Tess of the D'Urbervilles

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Tess: "Did it never strike your mind that what all women say, some women may feel?"
Tess is talking to Alec about consensual sex. This shows Alec - and, by extension, the reader - that women have been conditioned to refuse men frequently, and this is damaging when it is genuine.
1 of 5
Narrator: "It was the touch of the imperfect upon the would-be perfect that gave the sweetness, because it was that which gave the humanity."
The reader thinks that Angel is accepting Tess as a whole person when, in fact, he's talking about her teeth. The only 'imperfections' he's willing to see in her are the ones that won't cloud his judgment of what a 'pure' woman should be.
2 of 5
Narrator: "the negative often gave nothing more than the preface to the affirmative."
Angel's assumption invites uncomfortable parallels to the **** by Alec, and seems incongruous in a man who claims to genuinely love her.
3 of 5
Narrator: "she had risen as a spirit, and was leading him to Heaven."
This forms part of a lot of religious imagery in the book, going from Angel formerly dropping Tess into a grave as a subconscious way of showing that she's dead to him, to a symbol of her rising again.
4 of 5
Tess: "I'll always be ugly now, because Angel is not here, and I have nobody to take care of me."
Angel's betrayal and leaving of Tess has affected her in such a way that she feels she has to question her own beauty and self-worth, since he is not there to confirm it for her.
5 of 5

Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

The reader thinks that Angel is accepting Tess as a whole person when, in fact, he's talking about her teeth. The only 'imperfections' he's willing to see in her are the ones that won't cloud his judgment of what a 'pure' woman should be.

Back

Narrator: "It was the touch of the imperfect upon the would-be perfect that gave the sweetness, because it was that which gave the humanity."

Card 3

Front

Angel's assumption invites uncomfortable parallels to the **** by Alec, and seems incongruous in a man who claims to genuinely love her.

Back

Preview of the back of card 3

Card 4

Front

This forms part of a lot of religious imagery in the book, going from Angel formerly dropping Tess into a grave as a subconscious way of showing that she's dead to him, to a symbol of her rising again.

Back

Preview of the back of card 4

Card 5

Front

Angel's betrayal and leaving of Tess has affected her in such a way that she feels she has to question her own beauty and self-worth, since he is not there to confirm it for her.

Back

Preview of the back of card 5

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