Hardy’s changing attitude to religion
- strongly connected to the church in his youth
- became disconnected and distance from Christianity as a whole in his 20s
what did Hardy see in his youth which links to Tess
- The hanging of Elizabeth Martha Brown- the last woman to be publicly hanged in Dorset
- She was convicted of the murder of her second husband after he had attacked her
hardy and ‘hodge cukture’
-Hardy was considered as one of a class of writers exclusive to himself and George Eliot in their quality prose about the countryside and the people who live
there
-agricultural workers in literature were often reffered to as the nickname of ‘hodge’ and used for comic purposes in pop. literature
what inspired Hardy to write Tess in 1888
-visiting the vast estates thta had once belonged to Hardye/ Hardty family in the Vale of Blackmoor
what was Cranborne Chase
a counbty in Dorest commonly said to be entirely separated to the realms of law and order (this was the basis for the ‘chase’ in Tess’s rape seduction)
Religion in Victorian Britian
- Victorian Britain was one of the most religiously minded in the history of England
- strong belief in providence
what inspired Hardy to reject traditional christian faith
- Darwin’s ‘on the origin of species’
- John Stewart Mill’s ‘On liberty’
how did many Victorian prose end?
with unnaturally happy endings- this was a pet hate of Hardy
Who was Huxley?
-staunch defender of Darwin. he argued that man cannot be certain of God’s existence or lack thereof
when, where and how is Huxley references in the text
- When Alec and Tess are re-acquainted and she explians to him why she is sceptical of religion (pg 322)
- This section shows how subservient Tess is to Angel- she remembers, near word for word Angels belief
what was the main struggle that Agnostics encountered?
-maintaining grasp on goodness and duty to humanity without god (Alec 330pg) ‘I’m not going to feel responsible for my deeds and passions if there’s nobody to be responsible to’
Hardy’s view of providence
- Hardy’s fiction is characterised by his pessimism
- striking example of this is when she must make the choice in kingsbere to live with alec or let her family starve (357)
what Book could be seen as having influenced Hardy in his favourable depiction of a ‘fallen woman’ and her recovery and reintegration into society
‘Ruth’ by Elizabeth Gaskell
What is ‘on liberty’ about and how is it relevant to Tess
- main thesis is that ‘if freedom is denied to the individual, all of the society will suffer
- happiness is more important than institutions i.e. marriage
- Mill alluded that Victorian society was like a ‘chinese lady’s foot’- crushed into acceptable form yet resulting in social tyranny
- Hardy said he knew the text of by heart
Historical context
- Set in England in the first part of the depression (1873-79)
- major cultural shift from rural/ agricultural to urban/ industrial
- decline of the aristocracy, rise of the noveau riche (e.g the stokes)
- very high and hypocritical levels of sexual morality- Hardy’s subtitle was thus very controversial
what is Wessex?
-Hardy named his fictional ‘Wessex County’ after the Anglo Saxon kingdom that existed in southwest england in medevial times
