Tess of the D'Urbervilles

Many villagers find Tess’s return interesting and gossip about what might have happened while she was away. Tess tries to go to the local church, which she thinks she will find comforting, but becomes upset and ashamed when people gossip about her. She begins to isolate herself and only go out after dark so that no one will see her.

The narrative resumes almost a year later, in August. Tess is helping with the harvest near her village. When the laborers stop for lunch, Tess’s younger sister Liza-Lu arrives, carrying a young infant. Tess pauses to nurse the baby: It is the illegitimate son that has resulted from her encounter with Alec. The other laborers gossip about Tess and the baby, noting that she often laments her fate as an unwed mother but also seems to love her child. Many of them feel sympathy towards Tess.

When Tess gets home from working in the fields, she learns that her baby has fallen ill. She is very distressed because “her soul’s desire was to continue that offence by preserving the life of that child” (105); when she realizes that the baby is dying, Tess becomes determined that the baby be baptized. She asks her father to send for the minister, hoping that he will agree to baptize the baby, but her father feels ashamed and refuses. In desperation, Tess baptizes the baby herself, giving him the name Sorrow. Within a few hours, the baby dies.

The next day, Tess asks the minister if this baptism could be considered valid and if her child will go to heaven. The minister feels sorry for Tess and says yes, but when Tess asks if the baby can receive a Christian burial in the churchyard, he refuses. Tess is upset, but the minister reassures her that the burial location will not impact the baby’s soul. The baby is buried in a corner of the graveyard with unconsecrated ground.

Time passes, and Tess’s experiences contribute to her emotional maturation. She continues to dutifully help her family but also wonders what the future holds for her. In spite of everything that has happened, she has not given up: “Tess felt the pulse of hopeful life still warm within her; she might be happy in some nook with no memories” (112). In May, more than two years after the loss of her baby, Tess decides to go and work as a dairymaid at a dairy farm called Talbothays. It is quite a distance from her home, but it is also in the region where the ancient family of the d’Urbervilles (Tess’s ancestors) once lived.

Tess makes her way from her home village of Marlott towards Talbothays Dairy. The beautiful spring weather and the promise of a new beginning lifts Tess’s mood; “[T]hus her spirits, and her thankfulness, and her hopes, rose higher and higher” (119).

Tess arrives at the dairy, introduces herself to Richard (Dick) Crick, the dairy-master, and immediately sets to work. She quickly notices a young man who seems different from the other workers at the dairy; there is something about him that is “educated, reserved, subtle, sad, differing” (127), and he also seems familiar to Tess. That night, most of the workers go home since only Tess and a few other girls live at the dairy full-time. Some of these women explain to Tess that the man she noticed is Angel Clare, the son of a minister from a well-educated and affluent family. Nonetheless, Angel wants to establish an in-depth knowledge of farming and so is working at the dairy. Tess realizes that she recognizes Angel from when he came upon her and the other girls dancing at the Marlott May Day celebrations years ago.

Angel Clare is the youngest of three sons born to a stern and extremely religious father. Angel is intelligent but declined to go to university because he does not want to become a clergyman like his father and brothers. In fact, Angel horrifies his father by explaining that he is ambivalent about organized religion; he states that he “love[s] the Church as one loves a parent […] but [he] cannot honestly be ordained her minister, as [his] brothers are” (131). Adrift without an education and career, Angel spent time in London and had an affair with an older woman. Eventually, he became interested in farming and decided to gain as much practical experience as possible. Angel is currently living at the dairy and has begun to enjoy spending time with the other dairy workers. Over time, Angel notices that Tess is surprisingly introspective and articulate; she also seems familiar to him, although he can’t place why. Angel begins to seek Tess out to spend time with her.

Tess notices and comments on Angel subtly helping to make her work at the dairy easier. The two of them meet in the garden one evening after work and talk; Angel is surprised to hear Tess’s dark and largely bleak view of life. This perspective makes her more interesting to him, as he finds it “impressive, interesting, pathetic” (140). When Angel offers to teach Tess and help her advance her education, she declines. She considers telling him about the ancient aristocratic past of her family but decides against it, sensing that Angel likes and respects humble individuals with no family lineage.

Time passes, and Tess and Angel grow closer. They are “ever balanced on the edge of passion, yet apparently keeping out of it” (144). The beautiful country setting makes Tess at ease, and it also facilitates their attraction to one another.

One day, the dairy workers find it difficult to churn the butter and gossip about why this might be, relaying folklore that butter might refuse to form if someone in the dairy is in love or has been involved in an illicit sexual relationship. This gossip makes Tess uncomfortable, although no one knows about her past or the feelings that she is developing for Angel. Later that night, Tess overhears some of the other dairymaids talking about Angel; they are all infatuated with him and wish they could marry him.

Not knowing that Tess can hear them, they discuss how Angel clearly likes Tess the most. Overhearing this gossip confuses Tess; she does not think it is likely that Angel would marry a working-class woman like herself, but given his plan of making a future as a farmer, this type of match also doesn’t seem impossible. She acknowledges that Angel does like her more than the other women, because she is “more finely formed, better educated, […] and more woman” (152), but she is unsure whether there is any point pursuing the attraction between the two of them.

The next day, while Angel and Tess are working together, she points out several times how beautiful the other dairymaids are. Tess does this because she “had moodily decided that either of these maidens would make a good farmer’s wife, and that she ought to recommend them, and obscure her own wretched charms” (155). Tess then starts avoiding Angel. However, she notices that he treats all of the dairymaids with great respect and courtesy, and this makes her like him more.

One Sunday in July, Tess and her fellow dairymaids are trying to make their way to church, but the road has flooded, and they are not sure how to cross it. Angel comes upon the group and offers to carry the young women across one by one. When he carries Tess across, both are excited by being close to one another, and Angel confides, “I have undergone three-quarters of this labor entirely for the sake of the fourth quarter” (160). Afterwards, the other dairymaid’s comment on the attraction between Tess and Angel. Tess makes it clear to the others that she wouldn’t marry Angel even if he asked her to, and they all lament their unrequited love together. One of the dairymaids also explains that she has heard that Angel is going to marry a wealthy and well-educated woman whom his family approves of. This news upsets Tess a great deal, and she resigns herself to nothing but a casual flirtation with Angel.

As the summer continues, the attraction between Tess and Angel intensifies. One day, they happen to be alone together, milking cows side by side. Looking at Tess’s beauty, Angel is overcome by desire: “[R]esolutions, reticences, prudences, fear fell back like a defeated battalion” (166). He impulsively embraces Tess; she is both excited and confused and draws away from Angel. He apologizes for acting this way without her consent but confides that he is in love with her, saying that he can no longer hide it.