Abstract：Thomas Hardy is a famous critical realistic writer at the turn of the 19th century. Tess of the D’Urbervilles which was published in 1891 is the most influential masterpiece of all his works. In this novel, Hardy demonstrates his deep sense of moral sympathy for England’s lower class, particularly for rural woman. Under Hardy’s pen, the heroine Tess is created as a beautiful, innocent and pure woman, who has the quality of endurance and self -sacrifice. Tess has long been regarded as the most exceptional woman character in English literary history. However, the life of this pure woman is tragic. First, she is seduced, then abandoned and finally driven to murder for which she is hanged. Tess’s tragedy is not accidental. Living in a society overwhelmed by capitalist law, hypocritical morality and ethics and social evil forces, Tess, a poor peasant girl, inevitably leads a tragic life and finally goes to her collapse. In addition, Hardy’s fatalism also dooms the tragedy of Tess. Moreover, the weakness in Tess’s character is also responsible for her tragic ending. Tess fights against the society helplessly. In the end, she turns out to be the sacrificial victim of the society like all other things which disobey the morality and ethics. Thus, this paper tries to analyze the various causes of Tess’s tragedy.

Key Words：Tragedy; character; factor

CONTENTS

摘要

Abstract

1. Introduction-1

1.1 Introduction of the author-1

1.2The plot summary of this novel-1

1.3 The social background of that time-3

1.4 The significance of this study-3

2. Interpretation of the tragic quality of Tess-4

2.1 Social environment: the main reason of the tragedy of Tess-4

2.1.1The hypocritical ethics and morals of the bourgeois society-4

2.1.2 The hypocritical religion-6

2.1.3 The unjust legal system-7

2.2 Deterninisim: the foreshadowing of Tess’s tragedy-8

2.2.1 On Hardy’s pessimism and fatalism-8

2.2.2 Many coincidences that speed up the tragedy-...10

2.3 Flaws in Tess’s character in response to her own tragedy -......11

2.3.1 Inherent simplicity as one of factors of Tess's tragedy -.....11

2.3.2 Lack of strength in definance of the conventional morality-...13

3. Conclusion-15

References-16

Acknowledgement-17