The Importance of Alec in Tess of the D'Urbervilles

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subtle and detailed description of the Alec's physical appearance. From all these details "swarthy complexion" and "his contours" we could see that there is a barbarism in his inner character. He is not a traditional gentleman as his family name D'Urbervilles indicated, who is born as a real heir of a noble family that descends from the ancient times. In fact, his father, the old Mr Simon Stoke, selected for an hour in the British Museum that he decided to put this into his own name and he heirs eternally. It is quite easy to get a general rule from this individual case, that at the late victiorian age the universal quality of the rigid rising bourgeoisie.

The lightness in his behavior is also very obvious, for example:

He stood up and held it by the stem to her mouth.

'No--no!' she said quickly, putting her fingers between his hand and her lips. 'I would rather take it in my own hand.'

'Nonsense!' he insisted; and in a slight distress she parted her lips and took it ...

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brought by Alec bookends the novel.

IV Thomas Hardy uses the image of Alec to serve as a strong contrast against Tess.

We can't give Alec a judgment roughly. Because his character also changes with the development of the plot, which is exactly a way of reflecting the personality of Tess, our heroine. And this is also a indirect description of her. On the one hand, it shows her hatred of evil, as one of her goodness; on the other hand, Hardy uses Alec to show that Tess has a very great influence on the other people. Let me take Alec as an example. When Alec first met Tess, readers could feel a sense of lightness in his language and his behavior. And he is regarded as evil as satan. ...

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