Tess of the d'Urbervilles Group

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mone
mone
Student

Who is a worse person: Alex or Angel in Tess of the d'Ubervilles?

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Posted by mone on Monday February 5, 2007 at 3:53 PM and tagged with characters, tess of the d'urbervilles.

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  1. blazedale

    eNotes Editor

    It's hard to say who is a worse person, but here are some things to consider:

    Angel leaves Tess and has no real intention of going back to her; he cheats on her with a stranger; he is unable to forgive her when she admits to her dalliance with Alec; he asks a milkmaid and not Tess to go to Brazil with him. However, once he returns from Brazil, it does seem that he has changed. Furthermore, there is an idylic quality to the first days Tess and Angel spend at the farm.

    Alex is no saint either. He seduces Tess by taking advantage of her. He continues to follow Tess regardless of her marital status or her pleas for him to leave her alone. He is relentless in his pursuit of Tess and only under duress is he able to take her away.

    From Tess' perspective, it would seem that Alex is the worse person-- after all, she kills him! however it's up to the reader to form their own opinion based on the evidence of the novel.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/urberville/4515
    http://www.enotes.com/urberville/4517

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    Posted by blazedale on Monday February 5, 2007 at 4:13 PM

  2. proverbs31
    proverbs31 Student
    High School - 12th Grade

    I would have to say after much reading that Alec would be the choice because if iw was not for him in the first place Tess would not have been in the situation she was in with Angel because he(Alec) raped her and she became pregant as an result then he is the one who constantly victimize Tess day by day 

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    Posted by proverbs31 on Wednesday November 21, 2007 at 2:18 PM

  3. hadoora23
    hadoora23 Student
    College - Junior

    ithink angel is worse than alec may be alec hurts tess but angel destroys her angel do every thing that opposite to his promise he abandon her and does-not care for her moreover alec tries to help her and her family

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    Posted by hadoora23 on Friday December 26, 2008 at 12:16 PM

  4. hadoora23
    hadoora23 Student
    College - Junior

    Alec accepts Tess’s request of possible kin without any reluctance. He writes a letter to
    provide Tess with a job. He teaches Tess how to whisper in a proper way. He saves Tess from a terrible fight with
    other women. When they two lose their way in the forest at night, Alec makes a comfort nest from dead leaves for
    Tess and puts his overcoat round Tess before he leaves her. All these things he does are evidence to testify his love
    to Tess. Moreover, in Alec’s mind there are no other girls leaving some traces, but only Tess who is special to him.
    This point is showed clearly from his words “Tess, dear. I suppose I am a bad fellow—a damn bad fellow…But,
    upon my lost soul, I won’t be bad towards you again…You can hold your own for beauty against any woman of
    these parts, gentle or simple.2” In his mind, Tess is different from other women he had before, and even he himself
    may not find that his special feeling towards Tess is somewhat out of true love.

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    Posted by hadoora23 on Friday December 26, 2008 at 1:18 PM

  5. hadoora23
    hadoora23 Student
    College - Junior

    it is obviously that Angel stands for the bright and advanced class while Alec
    the degenerated and hypocritical bourgeoisie. Compared with Alec, Angel is gilded with a flame of purity and
    kind-heartedness. He seems to be the real angel.
    However, the fact is, even Tess never cares about Alec and tells him several times that she does not love him
    Alec still wants to woo her and take care of her family. On the contrary, Angel scarcely takes Tess’s family into
    consideration.

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    Posted by hadoora23 on Friday December 26, 2008 at 1:43 PM

  6. hadoora23
    hadoora23 Student
    College - Junior

    After he knows Tess’s impurity, he right away turns his back towards Tess and hurts Tess deeply by
    harsh words.
    Scholar LI Hong-lan criticizes Alec for he ruthlessly destroys a naive country girl. But actually after Tess
    gives birth to her child with Alec, she gradually acquires the ability to overcome the moral and social stigma and
    thus maintains her dignity and sense of self. She becomes brave enough to face people’s gossips. Even after the
    death of the child, grievous as she is, she manages to face life again and leaves in search of a new life. To Tess,
    Alec’s wrongdoings towards her are not fateful. While in terms of Angel, who behaves quite different from a real
    angel, his abandon is fatal to the poor Tess. Tess adores Angel whole-heartedly even blindly regarding him as a
    saint. But Angel is hypocritical and crucial, forgetting all his promises to love Tess, he immediately leaves
    Tess—his wife at the night of their wedding day after his acknowledgement of her unchaste affair. On his way of
    leaving Tess, he even woos to Tess’s old friend. At the end of the novel, when Tess dies, he joins hands with Tess’s
    sister. Compared with Alec, Angel is much more inhuman and hurts Tess both physically and emo

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    Posted by hadoora23 on Friday December 26, 2008 at 1:44 PM

  7. revolution
    revolution Teacher
    Doctorate

    I would say it would be Alex that is the worst person in the story. He had victimized Angel and had raped her by taking advantage over her, causing her to be pregnant, so he has the upper hand for threatening Tess, and later Alex killed him, ending the story tragically.

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    Posted by revolution on Saturday October 24, 2009 at 8:31 PM