An essay based on the novel by Thomas Hardy "Tess of the d'Urbervilles"

1. Beauty that kills
According to common opinion beauty should help women to achieve success in their life.
This is not the case of Tess d’Urbervilles the heroine of T. Hardy novel entitled Tess
of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman. Considering some thoughts included in the critical essays:
Cruel Persuasion; Seduction, Temptation, and Agency in Hardy’s Tess by James A. W.
Heffernan, and Postmodern Tess: Recent Readings of Tess of the d’Urbervilles J. Gribble, I dare
say that there exists a special type of tragic feminine beauty, linked with special features of
character, that brings no more than calamities to their owners and people involved in relations
with them; this is beauty that distinguishes, draws attention and, as a result, kills as predators
and their victims flock together.
From the very beginning Hardy decides to distinguish Tess from her female peers, “She
wore a red ribbon in her hair, and was the only one of the white company who could boast
of such a pronounced adornment”. This “red ribbon” on the background of the white robes of all
dancing girls works nearly like a kind of stigma. As J. Gribble writes in her essay, “The writing
draws attention to a poignant element of self display in the ceremony,” May-Day Dance, in
Chapter II, “Tess, in particular, is distinguished from the rest by her red ribbon”. This reminds
me of another heroine wearing scarlet stigma on her chest – Hester Prynne
the protagonist of Nathaniel Hatwhorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter. The colour red seems
to be a portent for Tess.
Female beauty and flowers intensify mutually when influencing men. Hardy depicts
situation as follows, “One among her fellow-travelers addressed her more pointedly ….Why, you
be quite a posy! And such roses in early June!”. Tess pinned up roses at her breast; at her hat.
She had roses and strawberries in her basket so, “she blushed… she stealthily removed the more
prominent blooms…a thorn of the rose remaining in her breast accidentally pricked her
chin…she thought this an ill omen”. These flowers and strawberries were a reason which “had

2. been stirred Tess to confused surrender awhile”, claims J.A.W. Hefferan in his essay. Tess was
“temporarily blinded”, by Alec’s superficial manners. But also Tess’ sweet beauty bewitched
Alec d’Urberville. Hardy writes, “You temptress, Tess; you dear damned witch of Babylon - I
could not resist you as soon as I met you again”. As we already know, he also didn’t resist her in
the Chest woods where she was raped by Alec.
It is easy to draw a conclusion that Tess’ beauty and seductive eyes had something
in common with the first temptress, Eve, who is a symbol of the original sin. Sin which caused
that immortal people became mortal. “Behind this episode lurks Satan’s temptation
of Eve” writes J.A.W. Heffernan about the scene where Alec encouraged Tess to eat
a strawberry from his hand. But when Tess “parted her lips and took it”, she also seduced Alec,
even if not consciously. It was the symbolic beginning of a mortal chain – rape, death of Tess
child, death of her marriage with Angel and finally her murder of Alec in
the penultimate chapter. Men see in women what they want to see and what they chose to see.
Angel initially saw in Tess the a spiritual creation. Her purity imagined by Angel disturbed him
later to accept and to forgive her bitter relationship with Alec. “She was a sort of celestial person,
who owed her being to poetry-one of those classical divinities”, describes Hardy Angel’s
thoughts of Tess. The whole presented mixture of devilish and angelic features
in Tess was one of main reasons of her catastrophe..
Summing up, in contrary to Tess’ mother’s belief that her daughter’s beauty
“would certainly put her in the way of a grand marriage” it brought calamity alone. Tess
realized that her face is like a poisonous gift from her mother or her ancestors so she
“mercilessly nipped her eyebrows off “, so that to become ugly. But sins of her noble family
members haunted her, “sinister design lurked in the woman’s features, a concentrated purpose of
revenge on the other sex”, writes Hardy about portrait of Caroline d’Urberville. An evil eye,
such as of Caroline or Rebecca from the novel by Daphne de Maurirer Rebecca can cause that
pure beauty of innocent woman will suffer being used, coursed and condemned. As a result, it

3. sometimes kills and is killed itself. A beautiful woman drawing attention of other people should
be wise, strong and assertive enough so that to defend herself.