Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

english > tess key quotes > Flashcards

tess key quotes Flashcards

1
Q

“how are the mighty fallen” pg9

A

biblical allusion, convey theme of downfall, reversal of fortune, themes of fate, societal expectations and the inevitability of tragedy

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

“beautiful white hart” pg13

A

recurring motif, symbol of purity and innocence, angel’s longing for redemption and Tess’ purity, idealised version of Tess, symbol of unattainable perfection, Angel’s idealised view of Tess

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

“peony mouth…large innocent eyes” pg14

A

unknowingly flirtatious, peony=symbol of romance an beauty, child-like, vulnerable, naivety, lack of corruption, link to greek mythology = paeonia, beautiful woman who attracted attention of apollo, when she realised aphrodite was watching she became bashful, she was turned into a re peony.im #kl

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

“a mere vessel of emotion untinctured by experience” pg15

A

metaphor, insignificant, led by her emotions, filled with intense emotions, pure and unadulterated by wordly knowledge, susceptible to manipulation

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

“phases of her childhood lurked in her still” pg15

A

naive and childish unlike her appearance, her childhood still influences her, “lurked” hidden and waiting to resurface, vulnerable, easy to mislead

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

“there was an uncribbed, uncabined aspect in his eyes” pg16

A

allusion to Macbeth, foreshadows Angel’s ultimate entrapment, free and unrestrained

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

“pointed shaft of the cart…hiss into the road” pg33

A

simile, foreshadowing, complex sentences, chaotic, sibilance, hopeless and excess, prince represents their livelihood

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

“he insisted” pg42

A

imperative, domineering and controlling, able to manipulate Tess

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

pink ribbon…white frock…estimated as a woman” pg49

A

colour imagery, feminine and flirtatious, virginial, making her look, making her look seductive, sacrificial victim, sympathy Tess

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

“with the setting of the moon…Tess became invisible” pg 73

A

conceals his actions, contrasts light + dark, foreshadows her being shunned from society , her humanity is obscured

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

“but where was Tess’ guardian angel ?” pg74

A

omniscient narrator highlights the lack of divine intervention, hardy shows his scepticisms of God as a protector

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

“an immeasurable chasm was to divide our heroine’s personailty”

A

life-altering event, metaphor, cant go back, becomes a “fallen woman”

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

“she had learnt that the serpent hisses where the sweet bird sings” pg75

A

biblical allusion, Adam + Eve, prey for the serpent, Alec = diabolical figure, avian imagery

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

“Thy, Dammnation, Slumbereth, Not” “as if to give pause while the word was driven well home to the reader’s heart” pg79

A

biblical, added commas, metaphor, penetrative, invasive

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

“she knew what their whispers were about…could come to church no more”

A

hypocrisy “love thy neighbour”, no solice, internal pain, overwheming anguish, Irony

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

“her flower like mouth and large tender eye, neither black nor blue, nor grey, nor violet” pg90

A

delicate and gentle, colour imagery, complex character, highlights her depth of emotion, tragedy

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

“the child consigned to the nethermost corner of hell…three pronged fork” pg93

A

alliteration, her fears, torturous image, child is treated as a sinner

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

“It was unexpected youth, surging up anew after it’s temporary check, and bringing with it hope, and the invincible instinct towards self delight “ pg100

A

metaphor for tess, hopeful and optimistic, new chance for life

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

“the var waters were clear as the pure river of life shown to the evangelists” pg103

A

biblical, unspoiled, new life, healing and joy, metaphorically being cleansed

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

“the typical and unvarying hodge ceased to exist…others austere” pg118

A

Angel notices the different between people, openminded, his experience has liberated him from his prejudice

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

“what a genuine daughter of nature that milkmaid is!” pg120

A

defined by her class, pure, idealising her - inevitably going to be disappointed, foreshadows her fall

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

“Tess, like a fascinated bird, could not leave the spot” pg120

A

in awe of him, she can’t leave as his social mobility gives her freedom, bird = vulnerability

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

“I shouldn’t of expected a young girl like you to see it so yet” pg 124

A

underestimating her, ironic and condescending, idolising her innocence but failing to see her depth

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

“she was no longer a milkmaid, but a visionary essence of a woman - a whole sex condensed into one typical form” pg130

A

Tess’ evolution from a common milkmaid to something more significant in Angel’s eyes, she’s an elevated figure in his mind, foreshadowing her fall, opposite of how Alec viewed her

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

“He called her Artemis, Demeter” pg 130

A

Goddess of chastity and hunting, goddess of fruitfulness and hunting, foreshadowing, ironic

26
Q

“Tess, place faced, had gone to the door” pg 135

A

feels sickened by the story of Jack Dollop, her past is inevitable and inescapable, everyone else is amused

27
Q

“the hiss of fertilization…the most fanciful love shouldn’t grow passionate” pg 149

A

sexual imagery, foreshadowing, sibilance = sexual passion and awakening

28
Q

“non-evangelical, will-educated, hall marked young men…short sighted” pg159

A

moulded = indoctrinated, unworldly, standard, stamped to perfection, conformists, conditioned, narrowminded, limited perspective

29
Q

“unimpeachable christian” pg 164

A

utterly trustworthy, dramatic irony = uncomfortable and ominous, pure and virtuous, quixotic and idealistic, questions authenticity of their relationship

30
Q

“D’urberville the young man developed the most reckless passions, though he had a blind mother” pg 166

A

his character is constant, risky and thoughtless, foreboding, metaphorically blind to his actions

31
Q

” ‘Oh, Mr Clare - I cannot be your wife - I cannot be!’ … she bowed her face in grief” pg 171

A

repetition and exclamation, she’s conflicted and frustrated, her past has control over her, shame

32
Q

“Tess looked had grown hard and worn, and her ripe mouth tragical; but she no longer showed any tremulousness” pg 173

A

she is a women of experience, contrast (“untincured by experience”), she lacks nervousness around Alec

33
Q

“many a women - some of the highest in the land - have had a trouble in their time”
“Your childish nature to tell all that’s in your heart - so simple!” pg 191

A

different narrative device (letter), counciling and cautioning Tess, hypocrisy, pragamatic, emphasis that is pure “childish”, slightly patronising

34
Q

“dreadful crime in his family coach…but I’ll tell you another day” pg 214

A

d’Urberville ancestor kidnapped, raped, and killed a young girl, sense of foreboding, inescapable past

35
Q

“the ashes under the grate were lit by the fire…last day luridness in this red-coaled glow, which fell on his face”
“a large shadow of her shape rose upon the wall and ceiling” pg 225

A

hellish imagery, like the end of the world (metaphor), colour imagery = rage, ominous, her sin is exposed, sense of doom

36
Q

“Forgiveness does not apply to the case. You were one person; now you are another. How can forgiveness meet such a grotesque prestidigitation as that?” pg 228

A

no longer the “pure daughter of nature”, condemnatory tone, accusing her of decieving him, hypocrisy

37
Q

“He looked upon her as a species of imposter; a guilty woman in the guise of an innocent one” pg 229

A

feels manipulated and tricked, committed a crime, sinned against him, judging her on her virtue

38
Q

“She did not observe that a tear came out upon his cheek, descending slowly” pg 230

A

not completely heartless, indoctrinated by Victorian society, led by religious and Victorian morality

39
Q

“You are an unapprehending peasant woman, who have never been initiated into the proportions of social things. You don’t know what you say” pg 232

A

reducing her to class, cares more about his staus and rep, she’s naive and simple, contrast how he used to view her, dissociation between Tess now & then

40
Q

“The river is down there. I can put an end to myself in it. I am not afraid” pg 233

A

self-sacrificing, desperation - about to lose the love of her life, will do anything to please him

41
Q

“Flintcombe-ash farm as a starve acre place” pg 284

A

malnutrition, famine, metaphor, barren, unfertile, represents Tess

42
Q

“Two girls crawling over the surface of the former like flies” pg 285

A

negligible, insignificant, tiny, images of decay, dismal lives, dehumanised

43
Q

“paralysing her movement so that she neither treated nor advanced” pg 305

A

hyperbole, extent to which he affects her, entrapment

44
Q

“but he now wore…the sable moustache having disappeared…half clerical…abstract the dandyism from his features” pg 305

A

living in disguise, no longer a melodramatic villain, partial transistion, not reality, everything that made him “Alec” has changed, his change is performative

45
Q

“But it’s better that I should not look too often on you. It might be dangerous” pg 310

A

Tess’s beauty means he can’t control himself, hypocritical, perceives himself as a victim, failing to take responsibility

46
Q

“and swear that you will never tempt me - by your charms or ways” pg 311

A

lacks control and self will, blaming Tess, patriarchal society

47
Q

“twer not a cross! Tis a thing of ill-omen” pg 312

A

criminal, symbolic of punishment, foreshadows Tess’s punishment at the hands of society

48
Q

“devote myself to missionary work in Africa” pg315

A

sees Africa as needing to be civilised, patronising, ironic that Alec is going to civilise people, imperialistic and colonialist attitudes portrayed through Alec

49
Q

symbolism of the threshing machine pg325

A

given human qualities and made to seem in control, representative of the mechanistic law of fate which directs Tess’s life to it’s tragic end, symbol of agricultural revolution, encroachment of industrial technology into traditional agricultural practices, power dynamic between labourers and technology, power imbalance in society, foreshadows Tess’s later encounters with industrialisation and modernity

50
Q

“the red tyrant that the women had come to serve” pg325

A

colour symbolism, destroying traditional agricultural work, powerful and dominate, women are subservient, moder industry is hellish and destructive, fiery intrusion on nature

51
Q

“kept up a despotic demand upon the endurance of their muscles and nerves” pg 325

A

alliteration, relentless, tight control, tyrannical, physically and emotionally oppressive

52
Q

“he spoke in a strange northern accent” pg325

A

foreign, intruder, unnatural presence

53
Q

“he served fire and smoke” “service of his plutonic master”

A

hellish and fiery imager, pluto = god of underworld, demonic

54
Q

“was a creaking erection that would scarcely bare the weight of the superincumbent load” pg360

A

heavy weight on top of it, metaphor for the families instability and fragility, especially female headed households,

55
Q

“made me a victim, a caged bird!” pg 381

A

dialogue, avian imagery, metaphor, exclamatory, put Tess in a guided cage

56
Q

“she was fully dressed now in the walking costume…a veil was drawn” pg381

A

illusion, her relationship was fake, mourning alec, her own spiritual death

57
Q

“gigantic ace of hearts” pg382

A

passion, traditionally meant bad luck

58
Q

“drip, drip, drip” pg382

A

Prince, it was her fate to meet Alec, will lead to her downfall

59
Q

“the point of the blade had touched the heart of the victim” pg383

A

personal, killing his attachment to her and his passion, omission of Tess killing Alec = our vision is untainted

60
Q

“It was a black flag. ‘Justice’ was done, and the president of the immortals…had ended his sport with Tess” pg397

A

ironic, condemning the idea of justice, colour imagery = death & mourning, symbol of Tess’s death, mythological allusion, ancient Greek playwright, in his play ‘Prometheus bound’ Prometheus is punished for eternity for helping mankind, Tess was a ‘toy’ to the gods of morality and religion in Victorian England. Tess is a sacrifice, authorial comment, novel ends with silence after this comment, reverence respect & reflection

english (3 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2025 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions