Literary Device

The literary device that I decided to focus on was Tragedy. The definition of tragedy is: a story in which a heroic character either dies or comes to some other unhappy end. Tragedy is apparent all throughout Tess of the d'Urbervilles.

The first instance of tragedy that we read about is when Tess' family horse is killed. Tess feels she is responsible, and this feeling drives her to take up a position as an animal care taker for Alec d'Urberville. Alec is very attracted to Tess and on many occasions expresses this to her. Tess sets her boundaries as well as she knows how to however, not strongly enough. One night she falls asleep in a field, on her way home from the city, and Alec takes advantage of her. Tess leaves her position to return home where she gives birth to a son, who dies a few weeks later. Both of these things are great tragedies that continue to haunt Tess throughout the book.

Tess goes to work on a dairy farm where she falls in love with a man named Angel Clare. Tess knows she will have to tell him of her marred past at some point. Whenever Tess attempts to tell Angel he cuts her off and says, "tell me later." Because of this Tess does not get a chance to tell Angel until their "confession session" while they are on their honeymoon. Angel tells Tess that he once had an "affair," and she readily forgives him. Then when Tess tells Angel of how she was raped he cannot forgive her. Because of this, tragedy ensues, and Angel leaves to Brazil for about a year and a half. During this time Tess is re-acquainted with Alec, and because of Angel's lack of response to her letters and Alec's persistent nagging, Tess returns to Alec.

Shortly after she is re-united with Alec, Angel comes back to find Tess and to tell her that he is now able to forgive her, and he finds that she has returned to Alec. Tess feels anger towards Alec for his knifing ways and so she murders him. It becomes apparent that tragedy is going to continue when Angel and Tess reunite and run from the law. Tess is found in Stone Henge and executed. Tragedy was an extremely prominent theme and literary device used in this book.