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.
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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.