Reading Order
TessTess of the D'Urbervilles Reading Order
Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891) by Thomas Hardy is his most morally direct novel and the one that caused the most scandal at publication — subtitled 'A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented,' a declaration that the heroine's rape by a man who claims kinship, her subsequent illegitimate child, and her eventual murder of her rapist do not disqualify her from being both pure and the moral superior of every man in the novel. Hardy follows Tess Durbeyfield from her family's discovery of their D'Urberville ancestry through her rape by Alec D'Urberville, her brief happiness with Angel Clare who abandons her when she confesses her past, her degradation and return to Alec, and her killing of Alec when Angel returns. The novel is Hardy's most explicit indictment of the Victorian sexual double standard that destroys Tess for a sin committed against her.
Where to start
Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891) — the complete novel; no prequel required
Complete Tess Book List
- 1Buy
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Thomas Hardy·1891
Tess — Frequently Asked Questions
Is Tess of the D'Urbervilles a difficult read?
Tess of the D'Urbervilles is one of the most accessible of Hardy's major novels — it has a clearer narrative through-line than The Return of the Native, less plot machinery than Far from the Madding Crowd, and a simpler emotional structure than The Mayor of Casterbridge. Hardy's prose in Tess is sometimes elaborate but always in service of the story; the Dorset landscape descriptions, which some readers find extensive, are integral to Hardy's vision of the natural world as sympathetically indifferent to human suffering. Most readers who attempt the novel find it grips them completely and is impossible to put down despite its length and the increasing horror of what happens to Tess.
Does Tess die at the end of Tess of the D'Urbervilles?
Yes. Tess kills Alec D'Urberville, her rapist, after he reappears in her life and she is forced to become his mistress in desperation. She and Angel Clare flee together and have a brief period of happiness before Tess is arrested at Stonehenge. The novel ends with her execution. Hardy arranged the final chapters so that Tess's execution occurs offscreen — we follow her sister Liza-Lu and Angel Clare to a hill from which they watch the black flag rise over the prison — and his final sentence, 'the President of the Immortals (in Aeschylean phrase) had ended his sport with Tess,' has been quoted as one of the most bitterly ironic endings in English fiction.
What is the significance of the subtitle 'A Pure Woman' in Tess of the D'Urbervilles?
Hardy's subtitle — 'A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented' — was a deliberate provocation: in 1891 England, a woman who had been sexually violated and had an illegitimate child and who eventually murdered her rapist was not considered 'pure' by any conventional standard. Hardy was making an explicit argument against the Victorian sexual code: that Tess's purity is a quality of character and consciousness, not of sexual history, and that the society which punishes her for what was done to her while celebrating the man who did it is itself morally impure. The subtitle caused significant outrage — several publishers rejected the novel on moral grounds before it appeared — and generated the controversy that Hardy anticipated and intended.
Monthly Newsletter
Never miss a big release
Get the most anticipated upcoming books delivered to your inbox once a month — no spam, no filler.
Monthly only. Unsubscribe anytime.
Book links are Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, BookReleaseRadar earns from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.