Tess - key quotations Flashcards
“you are the lineal representative of the ancient and knightly family of the d’Urbervilles…”
Chapter 1: Local parson informs Mr. Durbeyfield of his grand lineage. For Durbeyfield this feels like fate. The parson addresses him as “Sir John”
” “Dead, dead, dead!” “
Chapter 37: Angel Clare sleepwalks after having rejected Tess as his wife because of her sin. He consciously maintains a conviction that Tess is bad, corrupt, but his unconscious sleepwalking self reveals the love and moral respect for her (“so good, so true!) that he feels somewhere inside him. - inner conflict - modern man vs social conformity
“several pheasants lay about… dabbled with blood… “Poor darlings – to suppose myself the most miserable being on earth in sight o’such misery as yours!””
Chapter 41: The dying birds symbolise her own condition. Hunting kills creatures and does so unnecessarily. The image of silently suffering victims of violence evokes Tess’ quiet acceptance of her own violation at the hands of Alec.
In a literary sense, these flightless birds stand in sharp contrast to Shelley, who wrote an ode to a skylark. Romantic birds leave the Earth below to a higher plane of existence, Tess has been left flightless.
