Why was Thomas Hardys Tess of the dUrbervilles valued in the Victorian era?
I think it’s kind of much more valued now. Thomas Hardy wrote about a girl who he claimed was ‘virtuous’ and ‘pure’ when in actual fact she was raped and had a baby. At the time it was published, it really went against all social and sexual morals to call her pure. However, it also shows fatalism at its best- Tess really resigns herself to fate towards the end of the book. You might take her lying on the alter at Stonehenge to signify a sacrifice. She has to make a sacrifice for Liza-Lu, she dies, and Angel takes Liza-Lu away from poverty, she sacrifices herself for Angel’s forgiveness, and also to show society how wrong it is to shun her, and deem her as impure, when she has one of the purest hearts of any character in a book I’ve ever read. It was more REMEMBERED in the Victorian era in my opinion for being controversial, and I think as soon as it was finally okay for women to engage in sexual relationships before marriage, it was very highly valued for its morals and beliefs that we
