Tess of the D'Urbervilles Parts 3 - 4
Tess makes her way to the Talbothay’s diary with a spring in her step, she is eager to learn and make a future for herself. She is among one the few dairy maids to live on the dairy and finds herself right at home with the other workers. She notices a handsome young man working there and learns from the others that he comes from a family of education and wealth. Tess recognizes him from her village, for he had once danced with the other girls of the village the day her father had learned about his aristocratic heritage. She learns from the other dairy maids that Angel wants to be a farmer, so he is working at the Dairy farm to learn the trade well. The narrator then details how Angel came to work at the dairy. He is the third son of a gifted and strict church minister, and his other sons have followed the same path. Angel confesses that he does not share the same passion for religion as the other men in his family, so he declines to attend university. He lives in London for a short period and even has an affair with an older woman during his time there. Ultimately, he decides that he is going to lead the simple life of a farmer, and so he decides to learn about dairy farming.
As time passes, Tess settles into the rigorous and honest life of a dairy maid and brings upon herself the attention of Angel. They grow closer with time, and Angel increasingly becomes charmed by Tess’s natural beauty and her limited yet thorough education. He finds her bleak view of life to be severely compelling and even offers to tutor her in furthering her education. Tess declines the generous offer and begins to feel admiration for him. The other dairy maids are smitten with Angel, and they become jealous of all the attention that he lauds on Tess. She overhears them talking lovingly of him, and of how he seems to have eyes only for her. Tess doesn’t believe that Angel would ever be interested in a working-class woman like herself, but she argues that it would make sense for him to be with such a woman given his desire to be a farmer. However, she doesn’t think she is worthy of being anything to him. Tess attempts to create distance between herself and him while trying to have him focus on one of the other women.
Angel doesn’t care for them, and his admiration for Tess only continues to grow just as her fondness for him increases. Tess worries about the people at the dairy finding out about her illicit past. The other maids finally begin to tease Tess about Angel’s feelings for her, but she vehemently denies any possibility of love between them. Shortly afterward, Angel declares his love for Tess, as he suddenly is overcome by emotions and hugs her. He apologizes profusely and explains that he can no longer hide the love he has for her.
Angel goes away from the diary as he tries to make sense of his feelings for Tess, and considers whether he can marry her. His absence causes great distress to Tess who begins to believe that Angel will not return to the dairy farm. At home, Angel feels out of place with his educated and pious family after spending so long with the people at the dairy farm. His father is willing to provide him with the capital needed to set up his farm, and Angel broaches the subject of marrying a woman with a farming background. They aren’t completely averse to the idea so he tells them about the virtuous and pure Tess. They remain uncertain, but Angel decides that he will marry her. His father tells him that he has been working with a particularly problematic man, Alec D’Urberville, who is beginning to leave his old sinful ways behind. Angel goes back to the Dairy and confesses his love to her once again while asking her for her hand. Tess feels unworthy of him and refuses him even as she tells him that she also loves him. Angel is stunned by her refusal and he begins to believe that she loves someone else.
Tess asks for a little time to consider when she can tell him why she can’t marry him. She eventually realizes that she truly wants to marry him, and decides not to tell him about her history with Alec. Instead, she tells him about her family’s genealogical relationship to the D’Urbervilles and cites it as the reason why she thought he would not want to marry her. Angel is relieved and brushes off this information, and adds that it might make his parents more comfortable with the match. Tess and Angel share the news of their marriage with their friends and everyone is happy for them. Tess frets over the secret she holds and panics every time Angel brings up the conversation about setting a date for the wedding. She writes to her mother for guidance, and she is advised not to speak of her past. Tess finally agrees to be married on the last day of the year, and they finalize their plans. Angel intends to learn about the flour mill next, for that purpose the married couple intends to setup up one of the old grand houses of the D’Urbervilles that now serves as a farmhouse.
Tess is unable to put the secret behind her, and it begins to bother her afresh when she and Angel are spotted in the nearby village by one of Tess’s old neighbors. The man makes a lewd remark about Tess’s sexuality, and Angel gets into an altercation with him. He forces the man to apologize and forget about the incident, but Tess decides that she will tell him the truth. She writes a letter to him that very night, and slips it under his door sill. To her surprise, his behavior towards her remains unchanged and she later discovers that the letter had remained undetected under his carpet. She tries to tell him the truth on their day of marriage, but they are unable to speak to one another because of the preparation for the wedding. They move to the dilapidated D’Urberville house and Angel confesses to her about the affair he had with an older woman in London. Tess is relieved to hear his confession and tells him about her history with Alec.
Analysis
Tess sets out for the new job with a sense of hope that she sources primarily from Nature. Tess’s association with nature means that she has a greater understanding of the cycles of life, death, and decay. She acknowledges the loss of her maidenhood, and the loss of her child, but she continues to believe that nature will replenish what it had taken away. The dairy farm has an Edenic quality to it, and the seclusion of the farm from the rest of society shelters Tess and Angel. They begin to love one another, and the author draws several parallels between Alec and Angel to ultimately indicate that Angel is his opposite. Angel is overcome with his feelings for Tess and hugs her suddenly, but he becomes immediately ashamed of himself. Furthermore, Angel’s attraction to Tess is not limited to his lust for her physical form but also for her ideas and her outlook on life. However, Angel has a sense of masculine entitlement that prevents him from truly viewing Tess’s true nature. This is evidenced through his reaction to her confession since he is so invested in the fantasy of the virginal and pure Tess that he cannot conceive that she may have a troubled past.
The author continues to emphasize the deteriorated condition of the social order through the decaying surroundings of the abandoned D’Urberville family. Tess’s nobility is further highlighted through her attempts to refuse Angel. Readers can gain a greater appreciation for her character as she is tempted to marry Angel because she loves him, while she had never been tempted to be with Alec despite his greater wealth and status. Unfortunately, Angel and Tess’s marriage ends in tragedy, and the author uses many elements to convey a sense of foreboding. The fact that the marriage takes place in the barren time of winter and that it is held on the last day of the year, both of these aspects communicate a sense of ending rather than beginning.
