Abstract

Thomas Hardy, as we all know, was a remarkably famous critical realistic writer at the turn of the 19th century in England. Tess of the D’Urbervilles, the representative masterpiece of Thomas Hardy, has evoked enormous curiosity of literary scholars, and a lot of researches about this novel have been done from various perspectives, which depict the tragic life experience of one beautiful but pure girl after her disgrace. Obviously, the factors which lead to Tess’s tragedy are various, such as the social factors, Tess’s characteristics, the two male characters, Tess’s family and her parents, and the social status was the main reason for Tess’s tragedy. To some degree, Tess’s tragedy is the tragedy of the whole society. Therefore, starting from the social background, the main social factors which lead to the tragedy are analyzed in depth in this thesis.

Regarding to the structure, this paper is divided into five parts. The first one is the introduction, the second one the historical background, the third one the analysis of the Tess’s tragedy, the froth one the social factors of Tess’s tragedy as the main part and the conclusion as the last part. At first the introduction part makes a general introduction of the novel Tess of the D’Urbervilles, the writer, the characters and the paper. Then with the in-depth analysis of Tess’s tragedy, it is finally found that the most fundamental factor is the social condition in 19th century in England. In order to recognize the social factors which lead to the tragedy, it is needed to deeply understand the social background at that time. Therefore, the second part presents the social background. On the basis of the second part, it becomes possible to know the tragedy better, so the tragedy is described in the third part. Following the above parts, it’s the right moment to analysis the social factors, which is the main part of this thesis. This part contains five specific social factors causing the tragedy, the economic problems, the moral hypocrisy of the bourgeoisie and the religion, the hypocrisy of the law, and the ethics and fatalism. By the way, other reasons are also briefly stated at the end of this part. At last, the paper ends up with the brief conclusion.

Key words：Economy; Politics; Religion; Law; Ethics 

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1   Introduction-1

3   The Moral Hypocrisy of the Bourgeoisie-6

4   The Hypocrisy of the Religion-8

5   The Hypocrisy of the Law-10

6   The Ethics and Fatalism in Old Times-11

7   Other Reasons Caused by Social Factors-12

8   Conclusion-13

Bibliography-14

Acknowledgements-15