Time, Society and Nature

Hi there,
Is someone can try to help me on the subject Time, Society and Nature on the book Tess of the D'Ubervilles? What do you think?

Can you state exactly which part of the book is that?

6 years on but this would still make a very interesting discussion for anyone willing to participate.

For me, Time and Nature are the ruling forces in Hardy's novels. The characters are constricted by social forces and yet they were clearly born to operate outside of society. Nevertheless they play by society's rules and normally suffer for it. That's why Hardy is one of the greatest novelists of all time- because his characters are not merely social outcasts; they were made for a better society than this. Unfortunately they are ahead of their time and are consequently punished.

I say ahead of their time but what I really mean is that they are primal.

I can see there is a lot of nature in Tess of the d'Urbervilles. They do after all live in the countryside (Hmm, I wonder if livestock and crops count as nature). I read some student notes which argued something along the lines of Tess representing nature while Angel represents culture (or did I dream it?) I can see there is society too: peasants like Tess and her friends and family, and the middle class like Angel and Alec and their families. I cannot see where time fits in. I suppose it's a snapshot of a society at a certain place and time. Social attitudes, religious attitudes, mechanisation and education all seemed to be evolving quite rapidly in the late 1800s. It seems a long time since Dickens, as were the other late Victorian writers I have read, Conrad and Gissing. Does this era represent the start of "modernity"?

I think Time is important in Tess of the D'Urbevilles. The past features very heavily in Hardy's work.