What is the character of Angel Clare in Tess of the d'Urbervilles?

Angel Clare is an apprentice gentleman farmer who is the son of an Evangelist minister who had at some point wished that Angel would follow his steps of attending Cambridge and obtain a parsonage of his own. Although he is seen by the lower folk as an intellectual man who is

“too much taken up wi’ his own thoughts to notice girls.”

However, it seems as if Angel Clare's intellect gets the best of him. In chapter 18 we notice how he blatantly refuses to believe in the Anglican Church's tenets on the resurrection, and even laughs at the idea of a resurrected Christ in body. We also see in these chapters that Angel Clare is no stranger to trouble. He has an affair in London that was mucky enough to almost get him to marry the older woman whom he romances, and he simply seems to idealize just about everything he knows. In Hardy's words to express Angel behavior, he says that

he was ever in the habit of neglecting the particulars of an outward scene for the general impression

Therefore, although Angel is intellectual he does not seem to enjoy the benefits of having a well-grounded common sense for things.

What attracts Angel to Tess is that, again, her naive and innocent ideas of life make her an easy target to idealize. It is Spring now, and Tess seems to be in tandem with her surroundings. She experiences a number of feelings quite bucolic and fantastic for a regular person to feel. The words that come out of her mouth are precisely what separate Tess from the rest of the milkmaids, and what gets the attention of Angel.

The irresistible, universal, automatic tendency to find sweet pleasure somewhere, which pervades all life, from the meanest to the highest, had at last mastered Tess. Being even now only a young woman of twenty, one who mentally and sentimentally had not finished growing, it was impossible that any event should have left upon her an impression that was not in time capable of transmutation.

When Tess exclaims her passion for the season, Alec sees clearly how different she is and claims that she is an innocent daughter of Nature. In his eyes, she is like a Virginal sample of life itself.

What a fresh and virginal daughter of Nature that milkmaid is!

We know that, after they marry and he finds out about Alec, the relationship deteriorates and he takes off to Brazil. It only took that one fact for him to completely remove his feelings for Tess. She is no longer a virginal creature, hence, she is no longer his ideal.

Therefore, we see in Angel Clare a man without a sense of direction, with a lot of intelligence, but with little application of it for the things that truly matter. He is a dreamer and an idealist. He is nothing more nor nothing less than an abstract thinker, and not at all a realistic individual.

Describe the character Angel Clare in Tess of the d'Urbervilles.

Angel Clare, while seemingly rebellious, is actually very much a product of his upbringing.  In fact, he is even more intolerant than his father and mother, who are presented as being kind and compassionate, though traditionally religious.

He falls in love with Tess at the dairy farm.  He sees her through a romantic lens--as a pure, innocent, naive milkmaid.  He convinces her to marry him.  Tess knows that he will not accept her secret past--a rape and a baby who died in infancy.  But her love for Angel Clare overcomes her misgivings, and she decides to marry him anyway.  On the wedding night, Angel Clare confesses that he is not a virgin.  Tess, suddenly feeling liberated, tells Angel about her past.

His response is to leave her. He tells her that he cannot love her knowing what he knows about her. With only a bit of money, Tess is put out on her own.  She is impoverished and suffers greatly, doing hard labor in order to survive.

Angel Clare, though, is a dynamic character.  He changes.  He goes to South America, becomes very sick, and begins slowly to understand what is important in life.  When he gets away from England, he is able to get a better perspective on his values and his decisions.  He rediscovers his love for Tess and returns to England to claim her.

Of course, it is too late, for in extreme desperation she has married Alec.  Yet, Angel Clare is able to accept Tess once again--even if she is a murderer.  Perhaps more than any other character, Angel Clare grows in the novel.  He changes from a wantabe rebel to a man who is willing to risk everything for the woman he loves.