Tess of the D'Urbervilles phase-by-phase summary

Phase the First - The Maiden

- Tess meets Angel club-walking
- Alec seduces/takes advantage of/rapes Tess

Phase the Second - Maiden No More

- Tess leaves Alec (after few weeks of suggested involvement)
- Christens Sorrow herself
- Sorrow dies

Phase the Third - The Rally

- Tess goes to Talbothay's dairy
- Angel's backstory relayed to reader
- Tess & Angel fall in love

Phase the Fourth - The Consequence

- Angel proposes to Tess
- Tess accepts 3 chapters later
- Tess & Angel marry
- Tess confesses her past w/Alec

Phase the Fifth - The Woman Pays

- Angel leaves Tess in Marlott
- Angel asks Izz to join him in Brazil
- Tess leaves home and works on farm near Flintcomb-ash
- Accidently meets Alec (now a preacher)

Phase the Sixth - The Convert

- Alec asks Tess to marry him
- Alec abandons faith & vows to have Tess
- Man tells Angel he was wrong to leave Tess
- Adam & Eve scene
- John Durbeyfield dies
- Durbeyfields go to Kingsbere
- Marian & Izz write to Angel

Phase the Seventh - The Fulfillment

- Angel returns home very ill
- Angel goes looking for Tess
- Finds her in Sandbourne, too late, she is Alec's
- Tess murders Alec
- T & Angel run away & spend 5 days in old mansion
- Tess arrested at Stonehenge
- Tess is executed
- Angel and Liza-Lu join hands and go on