Tess’s Female Consciousness in Tess of the D’Urbervilles

【Abstract】Tess of the DUrbervilles is the representative work of Thomas Hardy， an outstanding realistic writer in the nineteenth centurys literary world. In his work， Hardy has created a new image filled with female consciousness，Tess. This paper just focuses on the study of Tesss female consciousness， from the following aspects： consciousness of self-reliance， consciousness of protest.

【Key words】female consciousness； consciousness of self-reliance； consciousness of protest

Female consciousness is a complex concept. But it mainly refers to that females have the sense of themselves and pursuit something for themselves. The heroine in Tess of the DUrbervilles， Tess， lives in the contradictions where the traditional and the modern are interwoven. However， neither is she different from traditional women， nor does she sink or slack. She has her own ideals and beautiful dreams for her love and life， for which she makes unremitting efforts.

In the traditional patriarchal society， women were attached to the subordinating status， so any independent consciousness of female would incur disapproval. They didnt have the so-called self-awareness. To great extent， men could define womens “self” as what men wanted them to be. But as for Tess， she had a very clear understanding of her own role. When Angel idealized her as a goddess and called her the goddesss name， Tess insisted Angel call her Christian name in order to maintain her unique personality more than one time. Because she thought what Angel did was a kind of erase of her sense of self. Changing name is a mistake on maintaining her own clear identity. Therefore， facing the annihilation of self Angel gave her， even if Tess knew the intention of Angel， she was also not willing to be taken as a typical one by Angel. Tess has the distinctive self-awareness and she is just herself， not what others think her as. Even her beloved one， Angel still cant change her “self”.

In Victorian time， women mainly faced two sorts of oppression， including religion and the patriarchy. So if they want freedom， they must protest them.

As society developed， people didnt reap benefits the old teaching brought， ironically， they suffered more pain and torture. At the beginning of the novel， its clearly known Tess viewed God as her patron saint so she went to church regularly. In other words， Tess believed in God and was faithful in Gods existing. Then the following things happening to her， such as being seduced by Alec， made her begin to bring a doubtful attitude that God did not protect her just as she once expected. So she did not believe some biblical words on the wall were exactly the Gods saying： “Where was Tesss guardian angel”. Hardy accuses Christianity in this novel. Not until that time when her illegal child needed to be baptized but the parson did not help her， did she know the cruelty of religion， which made her disappointed about her belief in God. Her little baby would be thrown into the hell because of not having baptism. As a mother， she did not allow this to happen， so she baptized her child by herself in spite of the hypocrisy of the church. “I dont like you！ And Ill never come to your church no more！”Tess shouted after being refused by the clergyman to baptize for the child. These words even could be the provocation act to religion at that time， after all not everyone has the courage.

The spokesman of traditional patriarchy society， Alec made a judgment of expected womens roles to Tess from the view of gender. Alec regarded Tess as an attachment or mens playing. In the Victorian period， Tess， as a bad woman naturally could be punished by then morality in that holding chastity was essential. Even so， she did not stay at Alecs side to be his lover as he expected. Without accepting Alecs money， she returned home secretly， which manifested her protest against mens will. Finally， her action that she killed Alec also reflected her challenge to the Victorian tradition.

Of course， what Tess has is more than those. Tess is a typical woman with female consciousness.

Reference：

[1]Robert Ackerman.Thomas Hardys Tess of the DUrbervilles[M].Beijing：The Commercial Press，1996.

[2]程春蘭.挑戰(zhàn)道德的純潔—評哈代筆下的苔絲[J].江漢大學學報，2004（5）：50-52.

作者簡介：郭麗英（1989.3-），女，河北邢臺人，遼寧師范大學，2014級在讀碩士，研究方向：比較文學與世界文學。