Tess - Fatalism

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necessity" (175). Fatalism is the idea that all actions are controlled by Fate, a primitive force that exists independent of human wills and outside of the controls of power of a supreme being such as God because God ultimately has no power; he is a creation of man who granted Him His power. Since He doesn't truly possess those powers, he is left without the ability to alter circumstances. In short, if one subscribes to this doctrine, you believe that Fate controls how things happen and God can do nothing to save you, even Tess. Overall, Tess seems to go through life experiencing one negative event after another. Fateful incidents, overheard conversations and undelivered letters work against her ability to control the path her life takes. Tess's future seems locked up from the beginning of the novel. As the story opens, we first meet her father and learn of Tess's ancestry: "Durbeyfield...are the lineal representative of the ancient and knightly family of the d'Urbervilles...that ...

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desired one in all respects (75). She may not have known what to call it, but she definitely applies the doctrine of Fatalism to herself which according to author Leonard Doob is a telltale sign of a person who feels fated: "When the principal is judging himself [in this case, herself] and believes that fate is affecting him, his perception is usually direct: he introspects, thinks, or meditates. But he may respond indirectly when someone else, an observer,, gives him information about himself...Fatalism by a principal, therefore, is a pessimistic inevitability doctrine applied by him about himself to himself" (7). If Tess didn't start life feeling as though Fate was working against her, ...

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