The Downfall of Tess in Thomas Hardys Tess of the DUrbervilles Essay

The Downfall of Tess in Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles Tess of the D'Urbervilles is considered to be a tragedy due to the catastrophic downfall of the protaganist Tess. From the early days in her life, her father John had begun to destroy her, which then led to Alex D'Urbervill and eventually finished with Angel Clare. Each dominant male figure in her life cocntributed to her tragic downfall which the reader encounters at the end of the novel. It is unfortunate how one woman can be ruined by the three most important and dominant people in her life. Tess's downfall began with her experiences with her father. She grew up with a father who drank excessively and did not give her any type of guidance or support. His characteristics are revealed when he sends Tess to Tantridge to dliver the beehives, due to the fact that he is too drunk to do it himself. Rather than taking responsibility for the dreadful accident Tess had with the family's horse, he sends her to the D'Urbervilles mansion to seek their name and fortune. Following this, when Tess delivers her baby upon returning from Tantridge, the reader once again sees John's true sides of how horrible he is and how he destroys his daughter, by not letting the parson come and baptize her child, Sorrow, yet he is on the verge of dying. Her son's name reflects just how miserable she is and how much pain she is going through, because of Alec. Throughout these incidents the reader can see just how Tess is selfless andl oyal to her family and is focused on helping them, so she goes and seeks help from her family members. The outcome of this is unfortunately useable, her downfall. Tess's journey to Tantridge and her introduction to Alex is the be... ...one she could trust and rely on, but this had not occurred. Even though it was not intentional, Angel himself had driven Tess into Alec's arms, when he had left her. She was forced to go back to him, because of poverty and because of her family. When Tess found out Angel had returned from Brazil, she found the the only way out of her recently started relationship with Alec was by murdering him. It is distressing how all three dominant male figures in her life had chosen to hurt her so immensely. Unfortunetly Tess is very influence by people, whihc leads her to face many horrible incidents throughout her life. She is selfless, loyal and weak which makes it easy for her father John, Alec and Angel to hurt her and cause her pain, which eventually caused her downfall. Therefore it is correct; the catastrophic downfall of Tess is due to the men in her life.