Tess of the D'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman
Tess of the D'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman,a novel by T. Hardy , published 1891 .
The subtitle was important to Hardy's purpose. Tess Durbeyfield is the daughter of a poor villager of Blackmoor Vale, whose head is turned by learning that he is descended from the ancient family of D'Urberville. Tess is cunningly seduced by Alec, a young man of means, whose parents, with doubtful right, bear the name of D'Urberville. Tess gives birth to a child, which dies after an improvised midnight baptism by its mother. Later, while working as a dairymaid on a prosperous farm, in a beautiful summer, she becomes blissfully engaged to Angel Clare, a clergyman's son. On their wedding night she confesses to him the seduction by Alec; and Angel, although himself no innocent, cruelly and hypocritically abandons her. Misfortunes and bitter hardships come upon her and her family, and accident throws her once more in the path of Alec D'Urberville. He has...
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