the novel we find out that the great poverty is not only in Tess's family, but also in many families,especially peasants: So, second, we should analyze from social background . At the beginning of the novel, there are some emphasizes on social changes. Durbeyfield 's discovery of his family history doesn 't mean a happy opening of displaying of a strange person. It only means a sharp difference between DUrbervilles's past and presence. When the author describes Tess and her mother, there is a sentence like this: When they were together, the Jacobean and the Victorian ages were juxtaposed(Chapter3).In the sentence, the history progress is reflected completely. In Tess's period, there's a very obvious social changes. It is the disintegration of peasantry which is caused by capitalist invasion. When Tess's family is driven out their cottage,the author writes: But as the long holdings fell in they were seldom again let to aimilar tenants , andweremostly pulled down, if not absolutely required by the farmer for his hands. Cottagers whowerenot directly employed on the land were fade of the other, whowerethus obliged to follow.These families , who had formed the backbone of the village life in the past , who were the depositories of the village traditions,had to seek refuge in the large centers ; the process , humorously designated by statisticians as?…the tendency of the rur al population towards the large towns.”Being really the tendency of water to flour uphill when forced by machinery.(Chapter5l) At that time the peasants lead a very miserable life, some of them are even destitute and homeless. They lose their land and are compelled to find a work with low salary in capitalist factory or farm where the working condition is of the worst and the hardest. Teas, as others, has to go out to look for a work after being deserted by Anges.She arrives at a new capitalist farm at Flinctomb Ash and the striking scene of capitalist exploitation and oppression on the farm is one of the highlight in the novel. For example: They worked on hour after hour, unconscious of the forlorn aspect they bore in the landscape, not thinking of the justice or injustice of their lot. Even in such a position as theirs it was possible to exist in a dream. In the afternoon the train came on again, and Marian said that they need not work any more .But if they did not work they would not be paid ;”they worked on. It was so high a situation, this feeld,that the rain had rso occasion to fall,But raced along horizontally upon the yelling wind, sticking into them like glass splinters, till they were wet through. Teas had not known till now what was really meantby that. There are degrees of damprsess,and a very little is called being wet through in common talk. But to stand working slowly in a field, and feel the creep of rainwater, fast in legs and shoulders, then on hips and head, then at back,front , and yet to work on till the leaden light diminishes and marks that the sum”down, demands,adistinct modicum of stoicism, even of valour.(Chapter43) From here , we can witness a vivid picture of how women laborers were especially heavily exploited with their lower wages but not lighter work and in the chapter describing their work in west一barn ,how they were insulted as well as maltreated with harsh words and orders , how they had to work under the most terrible conditions of weather and long hours indicates how much a poor peasant girl of a small free一holder family, had to suffer in that age. Tess is the typical victim of the capitalist invasion into countryside. From the novel,we can see it is the expulsion of her family from their cottage that makes Tess lose her last diginty. Necessary supports for her family drives Tess to go back and seek for assistance from Alec again. When Angel Clare has returned, however, somewhat repentant of his harsh treatment of Tess and returns from Brazil to be reconciled to her, the tragedy is inevitable. Another aspect of social background is the hypocritical morality of the bourgeois society at that time. We can see it from the talking of Angel's two brothers "Ah , two poor Angel!I never see that nice girl without more and more regretting his precipitancy in throwing himself away upon a dairyrrmid , or whatever she may be.it is a queer business , apparently.Whether she has joined him yet or not l don2 know, but she had not done”some months ago , when l heard加m him.?, "I can?t say. He ever tells me anything nowadays. His ill一considered marriage seems to have completed that estrangement from me which was begun by his extraordinary opinion. " (Chapter44 ) From the day when she is seduced , Teas s life becomes a hopeless struggle against all kinds of pressure for defending her own dignity. She meets Angel and marries him. But she still can?t escape her miserable fate. After she tells her whole story about Alec honestly,Angel is too much of a hypocrite and a snob and thinks too much of his reputation and his honor to forgive her. He even treats Teas with idealism. "My position is this ,”he said abruptly.”l thought一any man would have thought一that by giving up al ambition to win a life with social standing,with fortune, with knowledge of the world, l should secure rustic innocence, as surely as l should secure pink cheeks.(Chapter36) When finds Tess is not the ideal, he can not but despise Tens. " Dont , Tess;don t argue. Different societies ddifferent manners. You almost make me say you are an anapprehending peasant woman,who has never been initiated into the proportions of social things. You dont know what you say.”(Chapter35) Tess do refutes him but very weakly. "Lots of families are as bad as mine in that. Retty's family were once large landowners,and so were Dairyman Billett's, and the Debbyhouses whowereare carvers were once the DeBayeux family. You find such as l everywhere; it's a feature of our country, and l can't help it; " (Chapter35) After the powerless opposition, Tess pleads for his forgiveness and gives her absolute obedience to Angel. "I shan?t ask you to let me live with”“.Angel ; because l have no right to. I shall not write to mother arid sisters to say we be married, as said I would do. And I shan?t finish the godd一hussif' I cut out and meant to make while,were in to lodgings.” "Shan?t you?" "No. I shan?t do anything, unless you order me to. And if you go away from me I shall not follow'ee;and of you never speak to me any more I shall not ask why, unless you tell rne I may.” "And if Ido order you to do anything?" “I will obey you , like your wretched slave , even if it is to lie down and die. " (Chapter35) Her lack of confidence and respect only rouse much more contempt in Angel's heart. “You are very good. But.strikes me that there”a want of barmony between your preseru mood of self一preservation.(Chapter35) Tess acts in that way because she herself is conservative in mo-rality, it's the weakness in her character. Before Angel, she always considers herself a sinner and not good enough to be Angel's wife.Before her marriage day she even knees down and prays; "O my love,my love ,why do I love you, so! For she you love is not my real self, but one ire my image;the one I might have been.”(Chapter33 ) This is the first point about her character. The second is her purity which can be reflected in two aspects. First, there is not any trace of vanity in her behavior. Although he parents are benighted and her familu is poor, Tess still keeps the working people's virtue. She detests her parents' commonplace words and deeds, despises noble origin and considers herself the daughter of a villager. She says; " pooh一I have as mach of mother as father is me ! All my prettiness comes and I was only a dairymaid.”(Chapterl6) 1'he second aspect is Tess's honesty. Although she is seduced by Alec, she is not willing to become his plaything and leaves him resolutely. When Alec lures her with money, Tess is describes like that; Her lip lifed slightly, though therewerelittle scorn as a rule in her large and impulsive nature. "I have said I will not take anything more from you, and I will not一I can not!I should be your creature to go on doing that; and I wont!” "I have said so, often. It is true. I have never really and truly loved you, and I think I neverwere.”She added mournfully: "Perhaps of all things a lie on this thing would do the most good to now;but I have honor enough left,little as' its , not to tell that lie.If I did love you I may have the best o'causes for letting you know it. But I dont.”(Chapter7 ) Although in the bourgeois society, the moral standard for man and woman is very different, Tess's fathful love to Angel and her honesty still make her confess her relation with Alec to Angel; “Tess”一say it is not true? No, it is not true!” "It's true.… "Every word?" "Every word.” He looked at her imploringly, as if he would willingly have taken a lid from her lips , knowing.to be one, and have made of it,by some sort of sophistry, a valid denial. However she only repeated, "It is true.” "Is he living?" Angel then asked.”The baby died.” "But the man?" "He is alive. A last despair passed over Clare's face. "Is he in England?" “Yes.”(Chapter36 ) In the novel, Tess is portrayed as a brave girl, hard一working and sweet一natured and innocent, yet she is free from the influence of social conventions and moral standards of the day. Her purity obviously is not welcomed by the bourgeois society. Although Hardy in this novel tries to explain the tragic fate of the heroine as under the influence of some mysterious force, especially by attributing the whole tragedy as resultant from the accidental discovery by Tess's father of their ancestry and by emphasizing the chance happenings as largely responsible for the unhappy relations between Tess and Angel. But from all the supposedly criminal or immoral action committed by Tess from her improper relations once again with Alec to her final act of murder are the consequences of economic conditions as well as the legal, moral and religious standards of bourgeois society, for only the utter poverty of Tess's family, the double moral standand for man and woman and the religious contempt of sin make it inevitable for her to go to work on the farms and fall into the traps of Alec and the accusations of Angel Clare until her remorse and her bitterness over her fate lead up to the murder. She is a victim of economic oppression which is the result of the capitalist invasion and social injustice which is the result of the hypocritical morality. The main reference books: [1] Thomas Hardy. TESS OF THE Dt1RBERVILLES[M].Xian:Xinjie Press,2000. [2] Chen Jia. SELECTED READINGS IN ENGLISH LITERATURF(V olume2)[M] .Beijing: The Commercial Press,2000. [3] Liu Bingshan. A HOORT HISTORY OF ENGLISH LI'I ERATUBE[M] . Zhengzhou : Henan People's Publishing House.