Tess of the D'Urbervilles Quotes - Phase the Fifth (The Woman Pays) Flashcards
A quote from Angel after Tess confesses to her past with Alec. It suggests absolute male dominance, with men choosing what can be forgiven and what cannot, holding a hierarchy of morality
“‘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!’”
A quote describing Angel after Tess’ confession, suggesting him to demonically laugh at her plight. His previous virtue is contrasted starkly with his sudden and absolute lack of compassion or empathy for Tess’ condition
“He paused; then suddenly broke into horrible introspective laughter - as unnatural and ghastly as a laugh in hell”
A quote from Angel suggesting that he loved only the idea of Tess, her nature as the pure, quintessential essence of the female form. Now that this virtue has been tainted, she is no longer the same woman in his eyes
“I repeat, the woman I have been loving is not you […] Another in your shape”
A quote from Tess suggesting absolute passivity - even in the face of her husband’s abuse, she does not question his actions, simply doing as she is told. It is this passivity that leads to Angel leaving her, sealing her fate
“I will obey you like your wretched slave, even if it is to lie down and die”
A quote from Angel suggesting that Tess’ D’Urberville lineage is the reason for her immorality and impurity, despite previously being glad of her pedigree due to its use to heighten her working class position. Angel now reverts to class discrimination
“Decrepit families postulate decrepit wills, decrepit conduct. Heaven, why did you give me a handle for despising you more by informing me of your descent!”
A quote from the omniscient narrator suggesting that, had Tess protested Angel’s going and not acted with passivity, he may not have left and she may not have been forced back toward Alec. Note the use of a list (multitudinous ways in which she could have saved herself), alliteration in “lonely lane”, and “chords” as a reference to Angel and the harp
“If Tess had been artful, had she made a scene, fainted, wept hysterically, in that lonely lane […] he would probably not have withstood her. […] In her submission […] the many affective chords which she could have stirred by an appeal were left untouched”
A quote from when Tess travels towards Flintcomb-Ash and sleeps within a nest of leaves, waking up to find dead pheasants strewn around her. The pheasants are representative of the brutal destruction of innocent nature by the Victorian aristocracy (like Alec) who take what they desire simply because they can
“Under the trees several pheasants lay about, their rich plumage dabbled with blood; some were dead, some feebly moving their wings, some staring up at the sky, some pulsating feebly, some contorted, some stretched out - all of them in writhing agony”
A quote from the pheasants section, suggesting Tess always to have been fated to be destroyed by the aristocracy as a working class woman. Since “girlhood” she has been haunted by the bloodthirsty aristocracy, who now catch up to her
“She had occasionally caught glimpses of these men in girlhood, looking over hedges, or peering through bushes, and pointing their guns, strangely accoutred, a bloodthirsty light in their eyes”
A further quote from the pheasants section suggesting Tess to be a working-class woman persecuted by the aristocracy with brutality, Tess as harmless and ignorant as a pheasant and the aristocracy the brutal and uncaring huntsmen
“They […] made it their purpose to destroy life - in this case harmless feathered creatures, brought into being by artificial means solely to gratify these propensities”
Two quotes describing Flintcomb-Ash Farm, a “starve-acre place” in which Tess suffers significantly, having been abandoned by Angel and refusing to request funds from his family. It demonstrates Flintcomb-Ash to be devoid of character, life, and happiness
“The whole field was in colour a desolate drab; it was a complexion without features, as if a face, from chin to brow, should be only an expanse of skin”
“These two upper and nether visages confronted each other all day long […] without anything standing between them but the two girls crawling over the surface of the former like flies”
