苔丝英文读后感（精选5篇）
in tess of the d’urbervilles, hardy molded a pure, kindhearted image and rather an image brave enough to rebel, to shoulder the responsibility of her action. her unfortuneness was the tragedy of the society, her character and fate. it vividly revealed the persecution towards people after industrial revolution made by the conception of capitalism and traditional moral. following are some of my opinions about the causes to her death.
her character and parentage was part of the cause
in the author’s ideal world, tess was the embodiment of beauty and the incarnation of love .she represents all the merits of the villagers in her hometown: beautiful, pure, kind, simple, charitable and tolerant. to love ,she had no egocentric thoughts and didn’t plan to meet her vain wish by marriage .she standed by he dignity and pursue freedom .hardy made the poor, helpless ,humble country girl as the heroin.despite she committed adultery and murder, hardy still claim she was a “pure girl”. this fully showed the author’s sympathy towards tess. hardy elaborately modeled the image of tess and indignantly describes the depression confronted with tess through her short life.
tess is a young woman who tends to find herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. she is a victim, but she is also, at times, irresponsible. she falls asleep while taking the beehives to market, which ends up killing the family horse, prince she decides to visit the d’urbervilles in trantridge, giving rise to all her future woes, partly out of the guilt and responsibility she feels toward her family. she wants to make good, but in trying to help her family she loses sight of her own safety and her own wants and wishes. she becomes alec’s victim in the forest. she probably should have known not to put herself in such a situation, but she has few other options. here, it seems as though she is destined to rely on others, even when they are unreliable.
tess is also a strong woman throughout the novel. she stands up for herself and refuses to crumble under pressure. she chastises herself for her weakness after her sexual escapade with alec. if we agree with her claim that this indiscretion is a moment of weakness, we probably also feel that such weakness is not unlike that of most human beings. she is hard on herself for letting herself become a victim. at the burial of her child, sorrow , she weeps but collects herself and moves on as a stronger woman. overall, her determined attempts to escape her past primarily reflect her strength.
her parentage to some extent leaded to her final tragedy. born in a poor family, with an ignorant vain, drunkard father who did not care too much about the
Why was Tess’s girlish purity lost? Why did such a beautiful, noble and pure woman as Tess should suffer inevitable ruin? Why does the wrong man take the wrong woman? Why it is always the woman who pays? Why they are always hurt? Why is beauty damaged by ugliness? Why the tragedy is happened more than one hundred years ago repeated in modern times? Is everything too late?
Recently I’ve read the British famous writer Thomas Hardy’s masterpiece-Tess of the D’urbervilles. It describes the misfortune of a poor peasant girl Tess. In this novel, we can see Tess resist her unjust fate again and again, till to be ruined. With the development of the plot we find that her tragedy is inevitable. We can not but feel the intense emotions of pity and fear.
The cause of Tess’s tragedy has always been the concern of people, such a beautiful, noble and pure woman as Tess should suffer inevitable ruin. What leads to her tragic destiny? Who killed her? I can’t do very well in analysis the novel. I don’t know clearly how the time she lived in affect her life. I do have an understanding of the novel by myself. Alec and Angel who are the two people very closely related to Tess’s fate. I think fierce Alec played a very important role in killing Tess, but in fact, it was hypocritical Angel who killed Tess indirectly but more cruelly.
I wanted to cry, Tess, do not follow him when I read that plot. I hope she met her true love before she was seduced, but everything was too late. She was seduced by a so called gentleman-Alec, and from then on her life totally changed from this loss of innocence. People looked down on her and respect her no more. Actually she did nothing wrong because before she was seduced she knew nothing of man. Women were too weak. Tess was poor, weak and helpless and met the wrong person at the wrong time.
I strongly believed that it was Angel who killed Tess cruelly and without mercy. Angel was a liberal bourgeoisie. He made himself lived in the countryside rather than serving the god. Angel was a man who questioned the church’s teaching. He thought the church’s views were too strict and did not allow free thinking. Angel extricated him from religion and his family, but he couldn’t break with traditional moral principles. He wanted a wife who was the daughter of nature, honest, sensitive, intelligent, graceful, pure as snow and extremely beautiful. In the first part I thought Angel loved tess very much. In the following part I found that he loved an image he imagined. After their wedding Angel confessed the crime he committed to a woman long time ago and asked Tess’s forgiveness. Tess was not at all angry and forgave angel at once. She innocently thought that the thing she was going to confess would be forgiven. Poor Tess! She sat and told everything to angel, hoping he would forgive her as he was forgiven, but she was wrong. The woman pays.
Angel claimed that you were one person, now you are another when tess asked why. The woman Angel had loved was not tess, was another woman in tess’s shape. Angel loved the person he imagined. He considered tess the daughter of nature. Compared to tess’s words, “ I thought angel, that you loved me-me my very self! If you do love me, how can you treat me like this? It frightened me! Having begun to love you, I will love you forever, in all changes, in all troubles, because you are yourself. I ask no more.” we know how deep tess loved angel. She would have laid down life for angel. She not only loved the merits but also accept the demerits. We know from the book that when angel came back from Brazil, he could hardly be recognized by his mother because the cruel climate and hard work had aged him by twenty years, but tess accepted angel immediately, because he was the man she fell in love with.
I don’t know why angel couldn’t forgive tess since he himself had done the similar thing.
The Woman Pays
TESS is really a tragic figure in the book TESS of the d’Urberwilles.
She was seduced by a so-called gentleman—Alec, and from then on her life totally changed from this loss of innocence. People looked down on her and respected her no more. Actually she did nothing wrong because before she was seduced she knew nothing of men. She was just a girl when she first met that terrible man.
She was forced by the gossips and the church to blame herself for this accident, so she thought she deserved nothing good. In order to get rid of the past she decided to go to a distant dairy farm but was still saying to herself that she was wrong. Maybe God didn’t agree with that, because the Lord gave her someone she loved with her whole heart and life—Angel Chare. Angel popped the question to her but she refused him without saying why. She said she loved him deeply and perhaps no one in the world could love him more than she did but she could not marry him for some unspoken reason. Angel wasn’t satisfied with this vague answer and did his best to win Tess. Somehow she agreed and they soon fixed the wedding day. Soon after their wedding Angel confessed the crime he committed to a woman long time ago and asked for Tess’s forgiveness. Tess was not at all angry and forgave Angel at once; in fact she was rather happy and excited for she also had things to confess.
She sat and told everything to Angel, hoping he would forgive her as he was forgiven but she was wrong. She was not forgiven, not as she thought she was. The woman pays.
Without Angel’s love, nothing meant anything to her. The result wasn’t important now. Tess was arrested for her murder of that so-called gentleman. Why? She still loved Angel and when he finally went back to her and asked for HER forgiveness, after he regretted what he had done unfair to Tess, she was desperate. That was too late—Alec had always told Tess that Angel would never come back so he won Tess’s trust. Unluckily Angel did come back and found Tess.! Everything was too late!
Tess was deceived and she lost Angel for the second time! The strengh of her love was so strong that she had forgotten the difference between right and wrong. Before that she had done nothing wrong but when she killed Alec, everything really changed! She became a criminal! How could it be? She was as pure and innocent as the good wife in the Bible. Her whole character was honest and faithful. Angel figured out at last that a person should be judged not only on what he has done but also on what he wanted to do!
Tess didn’t want to be seduced by man and she had no power to defend herself so she lost her innocence and that’s all! Angel also did the wrong thing and it was even more serious than Tess’s crime but HE was not blamed for it. Why it is always the woman who pays? Why they are always hurt? Why was Tess’s girlish purity lost? Why does the wrong man take the wrong woman? Why do the bad often ruin the good? Why is beauty damaged by ugliness? Women are too weak! Thousands of years of history have shown us that women have always been treated unfairly!
In old China there was a culture, which didn’t think of women as human beings. If you asked one if he was the oldest in his family, he would probably answer “the oldest one” even if he had some elder sisters. If you asked why then he would say, “Ha, they are not included!”
People gave birth to many girls in order to have only one boy to keep the family name going. They thought girls had no use for the family. They would be married and go to live with their husbands’ home and be their wives some day sooner or later. So they were extremely hard on girls.
Girls should be hard working, faithful, loyal, intelligent, and virtuous and the most important thing was she must be a maiden! If her husband was the first man who touched her then she was a good girl, a good wife no matter how she thought. If she wasn’t, then she would gain a very bad reputation and nobody would dare to go near her. What about men? People did not care whether he was an experienced man or not, nor did they care about his character. They thought man equals power and power equals rights…
Now let’s not be so bitter. Nowadays women’s situations have become much better. Some are because of the change of society and some are because of civilization. Just let those poor painful women like TESS be just a memory.
About Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy (1840---1928), who is an English novelist. His father is a stoneworker, who is fond of music. His parents thought much of the education of their son. He grown up in the Dorset shire, so the environment of there became the main backdrop of his writings. His writings often reflecting the change after capitalism intrude the countries in England and the people’s hard life.
At first, Hardy wrote some novels, and in his old age, he worked on poets. The novel < Tess of the D'Urbervilles > was published in the year 1891. Thomas Hardy facing the terror of the war and propagating the love-kindness, he is one of the greatest English writers.
The summary of the book
As is known to all, is the most famous novel of Thomas Hardy. Tess comes from a farmer’s family, the Durbeyfields. One day her father, John Durbeyfied learns that they are descended from the D’Urbervilles, an ancient family. Her mother urges Tess to claim kinship with the remaining D’Urbervilles, so that Tess could marry a gentleman. Unwillingly, the girl comes in contact with the Stoke, D’Urbervilles. There she meets Alec D’Urbervilles. Having received a job of tending to chickens, Tess stays in the D’Urbervilles. Before long the rich but guileful Alec manages to seduce the girl and make her pregnant. Being humiliated and resolute, Tess returns home， and gives birth to the child, who is called Sorrow but dies soon . Without financial support, Tess has to leave home and goes to work at a distant farm, where she meets Angel Claire. After Angel persistent pursuit of Tess, the two fall in love. In the wedding night, Tess admits about Alec D’Urbervilles and the child. She begs for forgiveness, but Angel leaves her in disgust. Tess again returns home alone, only find that her family remains impoverished and she even has no place to stay. In the meantime, Alec D’Urbervilles appears again. He promises to support her family, only as a means to make Tess dependent. At the end of hope, the girl jumps into the trap of the shameless man. However, Angel Claire, who is remorseful for his mercilessness comes back, which makes Tess even more desperate. After Angel leaves, she kills Alec. Then she follows Angel and escape with him. They manage to hide for a while in a wood before she is arrested. She is hanged later.
In this story, the dramatis persona Tess is a beautiful, virtuous country girl. Angel Claire loves Tess, but his love is selfish, he can’t forgive her wife’s mistake, he forsakes her .Alec D’Urbervilles is an evil person, he makes Tess’s life being a tragedy.
The comment
This is a dolorous book.
This is a story of love.
Tess, the poor girl as innocent as the sleeping birds in the trees, or the small field animals in the hedges, her life destroyed by her relatives, lover and some other people. They say they love her, but they like themselves most. Her parents want her married Alec only because they want her doing some good for the family. Alec wants to possess her, because she is the most beautiful girl in the village. He makes her pregnant but can’t give her his love. Angle is tess’s true love, but his love also not consummate, he can’t forgive tess’s mistake, although he had did wrong with a women.
Why only the women had to pay? I thought of this problem for a long time. In the 19th England, women had not status, they live very hard because people’s prejudice. Tess is the victim under the not fair environment, she lives with force, and even the law thinks the insults are allowable! At the end of the book, Fortune's wheel bereaves the last thing she had—her life.
How to vindicate the women’s right? Expect change the people’s prejudice women must learn to be adamancy and independent. We must know how to take care of ourselves. We must have the ability to feed ourselves, so that we can win the independent of personality and life. And so that we can have a pure au pair love.
The word “woman” doesn’t means “puny”!
She was seduced by a so-called gentleman—Alec, and from then on her life totally changed from this loss of innocence. People looked down on her and respected her no more. Actually she did nothing wrong because before she was seduced she knew nothing of men. She was just a girl when she first met that terrible man.
She was forced by the gossips and the church to blame herself for this accident, so she thought she deserved nothing good. In order to get rid of the past she decided to go to a distant dairy farm but was still saying to herself that she was wrong. Maybe God didn’t agree with that, because the Lord gave her someone she loved with her whole heart and life—Angel Chare. Angel popped the question to her but she refused him without saying why. She said she loved him deeply and perhaps no one in the world could love him more than she did but she could not marry him for some unspoken reason. Angel wasn’t satisfied with this vague answer and did his best to win Tess. Somehow she agreed and they soon fixed the wedding day. Soon after their wedding Angel confessed the crime he committed to a woman long time ago and asked for Tess’s forgiveness. Tess was not at all angry and forgave Angel at once; in fact she was rather happy and excited for she also had things to confess.
She sat and told everything to Angel, hoping he would forgive her as he was forgiven but she was wrong. She was not forgiven, not as she thought she was. The woman pays.
Without Angel’s love, nothing meant anything to her. The result wasn’t important now. Tess was arrested for her murder of that so-called gentleman. Why? She still loved Angel and when he finally went back to her and asked for HER forgiveness, after he regretted what he had done unfair to Tess, she was desperate. That was too late—Alec had always told Tess that Angel would never come back so he won Tess’s trust. Unluckily Angel did come back and found Tess.! Everything was too late!
Tess was deceived and she lost Angel for the second time! The strengh of her love was so strong that she had forgotten the difference between right and wrong. Before that she had done nothing wrong but when she killed Alec, everything really changed! She became a criminal! How could it be? She was as pure and innocent as the good wife in the Bible. Her whole character was honest and faithful. Angel figured out at last that a person should be judged not only on what he has done but also on what he wanted to do!
Tess didn’t want to be seduced by man and she had no power to defend herself so she lost her innocence and that’s all! Angel also did the wrong thing and it was even more serious than Tess’s crime but HE was not blamed for it. Why it is always the woman who pays? Why they are always hurt? Why was Tess’s girlish purity lost? Why does the wrong man take the wrong woman? Why do the bad often ruin the good? Why is beauty damaged by ugliness? Women are too weak! Thousands of years of history have shown us that women have always been treated unfairly!
In old China there was a culture, which didn’t think of women as human beings. If you asked one if he was the oldest in his family, he would probably answer “the oldest one” even if he had some elder sisters. If you asked why then he would say, “Ha, they are not included!”
People gave birth to many girls in order to have only one boy to keep the family name going. They thought girls had no use for the family. They would be married and go to live with their husbands’ home and be their wives some day sooner or later. So they were extremely hard on girls.
Girls should be hard working, faithful, loyal, intelligent, and virtuous and the most important thing was she must be a maiden! If her husband was the first man who touched her then she was a good girl, a good wife no matter how she thought. If she wasn’t, then she would gain a very bad reputation and nobody would dare to go near her. What about men? People did not care whether he was an experienced man or not, nor did they care about his character. They thought man equals power and power equals rights…
Now let’s not be so bitter. Nowadays women’s situations have become much better. Some are because of the change of society and some are because of civilization. Just let those poor painful women like TESS be just a memory.