Tess of the d'Urbervilles

Tess Durbeyfield

The novel's protagonist. Main character.

Angel Clare

Meets Tess at dairy farm and falls in love.

Alec d'Urberville

The handsome, amoral son of a wealthy merchant who takes advantage of Tess.

Mr. John Durbeyfield

Tess's father

Mrs. Joan Durbeyfield

Tess's mother

Mrs. d'Urberville

Alec's mother who is blind and ill. Tess goes to aide her.

Marian, Izz Huett, and Retty Priddle

Dairymaids Tess meets.

Reverend Clare

Angel Clare's father

Mrs. Clare

Angel Clare's mother

Reverend Felix Clare

Angel's brother

Reverend Cuthbert

Angel's brother away at college,Cambridge,who can concentrate only on university matters, marries Mercy Chant.

Eliza Louisa Durbeyfield

Tess's younger sister. Tess beleives has a good future with her good qualities and encourages her to marry Angel before her death.

Sorrow

Tess's son with Alec d'Urberville. He dies in his early infancy, after Tess christens him herself. She later buries him herself as well, and decorates his grave.

Mercy Chant

The daughter of a friend of the Reverend Clare. Mr. Clare hopes Angel will marry her, but after Angel marries Tess, she becomes engaged to his brother Cuthbert instead.

Talbothays Dairy

Tess's first job after the death of her son.

Brazil

Where Angel went after confessing to Tess and hearing her confess as well.

Sandbourne, The Herons

Where Tess went after Angel left

Stonehenge

Where Tess and Angel run away to after she kills Alec.

Prince

Tess's family horses name

The d'Urberville Family Vault

One of the symbols that represents both the glory of life and the end of life.

Birds

The motifs that represents images of hope and liberation.

Men Dominating Women

One of the themes in the novel shown by Alec's act of abuse, the most life-altering event that Tess experiences in the novel is one example.

Changing Ideas of Social Class in Victorian England

Another theme in the novel shown by Angel's family not being happy about his marriage to a milkmaid.

The Injustice of Existence

Theme in the novel shown with Tess when she does not mean to kill Prince, but she is punished anyway, just as she is unfairly punished for her own rape by Alec.

The Book of Genesis

A motif in the novel giving the novel a broader metaphysical and philosophical dimension. The roles of Eve and the serpent in paradise are clearly delineated: Angel is the noble Adam newly born, while Tess is the indecisive and troubled Eve.

Wessex

The action of the novel takes place in what area of England

That he comes from an aristocratic family

John Durbeyfield learns at the beginning of the novel

The May Day dance

Angel and Tess first see each other at

Mrs. Durbeyfield

Tells Angel that Tess has gone to Sandbourne

In a coffin

After Angel picks up Tess while sleepwalking, where does he place her?

The harp

Angel plays which musical instrument

Marlott

In what town did Tess grow up

He is too drunk

Why can't Mr. Durbeyfield make the trip to the market?

Not to tell Angel her secret

What advice does Mrs. Durbeyfield give Tess?

50 pounds

How much money does Angel give to Tess?

25 pounds

How much of the money does Tess initially give to her family?

The roof

What part of the house do the Durbeyfields need to repair?

The Valley of the Great Dairies

Where is the Talbothays Dairy located?

Mercy Chant

Who does Cuthbert Clare marry?

Preacher

Alec becomes a

Tess

Who is primarily responsible for Prince's death?

Cross-in-Hand

What is the stone monument called on which Alec makes Tess swear?

Rolliver's

What is the name of the bar to which the Durbeyfield's go?

Tess kills him

How does Alec die?

She is hanged

How does Tess die?

She is not a virgin

What does Tess confess to Angel on their wedding night?

Thomas Hardy

Author of Tess of the d'Ubervilles

Point of view of the novel

The narrator speaks in the third person, and looks deep into the characters' minds. The narrator is objective but has an omniscient understanding of future implications of characters' actions as they happen.

The 1880s and 1890s

Time period of the novel

Genre of the novel

Victorian