ABSTRACT

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) is one of the most celebrated name of the late nineteenth century
Victorian era. He is remembered as a renowned Victorian novelist whose ambivalent bent of
mind wins him a unique place in English literature. Despite his unusual fascination with fictional
female characters, he is regarded as misogynist because his attitude towards women is
overshadowed by the patriarchal tendencies of conservative Victorian society. One of the major
arguments supporting misogyny in Thomas Hardy’s novels is the fate of his fictional heroines as
depicted in Tess of the D’Urbervilles. He punishes women harshly for their defiance and
indifference to the demands of Victorian society. This paper explores misogyny in Tess of the
D’Urbervilles as a means of men’s struggle to establish their superiority over women, hence
highlighting its impact and women’s resistance in the face of conventions. The theoretical
framework employs qualitative methodology using descriptive analysis. The work under
discussion helps to understand the ways men devised to establish their domination over women
in Victorian society. The present study uses Emma Goldman’s feminism theory to trace and
examine misogynistic elements in the novel, Tess of the D’Urbervilles.

Keywords: misogyny, men’s domination, Tess of the D’Urbervilles.

INTRODUCTION
Thomas Hardy, the author of Tess of the D’Urbervilles is one of the most celebrated Victorian
novelists. Thomas Hardy wrote this novel towards the end of his novel writing career. After Tess
of the D’Urbervilles, he gave up writing novels for good. The novel has a complicated
publishing history. It got much popularity and it was staged not only as drama and opera but was
also produced as film. Most of his beliefs and ideas were influenced by Victorian moral code of
ethics. He assimilated the external pressures in his writing. In Victorian society, it was
considered sinful or immoral for a woman to show her ankles in public (Sandlin, Anita (2011)).
The status and position of women was presumed to be inferior to men and it revealed itself in all
walks of life including literature. This cultural attitude of hatred for female on anatomical basis is
termed as misogyny (Johnson, Allan G (2000)). Misogyny forms the central part of sexist
prejudice and ideology. It forms the basis of oppression and marginalization of females in male
dominated societies. Misogyny is understood in the sense of being biased towards womenfolk.
Men who display spiteful and contemptible behavior towards women are said to be misogynists.
The various hardships Tess has to overcome reveal a Victorian world where young,
attractive lower-class women could suffer from the romantic attentions of gentlemen from a
higher class who did not always have good intentions. Hardy is guilty of creating Tess’s
character with unredeemable qualities. The women never have a legitimate chance to succeed
permanently on any level (Womak17). Throughout the novel she has been projected as weak
fragile and changeable character resulting in extreme frustration in which she kills Alec. Tess of
the D’Urbervilles is a tragic novel and Tess’s tragedy is attributed to a number of reasons. She is
forced into loveless marriage by her mother in the hope of acquiring new wealth over her
prospective maternal role.
The irony of fate is connected with two men’s, Alec and Angel, betrayal and subsequent
abandonment. The materialist interest of Tess herself and male dominance incarnated in Angel
and Alec contribute to her destruction. Tess lost her virtue because of her innocence. She lost her
happiness because of her honesty and is found murderer at the end.
The novel has been extensively studied and analyzed by many critics since its
publication. Various interpretations have been made for the sources of Tess tragedy. The present
work will analyze how social principles, laws, ethical and patriarchal standards contribute to
Tess’s tragedy and their effect on author’s narrative with reference to the element of misogyny as
manifested in the novel.
This paper explores misogyny in Tess of the D’Urbervilles as a means of men’s struggle
to establish their superiority over women, hence highlighting its impact and women’s resistance
in the face of conventions. The theoretical framework employs qualitative methodology using
descriptive analysis. The work under discussion helps to understand the ways men devised to
establish their domination over women in Victorian society. The present study uses Emma
Goldman’s feminism theory to trace and examine misogynistic elements in the novel, Tess of the
D’Urbervilles.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Thomas Hardy, being one of the influential writers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth
century wrote on all social classes of women in Victorian arena. Thomas Hardy has gained a
reputation of showing considerable sympathy towards his female characters and is generally
regarded as feminist. But one of the major argument against Thomas Hardy being feminist is the
tragic fate of his fictional heroines in general and Tess in particular. He punishes women harshly
for their defiance to the conflicting demands of the Victorian society where women were not
treated like men. The readers and reviewers always remained confused over Hardy’s
contradictory responses to his women character particularly Tess, in Tess of the D’Urbervilles.
Modern critics also classify him with either misogynists or feminists.
Hardy tried to extricate himself from contemporary ideology regarding the female role and
sexuality in particular but he seems to be inevitably influenced by the patriarchal society. There
are many bad aspects shown in the novel such as greed, egoism and gender discrimination
towards women where Hardy appears to have committed misogyny. These conflicts reflect
internal ambiguities or contradiction within Hardy himself and they also appear in the Tess of the
D’Urbervilles.
Margaret Oliphant(1896), in her review in “ The Anti Marriage League” published in
Blackwood’s Magazine, condemns Hardy for creating women who destroyed the settled lives of
men due to their whimsical nature. They are labeled as immoral for being the sole cause of men’s
destruction (256).
H.C.Duffin (1916) appreciates Hardy’s understanding of women and considers him ‘a specialist
in women’(235). Keeping in view this opinion, he can be classified with feminists who doted
over his own creation Tess of the D’Urbervilles and showed inclination towards the Woman’s
cause. Tess with “touch of animalism in her flesh”(220) fascinates Hardy’s readers.
Judith Mitchell (1994) interprets Hardy’s stance on women to be ambivalent due to the confusion
we find in his portrayal of women. Mitchell thinks his texts betray his feminist as well as sexist
assumptions.
According to Kathleen Blake ( 2005) “Hardy presents female characters as weak, changeable and
in wrong”. In her opinion, Hardy is also distressingly quick to generalize from woman to woman
while the man is allowed to represent only himself. Hardy was known to be a firm believer in no
cause or philosophy, nor he was publically declared feminist but he was certainly aware about
feministic ideas and sympathized with certain feminist views (Qtd in Gradu 6).

According to Widdowson(1999), though feminist critical theory was not formulated by any of
Hardy’s writings, feminist criticism was the only literary theory that begun to study Hardy’s
work in the late 1960s. (6) He has more serious reservation on Hardy’s attitude towards his
female characters and feminist issues than Blake. In Widdowson’s opinion, making sexuality and
gender more prominent in the novel opens the door to debate whether Hardy is proto-feminist,
sympathetically exposing the victimization of women in patriarchal society or a closet
misogynist? It seems that Widdowson shows doubts over Hardy’s own attitudes towards his
female characters and their depiction in the society. (7)
DISCUSSION
English literature betrays misogyny in many different ways in the form of jokes, pornography,
violence, gender discrimination, marginalization and generalized objectification or self-
contempt. Woman may be taught to feel towards their own bodies. There have been different
responses in the way misogyny has been received, understood, assimilated by particular cultures
and passed on ideologically in the social practice. Male written literature generally passes on the
impression of women being inferior in natural and social hierarchy. The misogynist
interpretation of literature makes the general statement that men are better than women that can
be criticized through media and literature. The novel, being one of the means in literature, covers
criticism on such aspects. Tess of the D’Urbervilles is one of such novels which narrate the story
of a woman and her marginalized position in the society. The present study uses Emma
Goldman’s feminism theory to describe misogynistic elements in the novel, Tess of the
D’Urbervilles.
Emma Goldman’s feminism theory is based on three elements that contribute to the practice of
male domination over female. These elements are property, religion and government. In the
Tess of the D’Urbervilles these dominating elements validate Alec and Angel domination over
Tess and also provoke Tess’s reaction against it. According to Woronoff (1996), Emma
Goldman is famous for her radical feministic approach (Qtd in Melta Novita Sari, 2014).
According to her in an ideal society, its members live and work together harmoniously. All the
members of society are equal and no part of the society feels superior in terms of the role, the
custom or the personal mind. The society can be motivated by helping each other that helps to
create an ideal society. The most important point of Goldman’s theory is freedom of human mind
from domination of religion, freedom of human body from domination of property and freedom
from the shackles and restraints of government, being equally applicable for all human being
without sex discrimination.
Throughout the novel, Hardy portrays Tess strong, capable but at the same time
exposes her vulnerability. He promotes the assertion that Tess cannot escape gender
determinism. He has generous fondness for Tess so much that it appears that he was in love with
her but ultimately she faces rejection and unhappiness. She is punished for nonconformity.
Hardy tries to portray her as natural, she is nurturing and often unpredictable and occasionally
destructive. As an element of nature intimates Tess should be accepted and allowed to grow and
thrive in nurturing environment. He asserts Tess’s nature be passive as well as passionate.
If Thomas Hardy were a woman, Tess would have told Angel Clare where to stick his
pastoral ideals and he would have apologized or run off, at which point Tess would have found
herself a man who respected her. The unbiased reader would really hate Angel Clare for doing
wrong to her and Tess for letting him do that wrong. One can understand how important virginity
was in Victorian culture, but Tess's experience was as a victim and Angel had just confessed to
her some previous experience undertaken willingly. Here, Hardy didn't understand women at
best, and was a misogynist at worst.
In the Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Alec and Angel are two male charters that dominate
over female character, Tess. Alec D’Urbervilles uses his high social position as a young man
from rich family and Angel Clare uses his position as a husband to dominate over Tess. The male
mastery phenomenon becomes evident when Tess tells after his seduction, “See how you’ve
mastered me!” and her complain to her mother, “Why didn’t you tell me there was danger in
menfolk”. The male superiority is also reflected when Alec warns Tess, “Remember, my lady, I
was your master once; I will be your master again”, showing ownership or proprietorial rights.
The menfolk’s dominations appear both mentally and physically. The mental domination
happens when Angel chooses the dance partner. Here Tess’s reaction is influenced by the
traditional approach of being a passive partner or the one who waits to be chosen by someone
superior. Similarly, when seduction happens she does nothing because she falls asleep after
feeling tired.
The reader also comes across Victorian men’s dominant attitude towards the women in
the very first meeting of Alec with Tess when he shows her the fruit-garden at Trantridge. He
offers her strawberries, holding a particularly fine one to her mouth by its stem: “No-no!” She
said quickly, putting her finger between Alec’s hand and her lip. “I would take it in my own
hand”. “Nonsense!” he insisted; (ToD 34) and in a slight distress she parted her lips and took it
in, thus forcing her to do so. She is unable to say no in a convincing way and prevailing social
standing does not allow her to refuse. It also reflects about Alec’s nature and shows men are the
norm. Men set the standards and women do as they are told. Here Hardy articulates both her
reluctance and her acceptance. If the violent and fatal wounding of Alec can be read as
prefiguring rape, Tess's opening of her lips to a strawberry can just be read as prefiguring her
"confused surrender" to the pleasures of sex, especially in light of the text:
“They had spent some time wandering desultorily thus, Tess eating in a half-pleased, half-
reluctant state whatever d’Urbervilles offered her. When she could consume no more of the
strawberries he filled her little basket with them; and then the two passed round to the rose-
trees, whence he gathered blossoms and gave her to put in her bosom. She obeyed like one in a
dream” (ToD 47).
According to Hardy life is full of innocent victims like birds, rabbits and hares and Tess
is among one of them. She is victim of her sex, being oppressed by Alec, her distant cousin. Alec
takes advantage of the situation and rapes her. Tess has ended up in a very difficult situation and
later faces many other problems due to it. Alec becomes a saint but Tess becomes an outcast.
The male sinner lives normal safe and sound life. He becomes a preacher publicizing God’s edict
while the female suffers discrimination and rebuke from society. “He who had wrought her
undoing was now on the side of the spirit, while she remained unregenerate” (ToD 391). The
unfair social law does not punish or condemn Alec but it deprives Tess of her dignity and Hardy
presents her as a degraded, fallen woman. The social injustice and moral prejudice towards
gender are crushing for Tess. As she discovers, “The greater the sinner the greater the saint: it
was not necessary to dive far into Christianity to discover that” (ToD 390).
Tess is in a situation where she cannot do much as she is in love with Angel and wants to
be happy and marries Angel. After marriage Angel told her about his past. She very open
mindedly forgives him. But when she told him about her past, he rejects her. They both had a
past but only Angel‘s past is forgiven because he is a man. It is here that Hardy appears to be
effected by the patriarchal society. Tess pleads as, “In the name of our love, forgive me,” she
whispered with a dry mouth. I have forgiven you for the same.” And as he did not answer, she
said again; “Forgive me as you are forgiven. I forgive you, Angel.” “You—yes, you do.” “But
you do not forgive me?” “O Tess, forgiveness does not apply to the case! You were one person;
now you are another. My God—how can forgiveness meet such a grotesque—prestidigitation as
that! (TD 292). ”In Angel's eyes Tess is no longer the "fresh virginal daughter of nature"(Chen
Zhen 1215) but another woman in her shape.
Angel loves Tess only when he assumes her to be a perfect woman. Angel is ignorant of
her past and admiring her physical beauty calls her as, “Artemis” and “Demeter”. Here, Hardy
projects Tess as an object and compares her with Greek goddesses. But Tess cannot live up to
Angel’s biased standards with her heavy baggage of illicit relation with Alec. This oppression
from Angel as man is at its worst and is damaging both physically and emotionally for a woman
like Tess. Angel’s refusal to forgive Tess exemplifies the “double moral standards” of the
Victorian society with respect to sexual lives and feelings of women. It is woman who pays if
she has any sexual involvement beyond marriage. It is here in the novel when reader realizes that
the social bias towards chastity has been devised for the advantage of men, where their
forgiveness comes at a minimal cost.
Angel’s rejection is unbearable for Tess than Alec’s destruction. Angel cannot conceive
of an equal relationship with woman. Here, Hardy shows gender superiority, Angel’s dissipation
in London is forgiven; while Tess’s innocent “misconduct” cannot be. Alec’s violence and
Angel’s rejection both reflect the hypocrisy and ill effect of narrow-minded prejudice regarding
virginity and chastity. Alec physically ruins Tess by destroying her virginity and Angel
spiritually destroys her courage for life and pursuit for love. Angel’s refusal, like Alec’s physical
violence, also reveals his contempt upon women.
The text of Tess of the D’Urbervilles reveals Hardy’s latent misogyny reflective of his
age. Unlike Dickens who portrays his women as caricatures and they clearly show his contempt
towards women, Hardy deviously presents his latent misogyny through apparently sympathetic
portrayal of women. In the novel Tess of the D’Urbervilles one comes across a picture of the
author caught between his hidden misogyny and apparent sympathy for the victimized women.
Though he seems to be supporting certain revolutionary ideas of women’s rights yet he could not
conceal the gender-stereotyping. Despite the fact that he expresses forcefully and unequivocally
sympathy for the wronged, exploited, or marginalized woman yet reveals his contempt, fears,
uncertainties and reservations that he inherited from patriarchal ideology and male literary
traditions of Victorian age. His narrative reveals the unconscious influences accumulated from
extraneous variables. Nonetheless supportive of Tess’s stance, he does not go against the taste of
Victorian readership who wanted to see immoral woman punished for her immorality. Hence,
Tess is punished for the sin of existence and the justice is done by Tess’s final doom- her
execution.
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Original 2nd paragraph
In Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Hardy seems to be steeped in Victorian ideals of societal
structure. It is a story of young woman named Tess and her love with Alec D’Urbervilles
and Angel Clare. Tess was born in a family with low social back ground. She proceeds to
claim kinship with Alec D’Urbervilles-- member of high social class. The prime cause of
Tess which induces her to leave her house to meet Alec is an economic one. Her
relationship with Alec makes her suffer because Alec is only interested in her body. Alec
somehow tricks her and then rapes her. After her relationship with Alec is broken up,
Tess has another love story with Angel Clare whom she marries though with reluctance
keeping in view her past history. There ensues another calamity when Tess forgives
Angel after his confession of forty eight hours diversion with a woman in London. Angel
refuses to forgive her rape at the hand of Alec and does not accept her. He rejects her
and goes to Brazil. She suffers for being honest about her past. Tess goes to Alec for the
second time once abandoned by Angel and starts living with him as his mistress. In the
end of the story, Tess kills Alec and is hanged while Angel marries her sister.