Paper Summary:

The author analyzes the controversial rape/seduction scene in "Tess of the d'Urbervilles". The author notes the contrasts within the scene, particularly between the serenity of the physical environment and the characters within that environment. Also, the author discusses the importance of the ellipses within the passage as an integral narrative strategy.

From the Paper:

"As we read the text we feel that something wrong is to happen, and yet we are held in suspense. Some details we read actually make the reader feel that her having sex with him was unavoidable: she weeps (l 33) as if she were having a premonition that it will happen and were afraid of that, or, lines 19 and 20, "The Chase [is] wrapped in thick darkness, although morning [is] not far off"; it may imply that Tess will have to cope with bad days, hard times ahead. Besides let's not forget the context; Tess has just learnt that Alec had given her father a new horse, so she certainly feels grateful to him for it, and the reader easily guesses how Alec wishes to be rewarded. As for Alec, when he gets lost in the darkness, he is (instinctively?) led to Tess (lines 24-25-26: "he at length heard a slight movement of the horse close at hand; and the sleeve of his overcoat unexpectedly caught his foot. "Tess!" said d'Urbervilles"). It is as if they could not escape from each other, and especially Tess, as Alec is forcing destiny, for example by getting lost with her on purpose. We learn that "Tess's own people" are rather fatalistic: they are tired of saying among each other in their fatalistic way: "It was to be". There lay the pity of it". So we may think it is also what Tess thinks of this event. From line 42 ("why") down to line 44 ("receive"), the narrator clearly contends that it was her fate to meet Alec and to appeal to him and to have sex with him. The question from line 37 down to line 41 ("But, might some day, where was Tess's guardian angel? Where was the Providence of her simple faith?") may imply that her life, her fate could have been different, better, or at least it may be the narrator's anticipation of the reader's reaction, and the following lines might be answer (from line 39 down to line 41)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
• Page 81 "Having buttoned [...]" page 83 "poultry-farm" (oxford classics)

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