Book Club Guide

Tess of the d'Urbervilles

Key themes

The pure woman and the world that will not let her be
Fate, coincidence and the forces aligned against the powerless
Betrayal by the men she trusts and by the society that judges her

About this book

Tess Durbeyfield, a peasant girl whose father discovers a dubious claim to noble descent, is sent to seek kinship with the d'Urbervilles and meets with catastrophe. Hardy's most devastating novel follows Tess through betrayal, hardship, murder and execution, asking whether any person can be truly 'pure' in a world that will not let her simply be herself.

Published serially in 1891, Tess of the d'Urbervilles caused immediate controversy and several journals refused to run it. Hardy was so stung by the critical reception that he effectively stopped writing novels afterward.

Discussion questions

Hardy subtitles the novel 'A Pure Woman.' How does he make this case for Tess's purity in a society that defines purity entirely differently — and does the argument succeed?
Alec d'Urberville and Angel Clare are the novel's two male antagonists. Which of them does more damage to Tess — and how does Hardy distribute moral responsibility?
The ending is deliberately arbitrary and swift. How does Hardy achieve its devastating effect — and is Tess's death a tragedy in the classical sense, or something more specifically social?
The landscape of Wessex is used throughout to mirror Tess's emotional state. How does Hardy's nature writing serve the novel's argument about the relationship between the natural world and the human moral code?
The novel was condemned by Victorian reviewers for its sympathetic treatment of a fallen woman. What does their hostility reveal — and what was Hardy risking?