Sunday, 15 September 2013

Marxist Analysis of Tess of the D'urbervilles

Tess Durbyfield is representative of the Working Class who throughout the novel is exploited by Middle Class men. She is first exploited by Alec D'urberville when she goes to him for money help because she thinks that he is a relation of hers. He gains her trust and then rapes her. This shows that he believes he can get anything/anyone he wants because he has a lot of money. He has never had to work and so expects everything to be given to him.
She then meets Angel Clare who she goes on to marry. The night that they marry, she tells him about the rape and he decides that he doesn't want anything more to do with her. Although, up until this point he seems to be very liberal, he seems very quick to abide by the social norms and this is what ultimately leads to Tess' death.
Throughout the period after Angel leaves her, Tess has to become a labourer on a farm to get enough money. In this part of her life, it is very clear that Tess' boss is exploiting her by giving her a very poor quality of living. This is the bourgeois repressing  the proletariat.
During this period, Tess meets Alec again and he seems to have become this fraudulent Christian. It doesn't take much for this to be shattered and he becomes the original Alec D'urberville. He pursues Tess who explains that she's already married and wants him to leave her alone. He is very manipulative and so goes behind her back and offers her family money if Tess marries him. This means that she is forced into marriage with him over money, her family basically sells Tess to Alec. This repression from Alec pushes her to kill him when Angel comes back for her.

1 comment:

  1. This is a good analysis. You can possibly use this in your coursework essay.

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