"Tess of the D'Urbervilles"

Paper Summary:

In this paper, the author argues that a strong thread of paganism runs through "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" from beginning to end, reaching its climax in the dramatic scene of Tess' flight to Stonehenge and her arrest at daybreak as she lies upon the altar stone of the monument.

From the Paper:

"Stonehenge, like other ancient monuments of Wessex such as hill forts and castles, features several times in the writings of Thomas Hardy, both prose and poetry. Hardy was fascinated by archaeology and the societies and cultures of past ages, and particularly with their religious and mystical aspects. In The Return of the Native (1878) for example, he suggests that the custom of celebrating Bonfire Night on 5 November each year with huge bonfires on the crests of Wessex hills is of "druidic" and "Saxon" origin rather than relating to the Gunpowder Plot of the seventeenth century; (Grimsditch, 86) elsewhere, notably in Under the Greenwood Tree (1872) and The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), he makes great play with rituals that survive into his own age from ancient times. Stonehenge, situated in the heart of Wessex, constituted an extremely potent source of symbolism for Hardy, as well as providing a setting of unique drama for the climactic scene of Tess of the D'Urbervilles."

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