'Tess of the D'Urbervilles' - regional writers 4 - Genre, Structure and Language
- Created by: Alasdair
- Created on: 06-06-18 16:23
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- 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles' - regional writers 4 - Genre, Structure and Language
- The late Victorian novel
- A novel is a long prose narrative that relates human experiences.
- It has many roots but most critics believe that British novel originated in C18th
- Critic Jonathan Arac, among others, had described the C19th as the 'age of the novel'
- Hardy was writing the literary mode of his age.
- 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles' contains elements of the pastoral genre
- A mode of literature that presents man and nature as living harmoniously.
- 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles' can also be described as a work of realism, with Hardy representing things as they are rather than idealising rural life.
- The novel's structure
- Hardy divided his narrative into chapters, and then into longer 'phrases'.
- The titles of the phases are significant and allow us to trace the fluctuating fortunes of the protagonists
- Just one phase, the sixth, does not refer directly to Hardy's eponymous character Tess.
- The 'convert' is Alec who temporarily embraces religion.
- The narrative is largely relayed in chronological order, with a very occasional flashback to Tess's childhood or to Angel's life in Brazil.
- Narrative perspective
- Hardy uses a third person, omniscient narrator. Although Tess is the focaliser or main perspective, the narrative also has the privilege of knowing the thoughts of all characters.
- Hardy includes authorial intrusions to call our attention away from Tess's story to wider issues, such as injustice and fate.
- The tone of the novel can be sceptical and even anti-religious at times.
- To Tess, God is a 'vague ethical being'
- The narrator is heterodiegetic (not involved with with the story) but appears biased in Tess's favour.
- e.g. at the end, 'Justice' is treated ironically
- Direct speech
- Dialogue makes the reader feel they are present when a scene in the novel is taking place, witnessing an actual conversation.
- Hardy uses dialect to root his novel in Wessex (Dorset, Wiltshire, Hampshire) and to delineate social class.
- Tess's accent changes as the novel progresses
- she begins by speaking in dialect despite her education but contact with Angel makes her speak 'fluently'
- Hardy also creates drama by relaying conversations that Tess overhears, such as those between her parents.
- Biblical allusions
- Victorian society was dominated by Christianity, and biblical references pervade 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles'
- Alec offering Tess fruit in his garden recalls the narrative of temptation in Eden in Genesis
- The reference to the Var river as 'the pure River of Life' from Revelation 22 emphasises that Tess has an opportunity for a new life.
- The reading from Proverbs 31 by Angel's father helps the reader to evaluate what it means for a woman to be 'prized'
- The late Victorian novel
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