Context

Question 1

Hardys changing attitude to religion

Answer 1

Strongly connected the the church in his youth

- came disconnected and distance from Christianity as a whole in his 20s

Question 2

What did Hardy see in his youth which links to Tess

Answer 2

• hanging off 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

Question 3

Hodge culture

Answer 3

• agricultural workers in literature were often referred to as the nickname of the ‘hodge’ and used for comic purposes in pop literature

Question 4

What inspired Hardy to write Tess in 1888

Answer 4

• visiting vast estates that had once belonged to Hardty family in the vale of Blackmoor

Question 5

Cranborne chase

Answer 5

A country in Dorset commonly said to be entirely separated to the realms of law and order (the basis for the chase scene in Tess’s rape seduction)

Question 6

What inspired Hardy to reject traditional Christian faith

Answer 6

• Darwin on the origin of species

- John Stewart Mills ‘on Liberty’

Question 7

Huxley

Answer 7

Staunch defender of Darwin , argued man cannot be certain of Gods existence or the lack thereof

Question 8

How is Huxley referenced

Answer 8

When Alec and Tess are re- acquainted and she explains to him why she is sceptical of religion
- section shows how subservient Tess is to angel, she remembers near word for word Angels belief
PAGE 322

Question 9

Main struggle agnostics encountered

Answer 9

Alec page 330 ‘I’m not going to feel responsible for my deeds and passions if there’s nobody to be responsible with’

Question 10

Hardys view of providence

Answer 10

Hardys fiction is characterised by his pessimism

- striking example of this is when she must make the choice of kingsbere to live with Alec or let her family starve

Question 11

Wessex

Answer 11

Named his fictional wessex after the Anglo Saxon kingdom that existed in the southwest England in medieval times