浅析《德伯家的苔丝》中的哥特式小说风格On the Gothic Features in Tess of the d’Urbervilles

浅析《德伯家的苔丝》中的哥特式小说风格On the Gothic Features in Tess of the d’Urbervilles 本科学生毕业 论文 政研论文下载论文大学下载论文大学下载关于长拳的论文浙大论文封面下载 (设计) 题目(中文): 浅析《德伯家的苔丝》中的哥特式小说风格 (英文): On the Gothic Features in Tess of the d’Urbervilles 姓 名 学 号 院 (系) 外 国 语 言 文 学 系 专业、年级 指导教师 Contents 摘要…………………………………………………………………… ? Abstract…………………………………………………………………? Introduction …………………………………………………………….1 1 About Gothic Novel………………………………………………….. 3 1.1 Its Origin…………………………………………………………....3 1.2 Its Feature……………………………………………………….......5 2 Gothic Features Reflected in Tess of the d’Urbervilles………….......8 2.1 Character Portraying………………………………………………..8 2.2 Environment Depiction…………………………………………… 12 2.3 Plot Development………………………………………………….18 2.4 Theme Representation……………………………………………..22 3 The Significance of Gothic Feature for This Novel………………..24 Conclusion………………………………………………………….…..26 Notes………………………………..…………………………………..28 Bibliography…………………………………………………………...29 Acknowledgements 摘 要 《德伯家的苔丝》(Tess of the d’Urbervilles,1891)是19世纪英国著名作家托马斯?哈代(Thomas Hardy,1840-1928)的一部经典悲剧性小说，它成功地塑造了一位勇于对抗世俗、富于反叛精神的农村姑娘——苔丝这一形象。该小说继承了哈代作品的一贯风格，反映了资本主义入侵英国之后，社会、经济、政治、道德发生的巨大变化，造成的广大民众(尤其是妇女)的悲惨命运， 揭示了资产阶级的道德、法律和宗教的虚伪性。以上特点和主题也早已成为国内外该小说研究的焦点，在这些研究的基础上，本文将从哥特式艺术风格的角度重新审视这部小说，分析小说中哥特式风格在人物塑造、环境刻画以及情节主题描绘等方面的体现，以期有助于更全面地展示《德伯家的苔丝》的写作艺术之美。 关键词: 哥特式风格;人物 ;环境; 情节 Abstract Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891) is a classic tragic novel authored by ththe famous 19 century British writer Thomas Hardy (1840-1928). This novel has successfully portrayed a poor girl named Tess who has the precious spirit of rebellion against the temporal stipulation. Inheriting the well-known writing skill of Hardy, it not only presents us the enormous changes in British society, economy, politics and morality after the invasion of capitalism, but also shows us the miserable life of the common lower class, especially the women, revealing the hypocrisy of capitalists’ law, religion and moral standard. The above theme and opinions have always been a center of research of this novel. Based on the previous researches, this paper will re-analyze this great novel from a Gothic angel, and will explain how Gothic features are reflected in the character portraying, in the environment depiction, in the plot development etc. Key words: Gothic features, character, environment, plot, theme. Introduction The Victorian era was a period of dramatic change that brought England to its highest point of development as a world power. The Industrial Revolution brought an enormous increase in wealth and provided the tools for the development such as the rail way, engineering and steamship. In this period of rapid development, novel became the dominant form in literature. It was the ideal form to describe contemporary life and to entertain the middle class. Novelists took the approach of realism, the truthful, accurate and objective description of the ordinary, observable world. When we think of the chief Victorian novelists, one of the names that come to our mind is Thomas Hardy, whose works reflect his pessimism and sense of tragedy in human life. They also reveal the changes that took place in Victorian England: the decline of Christianity, the shifts from reticence to openness in matters of sex and from agricultural economy to modern economy, and above all the growing sense of the disparity between the enormous universe and tiny man. Among Hardy’s novels Tess of the d’Urbervilles which was subtitled A Pure Woman is now generally regarded as his best novel. Tess is the daughter of the poor John Durbeyfield who finds that he is the descent of a noble family—the d’Urbervilles and who asks Tess to Alec d’Urbervilles’ home to claim kin. Unfortunately, innocent Tess is seduced by Alec. Latter, Tess is fall in love with Angel Clare, but the latter abandons her when he knows her past. In great desperation because of Angel’s leaving and the helpless situation of her family, Tess turns to Alec for help. But Angel comes back at that time. Finding Tess is with Alec, he determines to leave again. Poor Tess kills Alec for revenge and gets her destination. This paper looks on the novel from Gothic perspective, striving to find out the Gothic beauty hidden in its character, environment, plot and theme, and to show what influences Gothic features have on this novel. The main body of this paper will be divided into three parts. The first part is an introduction of the origin and feature of Gothic novels; the second part is an exploration of how Gothic feature is reflected in the character, environment, plot and theme of Tess of the d’Urbervilles; the last part is an analysis of the significance of Gothic feature for the novel. 1 About Gothic Novel Gothic novel, or Gothic romance, is a type of popular novel that ththmainly developed and flourished in the late 18 century and the early 19 century in British. Combined with the critics of reality, Gothic novel in this period reveals the evil side of the society, and cries for freedom, equality, and humanity. Generally speaking, Gothic novels are mysteries, terrifying, fraught with supernatural and superstitious events, thus attracting generations of readers with its unique charm. Gothic novel has exerted an extensive influence in both British and American literature history, and many great writers have successfully applied the Gothic artistic skills to their writing. In Britain, Gothic novels are usually against rationality and the predetermined logic by appreciating the pleasure of extreme human emotion. It usually takes Gothic castle as its background, and portrays two kinds of characters who are of distinct differences, namely the demon and the angel. 1.1 Its Origin It was about the Christmas Day in 1764 that a weird novel was translated and published in London, its author concealed the real origin of this novel and his own identity, unexpecting that such a short pamphlet of about 300 pages could turn a new chapter for human novel history, and could create such a tremendous influence on later generations. This grotesque novel is The Castle of Otranto written by Horace Walpole (1717-1794), becoming the first Gothic novel. The use of “a Gothic story” in the subtitle gave birth to the name “Gothic novel”. What has existed in literary works as auxiliary factors such as sentimentality, illusion, grave and death all suddenly became the most important and also the most fascinating part with the creation of The Castle of Otranto What’s more, this novel set a fixed plot model and affirmed the most eternal theme for Gothic Novel--- good and evil must at last have their reward. Apart from this work ,there are many other excellent Gothic novels such as The Mysteries of Udolpho, Italian, Vathek，an Arabian Tale, The Monk Frankenstein and Melmoth the Wanderer. Although Gothic novels have nothing to do with the Gothic people, one of its important sources derives from Germanic nation’s (namely the Teuton) abundant folk tales or from Medieval romances which take these folk tales as reference. Another important source of Gothic novel is dramas in British Renaissance period. Deeply influenced by the Roman dramatist, Lucius Annaeus Seneca , British drama in this period is featured as fraught with revenge, conspiracy, violence, murder, and even ghosts, therefore the drama’s plot is very nerve-jangling. In particular, Shakespeare's plays and Jacobean Tragedies have a huge influence on Gothic novels’ birth and development. The Bible and Christian legends are also important sources of Gothic novel. The Bible contains many a fearsome spectacle, and Christian legends has been always trying to create a hell of terror. 1.2 Its Feature As a special romantic literature genre called "Dark Romanticism”. Gothic Novel was mainly prevailed in the Romantic literature period. What the word “dark” refers to is mainly showed in two aspects: first, the plot of Gothic novels usually emphasizes the creation of violent and terrifying atmosphere; second, unlike other romantic literature works which prefer to show directly the authors’ ideal society, politics and morality, Gothic novels strive to explore deeper into social, political and moral problems by revealing the evil side of the society, politics, religion and morality, and by revealing the dark side of human nature. ththGothic styles of the 18 and 19 century literary works reflects in the following aspects. Firstly, one of the unique creations of Gothic novels is the Villain Hero. Being the most controversial characteristics in Gothic novels, these Villain Heroes are both vicious and enchanting, they are the chief culprit for bringing suffer to themselves and others. Their birth or background is usually unknown or obscure to others; their appearance is strange; their soul is contorted, which is accompanied with dark and death and being happy only when other are in torture. Goger Chillingworth in the Scarlet Letter, Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights, and Alec d’Urbervilles in Tess of the d’Urbervilles are all typical Villain Heroes. Generally, the author aims at digging out completely the dark side of human beings by portraying those Villain Heroes, and at arousing in the readers’ heart dual-dramatic feelings of horror and consonance. Secondly, the environment in Gothic novels is very scary and charnel. The story often happens in deserted places such as ancient castle, old abbey, manor and cliff where there may be stone coffins, dead trees and grotesque animals, the time is usually at night or in a cloudy day, making the readers feel blood curding. Thirdly, the plot in Gothic novels is flaunt with suspence, tinged with the smell of death and decay. In the novel, there are often descriptions about rape, violence, murder, persecution, supernatural power and superstitious phenomenon, which may caused by the efforts of satisfying one’s personal desires. But the truth is usually just hidden in the seemly romantic plot. Fourthly, the most typical theme of Gothic novel is the contrast between the good and evil, between the brightness and dark, and between angel and demon though the common themes in Gothic Novels involve killings among brothers, taking other’s wife, revenge, rape, incestum and homosexuality, thus revealing the problems of human nature and the reality. Andrew Sundas has generalized that the techniques for its success is the description of cliffs and abyss, torture and horror, witchcraft and necrophilia. It immersed in contemplation of soul haunting, sudden deaths, the dungeons, dreams, hex, hallucinations and predictions. As a masterpiece of Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d’Urbervilles perfectly embodies his realism, fatalism and pessimism. In this novel, the readers can almost have a feeling of terror all the time aroused by the destroying power of the abnormal and weird character — Alec, by the grim and gloomy atmosphere, by the unpredictable plot and by the sharp contrast of good and evil. Therefore, this paper will analyze the Gothic features of Tess of the d’Urbervilles from the following four aspects: character, environment, plot and theme 2 Gothic Feature Reflected in Tess of the d’Urbervilles When we think of characters in Gothic novels, the image of Villain Hero first come to mind. On the one hand, these Villain Heroes are solitude and proud, on the other hand, they are vulgar and wild because of his burning desire. In Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Alec d’Urbervilles is a typical Villain Hero. 2.1 Character Portraying Villain images are very common in Gothic novels, they can be divided into two types: the sheer villain and the Villain Hero. The former gives a feeling of sheer hatred to the readers, while the latter arouses a feeling of both hatred and sympathy in the readers’ heart. The Villain Heroes are pride, stubborn, dissatisfied with and rebellion against the reality; but at the same time, they seem to be lonely, melancholy, pessimistic, divorced from the masses, and persist their old ways. The eternal theme of Gothic novel of the contrast between good and evil determines that there must be some one evil, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Alec is obvious the evil. Different from other previous novels, in Gothic novels the most appealing image is usually the villain image. These villains often make readers anger and scared, arousing readers’ interest. Weak in morality and short of the bondage of social norms, these villain heroes are paranoid wild, ambitious and has formidable destruction power. It is these images whose souls are burning with desire that become the most important factor for Gothic novels’ charm. Readers’ feeling towards Villain Heroes is a mixture of hatred, fear, attraction, sympathy. In Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Alec d’Urbervilles is a typical Villain Hero. First, he is an individualist and liberalist. Different from the natives who know each other well because of having lived in the Chase area for generations, Alec d’Urbervilles family is new and is behind mysterious veil, not clearly known to the natives. To the outsiders this family is weird because their surname is very old while their residence is new; the family is rich and noble, but there only live Alec and his old mother, both of whom are not in the least like common dignity person. Thus, the d’Urbervilles’ can not integrate into the local community, in fact, they are the outsiders here. In this novel, Alec is always alone, that is in sharp contrast with Tess’ husband, Angel Clare, who always has companions. Alec lives in a big house with his blind mother without any other relatives such as sisters or brothers; he dose not have a single friend to share his joys and sorrows; he is just like a lonely ghost appearing quietly beside Tess and seizing her. Alec is a liberalist in that he is unrestrained by any rules in religion or in morality. When Angel’ father, the priest comes to persuade him to believe in God, Alec abuses him and drives him away rudely; he is weak in morality and lack self-discipline. He tries to get Tess by any foul means just because of loving her. The first time he meets Tess, he shows his love boldly, he calls her “my dear” “my pretty i (P32,33)and gives her roses despite her embarrassment, all of these Coz” things will definitely not be done by another gentleman to a shyly girl. It is him that makes Tess no longer a virgin, which is an important factor that destroy Tess’s life, and because of which, Tess hates him all her life. Looking from this angle, Alec is definitely a demon and a villain. Thus, Alec d’Urbervilles is deeply hated by the readers for his shamelessness, scoundrelness and cruelty, but on the other hand, the readers feel sympathetic to him for his deep love to Tess. To some extent, compared with Angel, the one whom Tess loves wholeheartedly, Alec is somewhat braver, more sincere and more respectable. Alec d’Urbervilles loves Tess passionately and patiently. Though knowing that Tess dose not love him, he never gives up. He not only cares about Tess, but also helps her families: buying toys for her brothers, bringing gifts to her parents, buying a new horse for compensation…all of which once bring rays of happiness to this poor family. But what about Angel? He even never comes to visit the family members. When Alec knows that Tess has married another person, he is sad, shocking and angry, but he never tries any extreme actions that could take revenge on Tess because he fears of hurting her. On the contrary, he loves Tess all the more. After Angel’s leaving and her father’s death, Tess is tortured mentally and physically. At that desperate time, it is Alec that comes to give her a hand. He loves her, no matter who she is, which can not be achieved by indifferent Angel, who leaves Tess after he knows her past. Even when Tess shows her hatred so obviously, Alec is still not angry with her, but continues to show his affectation. One of her leather gloves, which she had taken off to eat her skimmer-cake, lay in her lap, and without the slightest warning she passionately swung the glove by the gauntlet directly in his face. It was heavy and thick as a warrior’s, and it struck him flat on the mouth. A scarlet oozing appeared where her blow had alighted, and in a moment the blood began dropping from his mouth upon the straw .But he soon controlled himself, calmly drew his handkerchief from his pocket, and mopped hid (P302) bleeding lips. He still loves her though in the end he is killed by her. Alec has introspected himself and knows clearly his sin. He has confessed his wrong doings to Tess many times and has tried to compensate. Although he dose not want Tess to leave him, he respect her and does not force her to stay. When his effort is in vain to persuade pragnent Tess to live with him, knowing that he might lose her forever, he says “I suppose I am a bad fellow —— a damn bad fellow. I was born bad, and I have lived bad, and I shall die bad in all probability. But, ( P69)upon my lost soul, I won’t be bad towards you again, Tess.” And so he dose as he says. Latter, he even becomes a religious man to give speech to others. Taking all the above factors into consideration, Alec’s life is as tragic as that of Tess, he is also a victim of the society and his own wrong doings. At the beginning of the novel, the old horse named “prince” of Tess’s family dies, Tess deems that she is the killer; at the end of the novel, Tess stabs Alec to death. It might be said that Hardy tries to indicate that in fact Alec is a prince who shares some good characteristics of all princes. He can be called both Satan and angel. All in all, Alec is the chief culprit who brings disaster to both Tess and himself. He digs himself a cold grave while brings Tess suffer. Hated and feared by the readers, Alec is also worthy of sympathy and admiration for his loyalty and persistence to love, for his courage to confess sin, for his bitter death…… 2.2 Environment Depiction Novels are reflection of reality. As one of the three elements of novels, environment has a very close relationship with character molding and plot development, therefore, environment depiction is not just decorations, but an organic part of determining a novel’s success, as well as an important means to shape the character, to promote plot development, and to deepen the theme . In Gothic novels, there are usually gloomy and scary images such as wasteland, dead trees, mysterious castles, stone coffins, old monasteries, paradise to create an atmosphere of terror among the readers. Gothic stories often occur in dungeons, monasteries, claustrophobic castle or ghostly old houses. Its aesthetic basis is the grand and grisly beauty. In ththe 18 century, when talked about grandeur, British aesthetician Burke Edmund associated grandeur with fear, the most intense emotion of human beings. He has divided the beauty into exquisite common beauty and sublime beauty. Generally speaking, exquisite things are tiny, delicate, harmonious, and are well known by most people. What they arouse in the viewer’s heart are sweetness, excitement and joy of safety. In contrast, when faced with the high mountain, great rolling river, time-honored wasteland, luxuriant forest and such natural phenomenon as thunder and lightning, we seem to be overwhelmed with feelings of awe and mystery. And that’s what Gothic novels always strive to achieve. Gothic novels’ psychological basis is the very human beings’ innate fear. But when reading the gothic stories, on the one hand, we feel unspeakable fear, on the other hand, we are convinced that we are safe. That is to say, we can not only be in a vision of danger, but also know that the danger will never really fall onto us. Thus, besides being intensely indulged into terror, we are also able to feel joyful and pleasured. In writing Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy is no doubt a serious realist. But that dose not rule out of his pursuit for mystery and terror. Hardy is very good at creating mysterious and gloomy atmosphere in which people feel that something ominous will happen, and what turns out in the end is just a confirmation of the readers’ previous prediction. It is this kind of uncertainty, worry and fear that make the novel even more terrifying. First of all, the intense smell of death in Tess of the d’Urbervilles is one embodiment of Gothic feature. A horrible atmosphere is instantly created with the tragic death of some animals and people in the novel. At the beginning of the novel, there is excellent description of the death of the only horse of the d’Urbervilles, shrouding the novel in a depressive and terrifying mist. The contrast between the quiet chilling night and the gushing florid warm blood drags both Tess and the readers into an abyss of terror. When desperate Tess tried to blog the bleeding wound, but she only becomes splashed from face to toe with crimson drops. Although it is just the accidental death of a beast, in little Tess’s mind, it is her that kills him, in other word, she is a murderer. Perhaps the most horrific scene in this novel is the dead forest in which Tess encounters with some dead birds at night when she returns from the visit to Angel’s parents. Originally, Tess comes into this forest by accident because of escaping from someone else’s chasing, her heart is still beating fast from the fright. When the night falls, no moonlight can be seen, and all is dark and quiet. In such an environment, Tess hears some queer sound, which turns out to be dead birds fallen from the trees over her head when the morning comes. Such sleep as she got was naturally fitful; she fancied she heard strange noises. In the midst of these whimsical fancies she heard a new strange sound among the leaves. Soon she was certain that the noises came from wild creatures of some kind, the more so when originating in the boughs overhead, they were followed by the fall of a heavy body upon the ground. Under the trees several pheasants lay about, their rich plumage dabbled with blood ;some were mere dead, some feebly twitching a wing, some contorted, some stretched out — all of them writhing in agony, except the fortune ones whose tortures had ended during the night by the inability of nature to bear (P252)more. To ease the pain of some still struggling birds, Tess wrings their neck and kills them. Another part of description about death is made the day when Tess and Angel marry each other. Marian, one who has loved Angel very much drowns herself. As a result, an originally happy day is covered with an atmosphere of sadness. Alec d’Urbervilles’ bitter death in the end of the novel is both an end and a culmination to the terror of death. The most basic emotion of human beings is fear, but what is the most fearful thing for human beings? The answer is of course the death. So, writers of Gothic novels, including Thomas Hardy, intend to use death to grasp the readers’ attention and to achieve their artistic goals. In a word, it is the instinctive reaction to death and blood that makes readers can not help feeling scared and shocking, and that’s what this novel has achieved. Secondly, the description of the dark night with not a ray of moonlight is another embodiment of Gothic feature in this novel. Hardy is skill at using gloomy and starless night as background of some important events, presenting to the readers a picture of obscure beauty. People usually have a feeling of nameless fear when they can not see anything, unknowing what is going on around them. Hardy has captured this natural emotion of human beings successfully and applied it to this novel. The night when Tess is seduced by Alec, it is sheer dark with no moonlight. The deep mysterious forest is shrouded with heavy mist, which adds to the terror of it. In this non-penetrating darkness, nothing is visible or safe, and nothing can escape the grasp of darkness. Scared Tess is so helpless at this moment, so are the readers. The last part of the novel describes the progress of Tess’s escape with Angel after killing Alec. Another moonless quiet night, they come to a desolate, broad and level land — the Great plain or the Egdon desert, where stands Stonehenge. The terror can be clearly felt from the environment. The moon had now sunk, the clouds seemed to settle almost on their heads, and the night grew as dark as a cave. All around was open loneliness and black solitude, over which a stiff breeze blew. The wind, playing upon the edifice, produced a (P359) booming tune, like the note of some gigantic one-stringed harp. At this moment, the combination of extreme terror of afraid of being arrested and the terror of the grand strange environment throw Tess and Angel into a state of breathlessness. Running in a place so spacious, deserted, and mysterious like this could makes one feel creepy and frightened from the bottom of his heart. Hardy links poor Tess’s fate with Prehistoric people’s fear towards the powerful nature, enhancing the effective of Creator’s injustice, and extending the general meaning of Tess’s tragedy. Thirdly, still another embodiment of Gothic feature in this novel is the description of some religious sights, such as stone coffin, ancient church or temple and altar, all of which are more likely to lead the readers to thinking of death. After Tess’s father’s death, the family loses their house. One night, on their way to find some place to stay, Tess walks into the old abbey in which her ancestors has been buried by accident, thus she has a close contact with her ancestors’ souls. The circumstance in the abbey is gray and gloomy because it is an old, shabby and mysterious abbey. Generally speaking, in people’s mind, old church or abbey is the place where terrifying stories take place. In this deep dark night, Tess walks into such a horrible place alone, talking with her ancestors buried there by heart. Ironically, at this blood curding quiet moment, Alec suddenly appears in front of Tess among all the dusty statutes, shocking both Tess and the readers greatly. In summary, depictions of death, peach-dark night and the fearful religious sight are just means by which Hardy tries to create an atmosphere of mystery and horror. It is these environments of great horror that enable the readers to better understand the tragic theme of this novel. 2.3 Plot Development Gothic novels’ speciality is also reflected in their plot setting. Striving to achieve sensory stimulation, Gothic novels try to create a psychological effect of terror in the readers’ heart, so there is often a lot of suspense in the novels. By presenting various kinds of mysterious phenomenon, Gothic novels particularly elaborate some quirky plot which is elusive in real life to attract readers’ attention or to express the author’s thought. To a large extent, the mystery and terror in Gothic novels are achieved by intricate plot setting. Tess of the d’Urbervilles has the magnetic appeal, which is to some extent owing to Hardy’s wonderful arrangement of the fascinating plot. In terms of plot setting skills, he is somewhat similar to the 18th century British writer Henry Fielding and the 19th century writher Walter Scott: the plot is vivid and tortuous, the coincidence is endless. Hardy is skilled in weaving carefully together the interesting materials. The numerous bizarre coincidences and suspense constitute a kind of great quality of Gothic novels. Freud once said that people are scared, because they don't know that suspense just make use of their ignorance of the development and ending of a coincidence. And in terms of mystery, it also makes use of reader’s ignorance of an event. It is this ignorance that arouses a feeling of terror in the readers’ heart. In this novel, first of all, it is so many coincidences that make the plot winding, tortuous and intricate. It is sometimes unbelievable that there should be so many coincidences in this novel, which all play a key role in the development of the plot and in determining the fate of Tess. The following are some typical coincidences in this novel: Tess comes to claim kin, but the person she first meets there happens to be Alec, who falls in love with her at the first sight, from then on, Tess gets entangled in a intricate net of tragedy; when returning from the party in town late at night, innocent Tess is involved in the debating and fighting between two other workmates without any provocation, and as a result she is isolated from her friends; Alec appears just at that unfortunate moment, taking Tess away, thus favorable climatic, geographical and human conditions are all in readiness, Tess being seduced; when Tess finally summons up courage to write to her fiancé Angel to confess what her past is, the letter is happened to be put under the carpet by Tess, as a result, Angel never has the chance to know Tess’s past until the night of their marriage, a time when it is too late; in the house where Tess and Angel plan to stay during the night of their marriage, there happens to have put on some ferocious women’s pictures of Tess’s ancestors, which is an ominous prediction of Tess’s unsuccessful marriage; after Angel’s leave, painful Tess determines to visit Angel’s parents in order to get some information about him, she could have won his parents’ sympathy and acknowledgement as their daughter-in-law but for the accident takes place in the street: she happens to hear the talks between Angel’s brothers, which causes a misunderstanding between Tess and them, and thus dismisses Tess’s original plan of visiting them, until then, Tess’s last rope of help is completely destroyed; failing to see Angel’s parents, but on her trip back, she meets Alec whom she has shacked off for a long time; Just when Tess is abandoned by Angel and bothered by Alec, her father’s death makes things even worse; When Tess is driven at the end of her rope, and has rely on Alec for a way out, Angel, whom she has waited in vain for so long a time suddenly appears……. Because of all these shocking coincidences, it is just like taking a roller-coaster when reading this novel. Meanwhile, these coincidences clearly reflect the fatalism and pessimism of Hardy. It seems that there is some thing beyond human community that weaves all these coincidences together and determines Tess’s destiny. Secondly, the description of superstitious and super natural phenomenon also shrouds the novel in a mist of mystery and terror. At the beginning of the novel, Tess’s mother possesses a fortune-telling book, towards which Tess has a nameless fear; On the way back from Tess’s visit to claim kin, she is stabbed by the thorn of the roses given by Alec, which, according to the local customs, is an inauspicious phenomenon, and is considered as an omen of Tess’s misfortunate fate; during the day of Tess’s marriage with Angel, the local people hear the rooster crowing for several times, and that is also ominous in the locality. The above events are just unexplainable superstitions which happen to be turned out to be true, but it is because of this unexplainable nature that causes great terror in the readers’ mind, and covers this novel with a veil of mystery of Gothic. The effect of Gothic feature reaches its climax in the part of describing Angel’s sleepwalk. Apart from the astonishment of how deeply in fact Angel loves Tess, the readers might be more confused and shocked by the mystery of human life: He was in hid shirt and trousers only, and her first flush of joy died when she perceived that his eyes were fixed in an unnatural stare on vacancy. When he reached the middle of the room he stood still and murmured, in tones of indescribable sadness (P224) “Dead! dead! dead!” After Angel lays Tess in an empty stone coffin, he himself sleeps there on the ground. To get him go back to home, Tess whispers in his ear “Let’s walk on, darling,” at the same time taking him suggestively by the arm. To her relief, he unresistingly acquiesced; her words had apparently thrown him back into his dream, which thenceforward seemed to enter on a new phase, wherein he (P227)fancied she had risen as a spirit, and was leading him to Heaven. This event happens between Tess and Angel is unimaginable but true to the readers in this story. The readers may wonder how an unconscious person could do all the things that normally he will definitely unwilling or be unable to do. The readers might also wonder why Angel thinks that Tess has died and carries her to an old stone coffin. All these unsolved enigmas contribute to the horror and mystery of this novel. In conclusion, the intricate plot flaunt with unexpected coincidences and the superstitious or supernatural phenomenon are immerged with the great psychological terror, arousing in the readers’ heart the curiosity and fear towards the unknown fiction world. 2.4 Theme Presentation The confliction between bright and dark, or between good and evil is an eternal theme for Gothic novels. In Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Tess is the symbol of the good, while all the other persons especially Alec are symbols of the evil. Tess is the only person who shows responsibility for her poor family; she possesses a most precious quality of human beings, namely the forgiveness, which is lacked in Angel Clare; she is so faithful to true love that is willing to pursuit it at any cost, even her life, this faithfulness is by no means comparable to Angel and any other people at that time; she still strives to earn a living for herself and for her family whatever disaster falls onto her, which is incomparable to Alec…… Through this sharp contrast, this novel also reflects the miserable life of the lower class people who are under a two-fold oppression of conservatives and capitalists force, It expresses the author’s sympathy to the impoverished peasant who has come to the dead corner of his life. Hardy not only strengthened his accuse for the social ethics, but also digs deep into the differences and contradiction between different social classes, and explores into the conflicts between human being’s natural desire and their internal rationality. Hardy seems to ascribe Tess’s tragedy to destiny. But in fact, by telling the story of poor Tess, he reveals the hypocrisy of religion and morality in real life, and their restrain to people’s mind. 3 The Significance of Gothic Features for This Novel From the above analysis, it is obvious that Gothic feature plays an important role in Tess of the d’Urbervilles for its contribution in shaping characters, in creating plot with everlasting appeal and in highlighting the artistic beauty of this novel. The image of Villain Hero helps to arouse in the readers’ heart a feeling of consonance, because all the evil properties of Villain Hero are just a reflection of human nature. In this novel, the Villain Hero Alec d’Urbervilles is a character hated, feared and sympathized by the readers. On the hand, he is indifferent to social laws and morality, and he is a ghastly demon in the eyes of poor Tess, while on the other hand, there are also sparking points in him that worth sympathizing and admiring. The portraying of Alec as a Villain Hero also reflects what other person such as Tess and Angel is like, contributing to the everlasting appeal of this novel. This novel is famous for its intricate plot and mysterious environment. By using a series of coincidences and superstitious or supernatural phenomenon, Hardy successfully push the development of this intricate plot ahead. Plot is the life of novels, and coincidences and superstitious or supernatural phenomenon are the blood of this novel’s plot. Without them, this novel could not have been so attractive to generations of readers. To a certain extent, the use of Gothic features also enhances the artistic effect of this novel. Hardy intends to reveal indirectly some problems of social reality, with the application of Gothic features to the character portraying, to the environment description, to the plot development and to the theme representation, he is better able to make this kind of indirect revealing natural and smooth, adding to its artistic effect and strengthening its readability. That is a great success of Hardy. Conclusion As a masterpiece of Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d’Urbervilles is generally regarded as one of the most excellent realism works in European. It reveals the hypocrisy of capitalists’ society, religion and morality. Tess is the daughter of the poor John Durbeyfield who finds that he is the descent of a noble family and asks Tess to Alec d’Urbervilles’ home to claim kin. Unfortunately, innocent Tess is seduced by Alec. Latter, Tess is fall in love with Angel Clare, but he abandons her when Tess tells him her past. In great desperation because of Angel’s leaving and the helpless situation of her family, Tess turns to Alec for help. But Angel comes back at that time. Finding Tess is with Alec, he determines to leave again. Poor Tess kills Alec for revenge and gets her destination. This paper explores the Gothic beauty in the novel by analyzing the character portraying, the environment depiction, the plot development and the theme presentation. In this novel, Alec d’Urbervilles is an impressive Villain Hero who is hated and admired by the readers. In him, it can be easily found both the destroying power and the precious quality of being loyal to love; there are Gothic atmosphere which can be felt everywhere in this novel, the environment such as the scene of blood, dead tree, deserted plain, tone coffin, old Abbey-church and starless night is usually gray, gloomy and horrific; the artistic beauty of Gothic features are also wonderfully embodied in the plot and the theme. The novel is flaunt with the smell of death, superstition and supernatural power, and the classic theme of Gothic novels of the contrast between good and evil is wonderfully expressed. The application of Gothic features in this realistic novel adds to its magnificent and soul-stirring effect, strengthens its appealing power, and makes it still more enduring in the list of classic works. Of course, there may be some defects in this paper need to be further improved. First, as there are few researches about the Gothic features of this novel, it is difficult to find information for reference. Therefore, the proofs may not as abundant as those in other papers. Besides, the author’s knowledge is limited, it is inevitable that there should be some faults in the eyes of the expert. But these defects will be a great driving force to push the author ahead in future researches. Notes ?Thomas Hardy. Tess of the d’Urbervilles[M]. Shanghai: Shanghai World Publishing Corporation, 2003. All quotations in the body of this paper are from the same edition and will subsequently be referred to with a page number only. Bibliography [1] Neal Wyatt(Dark and Stormy Reads:The Pleasures of Gothic Novels[J]:Library Journal ，2007(5) ( [2] Suo Jinmei. A History of British Literature[M]. Tian Jing: Nan Kai University Press, 2009. [3] Thomas Hardy(Tess of the d’Urbervilles[M](Shanghai:Shanghai World Publishing Corporation, 2003( [4] Merryn Williams(A Preface to Hardy[M] (Beijing:Peking University Press, 2005( [5] 李伟昉(英国哥特小说论[M](北京:中国社会科学出版社，2005( [6] 王桂琴(1980-2004年国内哈代研究论文统计分析[J](外国文学研究，2005(6)( [7] 王佐良, 周钰良.英国文学史[M]. 北京:外语教学与研究出版社，2006. [8] 肖明翰. 英美文学中的哥特传统[J]. 外国文学评论，2001. [9] 尹慧玉(天使与撒旦—《德伯家的苔丝》人物形象分析[J](学术交流，2010(5). [10] 杨春会(从《德伯家的苔丝》中的意象体悟苔丝的命运[J].大连海事大学学报(社会科学版)，2009(2)( [11] 郑连勋.《德伯家的苔丝》中苔丝悲剧的原因探析[J](时代文学， 2010(11)( Acknowledgements I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all the people who have ever helped me in this project. My sincere and hearty thanks and appreciations go firstly to Associate Professor Si Wenhui, my supervisor. It is she who made me believe that l can exert my ability to work on this study. It is she who taught me so much knowledge for this study and called attention to my mistakes. It is her suggestion and encouragement that have given me much insight into this study. It has been a great privilege and joy to study under her guidance and supervision. Furthermore, it is my honor to benefit from her personality and diligence. If this work can be of any merits, it is because of her. I am also thankful to all the course teachers in Foreign Languages Department in Hunan University of Science and Engineering. Finally, I am grateful to all those who devote much time to reading this thesis and give me much advice, which will benefit me in my later study.