Tess - Fatalism
If written today, Tess of the d'urbervilles by Thomas Hardy may have been called Just Call Me Job or Tess: Victim of Fate. Throughout this often bleak novel, the reader is forced by Tess's circumstance to sympathize with the heroine (for lack of a better term) as life deals her blow after horrifying blow. One of the reasons that the reader is able to do so may be the fatalistic approach Hardy has taken with the life of the main character. Hardy writes Tess as a victim of Fate. This allows the reader to not blame her for the things that happen around her. Much of the critical debate surrounding Tess centers around this very point: Is Tess a victim? Are the things that happen to Tess beyond ...
Want to read the rest of this paper? Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay and over 50,000 other term papers
|
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 ...
Get instant access to over 50,000 essays. Write better papers. Get better grades.
Already a member? Login
|
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, ...
Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library. Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports, and research papers in 2 minutes or less.
|
CITE THIS PAGE:
Tess - Fatalism. (2004, March 22). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Tess-Fatalism/4971
"Tess - Fatalism." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 22 Mar. 2004. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Tess-Fatalism/4971>
"Tess - Fatalism." Essayworld.com. March 22, 2004. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Tess-Fatalism/4971.
"Tess - Fatalism." Essayworld.com. March 22, 2004. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Tess-Fatalism/4971.
|