WJEC ENGLISH LITERATURE

power. She again becomes an object to judge and to cast aside as Angel, through his cold
and distant educated language, calls her an ‘unapprehending peasant woman, who have
never been initiated into the proportions of social things.’ Unlike Offred, for whom Atwood
gives some sense of freedom through her ability to pun and playfully deconstruct the
language of male power, Hardy gives Tess no such ability as she suffers unjustly under
Angel’s educated voice.
Despite the fact that Hardy seems to present Tess as a victim of male dominance, there is
much more to the novel than that and much more to Tess’s suffering. It might be argued that
it is not only under men that Tess suffers but also by the members of her own sex. Even in
what is considered to be a feminist novel, Atwood presents the animosity between Offred
and Serena Joy, ‘she didn’t step aside to let me in’ and it is Car Darch’s jealousy that leads
to Alec’s rape at the end of ‘The Maiden’. Moreover, it could be argued that the abuse of
male power isn’t to blame for Tess’s tragedy but fate. Even before she meets Alec, the
narrator suggests that she is ‘doomed’ to meet him first and not Angel. The continual
reference to her ‘strange destiny’ follows Tess to her death as the ‘President of the
Immortals’ ends his ‘sport with Tess.’ Despite the reference to fate here as male, there is a
sense throughout the novel that Tess is made a victim by more impersonal forces as she is
presented as doomed from the outset.
To consider the novel only in terms of female suffering denies the richness of Hardy’s work.
Hardy’s evocative descriptions of the landscape alert the reader to a changing world as the
in dustrial revolution takes hold. It is not only Tess who is violated by this new world,
presented in the guise of Alec, the Stoke-d’Urberville, but also nature itself as the field
animals suffer ‘under the teeth of the unerring reaper’ in ‘Maiden no More’. Hardy’s
description of the reaper foresees the twentieth century’s factory conveyor belt, dehumanising
those who work ‘with clock-like monotony’ because of it. Nature however, isn’t
benign. The name ‘Flintcomb-Ash’ itself creates the hardness and coldness of natures
treatment of the women who work there. In the detailed descriptions of nature, though Tess
becomes often a mere speck, ‘Thus Tess walks on’, the fact that Hardy zooms in on her
reveals her significance and value, ‘a figure which is part of the landscape; a field-woman
pure and simple.’ There is a sense of suffering here perhaps but also of beauty and strength
and fortitude. Woman is not merely presented as a victim but as a strong and stoical figure.
‘Tess of the D’Urbervilles’ can be read as a novel of the suffering of women at the hands of
men yet the denouement of the novel suggests that there is much more here. Although not
immediately clear, just as Atwood plays with narrative technique, using fairytales and the
unreliable narrator for example, Hardy also plays with his use of the narrative voice. At
times, the narrator gives us a socio-historical account of a place or an area. At other times,
the narrative seems like an extract from a travel journal while, as previously discussed, there
are philosophical musings and a consideration of a variety of issues such as organised
religion, pagan beliefs and the idea of fate. It is interesting that at the end of the novel, as the
rhythm slows and time stands still through the short sentence, ‘It was a black flag’, signifying
Tess’s death, Angel and Liza-Lu, ‘arose, joined hands, and went on.’ Hardy seems to
suggest that neither fate, nor history, nor religion, nor philosophy can make sense of human
suffering. The only option available is simply to arise and go on. Perhaps Atwood alludes to
the same idea at the end of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ as Offred steps up into the ‘darkness
within; or else the light.’ The uncertainty of what faces her is the same human condition that
Angel and Liza-Lu face at the end of ‘Tess’ and which faces all of us in a world of suffering,
seemingly devoid of meaning.
Comment [r22]: A02
language shapes meaning,
implicit meanings
Comment [r23]: A01
terminology
Comment [r24]: A04 context
of partner illuminates core
Comment [r25]: A03
comparison
Comment [r26]: A03 other
readings
Comment [r27]: A04
significant and productive
comparison
Comment [r28]: A03 clear
and confident judgements,
explores interpretations
Comment [r29]: A02
confident handling of implicit
meanings
Comment [r30]: A02/A03/A0
4 confident handling and
overview/other
readings/relevant social
context
Comment [r31]: A04 social
context
Comment [r32]: A02 sound
analysis
Comment [r33]: A02
language
Comment [r34]: A02 form
(narrative technique)
Comment [ r35]: A02/A03
detailed critical
understanding/offers
alternative reading to task
Comment [r36]: A02
structured, accurate, fluent
Comment [r37]: A03 specific
connection
Comment [ r38]: A02
overview, awareness of
structure and form
Comment [r39]: A02
structure
Comment [r40]: A02 implicit
meanings
Comment [r41]: A01/A02/A0
3 confident, accurate,
fluent/sound analysis and
evaluation/specific and
productive connection
10