Tess quotes

Question 1

‘Mobile peony mouth’

Answer 1

Emphasises Tess’s purity as a character - ‘mobile’ = docile; ‘peony’ = flower = delicate. However, the focus on her mouth (associated with sexuality) suggests that people perceive her to also be sexual (contradiction) - The focus on her beauty, passivity and sexuality are characteristics that lead to her tragic journey in the novel.

Question 2

‘blue narcotic haze’

Answer 2

Blue = associated with innocence (especially baby blue); ‘narcotic’ = continues the theme of Tess’s passivity as a character and how she is taken advantage of by the men in her life; ‘haze’ = dream-like - links to passivity - may foreshadow her rape

Question 3

‘She obeyed, like one in a dream’

Answer 3

Obeyed = passivity; simile = emphasises her passivity to make the contemporary reader believe that Tess is innocent in her demise; she has been taken advantage of; could also be read as her naivety being the cause of her downfall BUT it can also come off as victim-blaming

Question 4

‘Passed the Sixth Standard in the National School’ The Maiden

Answer 4

Sets Tess apart from her working-class peers and family - may have used this to emphasise Tess’s noble blood and the conflict between her w/c identity and being different to others - this otherness may lead to her downfall since she does not conform neatly into societal categories of class or sexuality

Question 5

‘Light of a murderess’ - The Maiden

Answer 5

Tess’s morality - believes herself responsible for Prince’s death; might link to her ancestry (Mark Asquith) BUT Hardy emphasises Tess’s critical view of herself to critique Victorian society for blaming women for what men have done

Question 6

‘Figure of Guilt intruding into the haunts of innocence’

Answer 6

Tess is her worst self-critic - shows the affects on a highly patriarchal and judgemental society on a woman. Personification of guilt = she believes that she has committed the worst sin and is not innocent; ‘haunts’ = ghostly - almost as if innocence is beyond her reach because she is no longer ‘pure’ BUT it could also suggest how the idea of innocence haunts her because of Victorian society

Question 7

‘Her hopes mingled with the sunshine in an ideal photosphere’ - The Rally

Answer 7

Pathetic fallacy = seasons reflecting Tess’s emotions - suggests that there is hope for Tess to move on BUT because the weather is changeable, it could be Hardy suggesting that this state will not last long. Talbothays = Garden of Eden and Eve got her and Adam kicked out

Question 8

‘Two ardent hearts against one poor little conscience’ - The Consequence

Answer 8

Hearts = Tess’s = meant to highlight the internal conflict within herself - be selfish and happy or be selfless and be in pain because she does not want to ruin Angel’s reputation? Shows that she really cares for Angel = mutual desire

Question 9

‘he was so godlike in her eyes’ - The Consequence

Answer 9

Idealisation of Angel ‘godlike’ = perfect; immortal; infallible = he could do no wrong; might stem from him being the one person in her life that has not used her or mistreated her (at this point); could also stem from her viewing herself as imperfect that she puts him on a pedestal

Question 10

‘Was she not truly Mrs Alexander D’Urberville?’ -The Consequence

Answer 10

Context = sex was only meant for marriage, so Tess believes that because she was raped that her body belongs to him now; exemplifies guilt and the influence of Victorian society

Question 11

‘Her nature cried for his tutelary guidance’ - The Consequence

Answer 11

‘Her nature’ - emphasise her strong feelings for Angel but also her passivity and innocence as a character - power imbalance within the relationship

Question 12

‘Long pointed features, narrow eye and smirk’ - The Consequence

Answer 12

Meant to look evil and mischievous - links to Tess’s fate as a character being linked with her despicable ancestors - her tragic fate was predestined (spirituality) and perhaps Darwinism - inheriting traits from ancestors, BUT Tess isn’t duplicitous or conniving - Hardy critiquing fate?

Question 13

‘I will obey you like a wretched slave’ - The Woman Pays

Answer 13

Recurring word - Tess’s passivity; simile - will rid herself of agency and autonomy as a person to please Angel; shows how guilty she feels

Question 14

‘She took everything as her just deserts and hardly opened her mouth’ - The Woman Pays

Answer 14

Tess’s fatal flaw - her passivity. Low sense of self-esteem due to her being very moral, responsible and selfless, BUT her reluctance to hold Angel to account highlights a structural issue in Victorian society - men not being held to account

Question 15

‘Several pheasants (…) their rich plummage dabbled with blood’

Answer 15

Metaphor for Tess? Tess is repeatedly compared to a bird since she is trapped within a repressive society; ‘dabbled with blood’ - innocent blood caused at the hands of men - anti-pastoral picture - Hardy critiquing of industrialisation harming the environment and women being punished too harshly

Question 16

‘Mercilessly nipped off her eyebrows’ - The Woman Pays

Answer 16

Eyebrows = part of her beauty - shows her unhealthy devotion to Angel; eyebrows are meant to protect eyes from dirt - shows how vulnerable she is and is willing to be to prove herself to Angel

Question 17

‘The whole field was in colour a desolate drab’ ‘Complexion without features’ - The Woman Pays

Answer 17

Pathetic fallacy = Tess’s lack of identity due to Angel not being there; also the height of her suffering at the hands of a man (Victorian societal standards)

Question 18

‘Wives are unhappy sometimes; from no fault of their husbands - from their own’ - The Woman Pays

Answer 18

Blaming herself for her suffering - refusing to hold Angel to account - Victorian influence

Question 19

‘I only like to have them (beauty) because they belong to you’ - The Woman Pays

Answer 19

Tess’s first letter to Angel - lack of identity without her husband

Question 20

‘Take your fill of pleasure on earth (…) bitter and black with sorrow’ - The Convert

Answer 20

Tess standing up to Alec - growth - understands that he is at fault of her suffering; calling out the hypocrisy of the Christian church.

Question 21

‘all injustice I have received at your hands - T’ The Convert

Answer 21

Tess standing up to Angel -BUT she only realised this through Alec (who has questionable motive) and not herself - still dependent on men for her thoughts and values

Question 22

‘He had divined her chief anxiety’ - The Convert

Answer 22

The ‘chief anxiety’ is her family, who had been recently made homeless; shows how moral and responsible she is but also is vulnerable to manipulation

Question 23

‘Made me a victim, a caged bird!’ - Fulfilment

Answer 23

Tess dominates the speech in the page whereas the reader does not hear what Alec says - Tess’s radical act of standing up for herself and holding him to account again. Bird metaphor = Tess; was trapped by Alec and not free

Question 24

‘He was still her Antinous, her Apollo even’ Fulfilment

Answer 24

Antinous - young lover of Roman emperor Hadrian and was deified after his death; benevolent deity who cured people of their ailments and is associated with the Celtic sun god Belenons (god of fire - sun, healing and prophecy_

Apollo - Greek god of sun, prophecy and healing

Could suggest that Angel = perfect and represents her future

Question 25

‘I am ready’ - Fulfilment

Answer 25

Tess’s final words - tragic fate that she has accepted - dying happily; Hardy commenting on how fallen women will eventually be punished in society and how innocent women are punished for not adhering to the strict standards of Victorian society

Question 26

‘“Justice” was done, and the President of the Immortals (in the Aeschylean phrase) had ended his sport with Tess’ - Fulflillment

Answer 26

Justice being in quotation marks creates a sarcastic tone - Hardy is obviously critiquing Victorian societal standards for harming innocent women. Aeschylus was a Greek tragedian (which links to the tragic elements to Tess) - but also link to how Tess was destined to suffer perhaps because of her family; she was a pawn in Victorian society and her ancestors

Question 27

Liza-Lu = ‘all the best of me, without the bad’

Answer 27

Innocence; societal views on purity