Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Victorian society

[marly]

Can anyone comment on Tess and the impact she would have made on Victorian society and how much of Tess is typical of that era.

[Brandy Danu]

I was reading that the book had a hard time finding a publisher since it was such an indictment of and challenge to the Victorian status quo.

From what I've read, "Tess" (and most of Hardy's novels were/)was very typical in depiction of the people, life styles, moral constructs and personal dilemmas of the day, especially regarding cross-class conflicts.

[RJbibliophil]

While I don't think Tess was "typical," she was very much a product of her time, class, and community. Hardy shows us a world in agreement with the history books, at least as far as I can tell.

In the novel, Tess didn't have a large influence over anyone, except perhaps Alec and Angel. Her neighbors would have dismissed her as strange and her family as shiftless. But she could have had a considerable impact on the readers; tragedy often does. Tess shows what true love is by living a life void of it.