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.
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.
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.
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.
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