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Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Tess of the d'Urbervilles
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Tess of the d’Urbervilles - Phase the Seventh: Chapter 53 - 59, and post-read discussion
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Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Post-Read Discussion
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Chapter 53: Summary
At Emminster Vicarage the Clares are nervously waiting for Angel’s arrival. The man who comes to the door is unrecognisable, so thin and aged does he seem. Mrs. Clare weeps to see his state but feels more deeply affected by his return than any religious experience. Angel looks like a corpse, and he admits he has been ill. He asks if any more letters have come from Tess.
Angel reads Tess’s second, angry letter and despairs, thinking that she may never forgive him. Mrs. Clare disparages her as a “mere child of the soil�, and Angel reveals her d’Urberville heritage.
Angel decides to break the news of his return slowly in case Tess is still angry. He assumes she is still living in Marlott with her parents, and so sends a letter there. Joan Durbeyfield responds immediately, saying that Tess has gone away temporarily, but she cannot tell him where. Angel is relieved that Tess is well, but fears they are all angry with him. He feels guilty for how he treated his wife, and wonders why he did not judge her by her will rather than deeds from the start.
He waits a while at home but Mrs. Durbeyfield does not write again. Angel rereads Tess’s first letter and decides to believe this one rather than the angry one, and find her immediately. When he asks his father if Tess had ever asked him for money, Parson Clare says she never had, and Angel finally realises that Tess might have been too proud to do so, so she has probably been suffering financially.
From things Angel has said, his parents are able to work out the reason for the couple’s separation, and they take even more pity on Tess because of her past sin. As Angel is packing up his things he gets the letter from Izz and Marian.
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And we have another aspect clarified here:
“their Christianity was such that, reprobates being their especial care, the tenderness towards Tess which her blood, her simplicity, even her poverty, had not engendered, was instantly excited by her sin�.
So we are told that nothing would have made the Clares feel as sorry for Tess - not her supposed peasant origins, nor lack of education nor even her poverty - as much as the fact that they now believe her to have been immoral. We learn a lot about the Clares here. In them, Thomas Hardy is giving us again an example of pure Christian charity. The worse the sin, the more the reform or conversion is to be celebrated.
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“he had seen the virtual Faustina in the literal Cornelia, a spiritual Lucretia in a corporeal Phryne;
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Angel too has done his penance during their separation. But he was too busy with his idealised Tess, to realise that the real Tess had too much pride in her own independence to ask the Clares for money, especially after he had rejected her. Angel can finally see now with clear eyes that Tess is neither an idealised Nature goddess nor a cruel, doomed d’Urberville, but a unique woman.
But is he too late? Thomas Hardy has not yet revealed where Tess is, but some time has passed. What might Joan Durbeyfield’s evasive letter be implying? And where is the family living now? Mrs. Durbeyfield has not said that she does not know where Tess is, so we assume that she does. Angel knows none of the specifics that we do, and can only regret the unfair judgment he made when he was the one holding all the power over Tess.
This chapter and the next ones are very short, and we don’t know what the “fulfilment� of this Phase will be. We just know that Thomas Hardy is cranking up the tension, and breaking the news slowly and painfully. I hope we can all savour the moment, and resist the temptation to turn the page!
The set of references (Faustina, Cornelia, etc.) are used by Hardy to emphasize how badly Angel has misjudged Tess. According to historians, Faustina, wife of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius was unfaithful, whereas Cornelia, wife of Tiberius was faithful. And perhaps more to the point, Lucretia, a virtuous woman, was a rape victim, whereas Phryne was a notorious Greek courtesan. Hardy wishes to once again emphasize that Angel has been blaming Tess, who is truly the victim in this sad tale.
When Angel finally returns to his parental home, it’s clear to see that he has undergone great physical hardship. �You could see the skeleton behind the man, and almost the ghost behind the skeleton.�And his state of mind is far different from what it was when he departed. He has come to realize that he has treated Tess unfairly � �and he had asked himself why he had not judged Tess constructively rather than biographically, by the will rather than by the deed?� The desperate letters from Tess confirm him in this view.
And yet, ever the indecisive character, lacking the courage of his own convictions, still he hesitates, waiting for another letter from Joan Durbeyfield rather than rushing off to find Tess. Only when he reads the letter from the two “Well-wishers� warning of an enemy who threatens Tess, does he finally decide to seek her out � revealing that he is still unconvinced of his wife’s honesty; he needs corroboration from outside sources. This is a man that no wife can depend upon.
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And thank you :)
Thank you both Jean and Jim on your details about this chapter. It seems very short and doesn't either build or relieve the tension that prior chapters gave the reader about Tess and her situation. It does indeed focus on Angel and we see that he has physically suffered but without a strong individual to guide him, he hasn't matured as much as we would have hoped. Sadly, he has not been able to rush to Tess and give her the immediate aid that her letters imply is needed. He is, as Jim says, a continuing indecisive character.
Bionic Jean wrote: "It also strikes me that Angel has made an error in thinking his parent would be impressed by Tess’s noble ancestors. They made it plain earlier (as discussed) that it is her virtue they are concern..."Faustina was a Roman lady of high birth and beauty. She married Marcus Aurelius, and accompanied him into battle. She became known as the 'mother of the camp' as she was held in great regard by the soldiers. After her death, she was deified and a statue placed in the Temple of Venus in Rome.
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I'm always delighted when others do some research - there is so much we can explore! For instance, we were told in chapter 53 that Angel now looks like Crivelli’s dead Christus so here it is:
"Carlo Crivelli - Dead Christ Supported by Two Angels" c. 1472
It's in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, so I thought someone might come up with it. We have a similar one in our National Gallery, and there's one in the Louvre (Paris).
Hopefully the Turberville window is of interest - it took some finding - and I'm amazed it exists !
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Angel sets out to find Tess. He passes by Cross-in-Hand, the sinister stone where Tess swore to never tempt Alec again, and continues on to Flintcomb-Ash. He finds that she is not there, and that when she was she never called herself “Mrs. Clare,� but only went by her maiden name. Angel begins to appreciate the hardships Tess has endured alone.
Angel next goes to Marlott to find out where the Durbeyfields are. Spring has hardly begun in the Vale of Blakemore. There is a new family in the Durbeyfield house who live happily in their place, and Angel cannot help but hate the place for not containing Tess. The children tell him that the Durbeyfields intended to go to Kingsbere.
On his way out of town Angel passes by the field where he first saw Tess at the May-Day dance, and he sees John Durbeyfield’s grave marked with “How Are The Mighty Fallen.� A stranger approaches and says that the headstone has not even been paid for, and Angel finds the mason and pays the debt.
Angel goes next to Kingsbere and finds Joan Durbeyfield’s house. She is reticent and unwelcoming to him and will not tell him where Tess is. The children ask if this is the man come to marry Tess, but Joan shoos them away. When asked, she says Tess would not want Angel to find her, but he begs until she finally reveals that she is at Sandbourne. Angel asks if they need anything for themselves, but Joan says they are well taken care of. Angel catches the train to Sandbourne.
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Thomas Hardy’s ٲԻdzܰԱ� is in reality the large bustling seaside town of Bournemouth, a fashionable resort in the Victorian era. There’s a long wiki entry for Bournemouth here:
Towards the end it refers to all the authors who had lived there, and its literary connections. It is spoiler-free :)
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Nature always reflects the mood of this story; now winter has dominion but spring is tentatively approaching. Perhaps this is a hopeful sign, perhaps not. It must surely signify a change of some sort.
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It’s a tiny phrase, but rang a bell as being from Macbeth by William Shakespeare:
“Life � is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.�
Macbeth is at his most pessimistic here, (view spoiler).
I think this reference by Thomas Hardy is intentional, to show just how quickly people can be forgotten. It makes Tess’s story seem tragically small.
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Your ideas? Predictions? Interesting points of writing?
Bionic Jean wrote: "It now seems to be clear to us, though not to Angel, what must have happened. Tess has gone and the Durbeyfields have money, so � . The suspense builds for the inevitable reveal, and whatever clima..."I agree with you totally, Jean. I don't know how it can be otherwise. How would Tess' mother be able to answer Angel if she wasn't getting funding from Alec?
I think that it is important that Angel sort of follow the path taken by Tess. But will it give him any insight into what she has suffered? I think it has slightly but it will play a bigger part eventually.
Yes, that doesn´t bode well, Jean and Pamela, though I also liked that Angel had at least a bit of an insight into her sad life.I appreciate Hardy´s writing that puts us into suspense what will happen, sometimes with real "cliffhangers".
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That night Angel walks through Sandbourne, (Bournemouth) a fashionable seaside resort on Dorset’s South Coast, and wonders what possibly could have drawn Tess here. She is a country girl, and there are no cows or farms, but only large hotels and affluent houses. He goes restlessly to sleep.
The next morning Angel asks a postman for information. The man has never heard of a Mrs. Clare or the name Durbeyfield, but a colleague knows there is a d’Urberville staying at a place called The Herons. Angel is excited and goes there to find it is a luxurious lodging-house. He assumes that Tess is working there.
The landlady says there is a Mrs. d’Urberville staying there, which on the whole pleases Angel, but he asks her to give her the mesage that “a relative� has come. He waits looking out at the flowers in the front garden, wondering if Tess had sold the jewels to afford the place.
Tess appears dressed in an expensive dressing gown and slippers. She stands on the threshold, and Angel begs her forgiveness. Tess’s eyes appear strange, and she says it is too late; and not to come near her. She says that she waited and suffered for so long, and then “he� appeared, and helped her family, and convinced her that Angel would never return, and in the end “He has won me back to him.�
Angel understands the terrible truth. Tess says “he� is upstairs, and that she hates him now, but Angel must leave and never return. She disappears and Angel walks blindly through the streets.
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It is so tragic, watching Angel slowly discovering the truth. He cannot conceive of her infidelity, so pure was her love. Both of them seem completely out of their element, and surely Tess has sacrificed everything in her despair and need? We understand that Alec d’Urberville has her in his power now. She says he has “wDz� her, and even though she hates him, she is dressed in the clothes he has provided.
Thomas Hardy reveals Tess through Angel’s eyes in order to show how much she has given up of herself, totally sacrificing her integrity for her family’s needs. This fully emphasises her tragic state and how truly trapped she is now.
We have another bird reference, in that the name of the hotel is "The Herons". Does this signify anything, do you think?
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1. When Angel learned that Tess went by the name of “d’Urberville�, we read he is
“pleased to think that she had reverted to the real pronunciation�. This seems the height of hypocrisy after all his professed disapproval earlier!
2. The other reason is this speech:
“But don’t you love me, my dear wife, because I have been so pulled down by illness? You are not so fickle—I am come on purpose for you—my mother and father will welcome you now!�
His mother and father? Angel is still not accepting any responsibility! He wonders if his appearance has affected her feelings—blaming Tess—and then slides off into blaming his parents.
Smaller indications of his self-deception are:
3. The ignoring of Tess’s final letter, and constant rereading of an earlier one. Also
4. Why does he “f� that Tess might be working as a servant in a big house? That would be quite a good job, and a step up from being a farm girl! This is surely his snobbish pretension again.
We have no clue as to how Alec has behaved, yet.
And as Michaela says, we end on yet another cliffhanger ...
In Chapter 54, when Angel visits the Durbeyfields' former house, not only does the family there live their lives in ignorance of Tess, but "Even the spring birds sang over their heads as if they thought there was nobody missing in particular." Tess has been associated with birds so much in the novel that there is both pathos and foreboding in this detail. Hardy suggests that the most intense personal dramas have little meaning on a larger scale.In Chapter 55, the Herons echoes the mention of the "solitary heron" who notices Tess as she enters the valley to Tantridge in Chapter 16. At that time, she was A Maid No More who nevertheless was blameless, but now she has made a conscious choice to join Alec.
Interestingly, this is the cleanest Tess has been in the novel, in her cashmere dressing gown with matching slippers, with her neck rising "out of a frill of down" (birds!); at the same time, it is the lowest she has been in her moral character.
My edition notes that the 1892 version had Tess saying "He was very kind to me, and to my mother, and to all of us after my father's death. He bought me." In the Graphic (serial) version, though, Hardy also omits that phrase and further tones it down by having Tess say, "He has won me - to be friends with him" rather than "He has won me back to him."
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It’s interesting to me that I don’t feel bad for Angel in this chapter. Not even one tiny bit. Even though we see this reunion through his POV, even though he is emaciated, still with all that the person I feel bad for is Tess. Alec controls her. He dresses her like she is a doll and in reality she is “like a corpse�. She has disassociated from her own body.
And Angel is simply too late.
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Bridget - We have the same thoughts about Angel Clare :) And I love the image of Tess mentally disassociating herself from her own body.
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Mrs. Brooks, the landlady of The Herons, is not usually curious woman, but she had heard part of the conversation when the visitor came, so she goes upstairs and eavesdrops at the d’Urbervilles� door. She hears a moan of unspeakable despair, and through the keyhole sees a woman kneeling. A man calls from the bedroom to ask her what the matter is.
Mrs. Brooks hears snatches of a lament from the woman. She says that the man never relented in his cruel persuasion, and used her family’s needs against her, and mocked her that her husband would never return. She finally believed him, but now her husband has returned, and she has lost him again because of the man, and she fears her husband is ill and will die for her sins. Mrs. Brooks sees that the woman’s lips are bleeding from clenching her teeth, and then it seems as though someone is coming to the door, so Mrs. Brooks runs downstairs.
She enters her own room which is directly below the d’Urbervilles� rooms. She can hear nothing through the ceiling, so she finishes her breakfast and carries on with her knitting, waiting to be called to collect the breakfast things. Then she sees Tess passing outside and into the street. She is well-dressed, with a veil over her face. Mrs. Brooks goes back to knitting, wondering about the couple, but then she notices a red spot on the white ceiling. It grows quickly until it looks like an ace of hearts. Mrs. Brooks touches it and sees that it is blood.
She goes upstairs and listens through the door, but can only hear an ominous dripping. She runs out for help and then returns with a man and enters the apartment. The man looks in the back room and comes back shocked, saying there is a dead man who has been stabbed with a knife.
“The wound was small, but the point of the blade had touched the heart of the victim, who lay on his back, pale, fixed, as if he had scarcely moved after the infliction of the blow� - Hubert Von Herkomer - 19th December 1891 - “The London Graphic�
They raise the alarm and later the surgeon finds that the small wound had touched the man’s heart. The news of the murder spreads through the town.
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Did you see this coming? I certainly never saw this coming the first time I read it. And now I’m marvelling at Thomas Hardy’s skill in writing this chapter.
First we have him changing perspective to build up the suspense.
The landlady knows nothing of Tess’s history - but we do! It also echoes the switch to Angel’s perspective earlier, which avoided describing how Alec persuaded Tess.
Then Tess lists all of her grievances against Alec and all the ways he controls her. This is her final outburst before the climactic action - which Thomas Hardy never actually describes - just as he never describes what happened in the forest, only the aftermath (Tess’s pregnancy). I like the way Thomas Hardy never shows us the actual murder, and leaves it to our imagination, as I find that more powerful.
Then we have yet another layer of remove at the climax. It is not even Mrs. Brooks who sees the body, but another stranger who describes it.
“Drip, drip, drip.�
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We’ve noticed Birds all the way through, and I mentioned wondering what the significance of the name “The Herons� might be. Now it occurs to me that a heron is often a solitary bird, which takes flight very easily. In today’s chapter that describes Tess very well :) And great work, picking out the feather symbol in the “frill of down� Erich!
Red blood: Other earlier instances of red blood spring to mind:
1. Alec’s bloody mouth, after Tess had struck him with her glove.
2. The red spot against white echoes the Durbeyfield horse Prince’s blood on the innocent Tess’s clothes. That is what started the whole sorry sequence of events. Don’t you think the stabbing is similar to Prince’s goring?
3. The “ace of hearts� is a nice touch also recalling Car Darch as the “Queen of Spades�. Once we have noticed these, perhaps Thomas Hardy is suggesting that Alec is the red card, or the Ace of Hearts, finally laid low?
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What a ghastly predicament. Did Alec deserve this? (Perhaps that’s better left until our after read discussion though.) And where can Tess flee to?
Erich C wrote: "In Chapter 54, when Angel visits the Durbeyfields' former house, not only does the family there live their lives in ignorance of Tess, but "Even the spring birds sang over their heads as if they th..."Erich, your last chapter about what Tess says to Angel when they meet regarding Alec � has really effected me. And what she said about "bought" sounds so negative but it also sounds the most true. He has bought her and now, she knows as do we, that she can never go to Angel.
Bionic Jean wrote: "What a climax! Did you see this coming? I certainly never saw this coming the first time I read it. And now I’m marvelling at Thomas Hardy’s skill in writing this chapter.
First w..."
It was certainly a twist that I did not expect. I would have thought that Tess would turn the knife on herself. The act of murder in this case seems to be an act of anger and Tess has always avoided anger and instead blamed herself for everything that has happened.
In retrospect, it becomes clear that from the day that Tess first encountered Alec D’Urberville, her fate has been tied to his; she could never escape him, he kept turning up in her life again and again and there would have to be a final day of reckoning, when they would probably destroy each other. Hardy’s conception of a relentless fate has won out.Did we see this coming? Certainly not, but even though such a sudden turn of events may seem overly melodramatic, it is actually quite in keeping with the rest of the story. Hardy had already given us a signal, when Tess struck Alec with her heavy glove back in Chapter 47, that Tess might become violent if pressed beyond endurance.
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Yes, and Tess is a farm girl, well used to life and death. She will have seen animals killed before, and will perhaps have no compunction about doing so herself if she feels it necessary.
I liked the point you made a couple of days ago Jean, about there being a variety of versions of Tess throughout the novel. This Mrs d'Urberville is the best dressed and most well-fed version, but she has sold her soul to the devil and is clearly unhappy. I strongly thought of the image of a beautiful bird (another one!) in a golden cage.
The "honeymoon" period has quickly evaporated and it seems that now the long chase is over, Alec has quickly tired of Tess - there is no sympathy for her sobs. Did Alec ever really think the two of them could have a loving relationship?
The town of Sandbourne is very different to any location we have had so far. It is positively cosmopolitan and much more modern in comparison to Marlott and Flintcombe Ash. Tess has entered an entirely new world.
The murder is unexpected and shocking and Hardy's brevity of describing it adds to to the impact. Tess is already out of the door before we know what has happened! Hardy has previously spent longer describing a hedgerow or a sunrise than he has on this episode!
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All we had was a disembodied voice through the door, but even the landlady recognised her real distress :( I like a new image of a bird with beautiful plumage, but trapped in a gilded cage, too!
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The first time I read "Tess" I was completely shocked that Tess kills Alec. I really like Pamela's thought that it was more likely Tess would kill herself instead of Alec.
I also think the way Tess kills Alec adds to the shock of it all.
Stabbing someone in the chest is such a personal, intimate way to kill someone. I mean, compared to shooting them, or poisoning them - stabbing has this visceral, passionate edge to it.
Reading this for the second time was fascinating because this time I could see how Hardy was preparing us for this moment for a long time. Not only the glove thrown at Alec (which Jim mentioned), but also the time when Tess killed the pheasants to put them out of their misery.
What a great chapter! So often while reading the novel I've wanted Tess to stand up for herself, to take some initiative instead of being wafted about by external forces.
Tess's tragic flaw seems to be that she lives for others rather than for herself: the death of Prince comes because she covers for her shiftless father, she worships Angel like a god and subsumes herself to him, she avoids asking for help from the Clares because of how it will reflect on Angel, she gives in to Alec to support her family, and she kills Alec for the pain he has caused Angel.
After Tess kills Alec, she does not flee like a murderer but seems very composed. Mrs. Brooks hears her dress rustle and the front door opening and closing (not slamming or left ajar in panic), and then she sees Tess "passing to the gate" (not hurrying or stumbling away). She is also wearing a hat with black feathers!
Bridget wrote: "Stabbing someone in the chest is such a personal, intimate way to kill someone. I mean, compared to shooting them, or poisoning them - stabbing has this visceral, passionate edge to it...."That's a great point!
And looking back at the death of Prince (Chapter 4), Hardy writes that his "life's blood was spouting in a stream" and that there was "a huge pool of blood" in the road from a "hole in his chest looking scarcely large enough to have let out all that had animated him." What amazing foreshadowing!
Has anyone in the group who has made it this far with the schedule been able to resist reading on to the end now? I haven't been able to resist the temptation! But I won't give any spoilers!
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And it's great to see how much foreshadowing we are all picking up on, whether we were expecting it or not.
I've just read today's chapter :)
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Angel sits at breakfast and stares blankly forward, then suddenly packs up and leaves his hotel. Just before he goes out he gets a telegram which says that his brother Cuthbert is engaged to Mercy Chant. Angel goes to the train station and then starts walking out of town, heartbroken. A force impels him to turn around and he sees someone pursuing him in the distance. As she nears, he finally realises it is Tess.
Tess says she has killed Alec, and she smiles. Angel thinks she is delirious. She says she feared it would happen eventually; that she never loved Alec in the same way as she did Angel. He had ruined her life with Angel, and she could not bear it when he taunted her and called her husband “by a foul name�. She hopes Angel will forgive her now that she has killed him.
Angel embraces Tess and say he does love her, but he still isn’t sure himself, if she has actually killed anyone. She weeps happily, and Angel sees that her love for him has eclipsed her other moral senses. He wonders if this murderous strain comes from her d’Urberville blood, and he thinks briefly of the legend of the d’Urberville coach, but then reassures himself that Tess is probably just delirious with grief.
Whether the murder is an hallucination or not, Angel sees he needs to take care of Tess: “Tenderness was absolutely dominant in Clare at last�. He kisses her and promises to never leave her again. They walk together and Tess looks at Angel as if he were Apollo or the man she had first loved, apparently not seeing the thin and sickly man he is now.
They feel intoxicated being together and can momentarily forget the murder, although Angel instinctively leads them further into the woods and away from civilisation. They ramble about in random paths like children. Angel enters an inn for food but he makes Tess stay outside, as she is still dressed in noticeably fashionable city clothes.
They eat and Angel forms a vague plan to lie low in middle England until the crime has been forgotten. They walk through the green forest and come to a large empty house, Angle says it is called “Bramhurst Court�. After they have walking for another half hour, he says they should turn back and stay there, as she is tired. Angel leaves her outside for a while, and learns that the place has an old woman caretaker who only calls in twice a day, and they enter through an open window. The place is large and grand and they are glad to rest. They sit in silent darkness once the caretaker shuts the windows.
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“Bramhurst Court� is believed to be Moyle’s Court.
Moyle’s Court, New Forest, Hampshire. Photograph from 1920
In “Thomas Hardy’s Wessex� (1913) by Herman Lea, he says:
“The unoccupied manor-house in the New Forest, Hampshire, known as Bramhurst Court, in which Tess and Angel Clare take refuge after the murder of Alec D’Urberville, seems to have been drawn from Moyle’s Court, situated in the environs of Ringwood. In the days of Judge Jeffreys, just after the Monmouth Rebellion of 1680, this house was the residence of Dame Alice Lisle, who was taken from it to her execution at Winchester. The house is said to be still haunted by her spirit.�
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It does seem as if Tess cannot escape her doom. They have had a brief respite, walking through Nature in the spring together, as again the landscape reflects Tess’s brief happiness. But I fear for them. The abandoned mansion recalls their wedding night and the d’Urbervilles� lost glory - and their terrible fate.
Over to you :)
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His mother doesn't send any recriminations, so perhaps Angel is still their favourite son. But Cuthbert has become the man Angel was supposed to be, in terms of vocation and marriage.
Pankies wrote: "Has anyone in the group who has made it this far with the schedule been able to resist reading on to the end now? I haven't been able to resist the temptation! But I won't give any spoilers!"Yesterday, I was sorely tempted to just continue reading to the end too, Pankies! And I wanted to again today, but since I've held back throughout the book, I'm sticking to the schedule, but wow! Is that hard.
And this latest chapter was so challenging. I was surprised that Angel would accept Tess with all that it says of her, but he is very tender. Could it be that mentally, he just doesn't accept the physical death at her hands?
The vacant house where they shelter does carry so much similarities to the house where they stayed on the wedding night. Could it be that they will wake and Angel will realize what Tess has done?
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It’s as if the murder of Alec is okay, or at least not a sin. I’m not a fan of Alec D’Urberville, but I also don’t think it’s okay to kill people. And what exactly is the “sin� Tess committed against Angel? I suppose it’s that she lied to him. She knew he thought she was “pure� even though she wasn’t (at least not in society’s opinion). But isn’t killing someone a much bigger sin than lying? Yet Tess only wants forgiveness for the lying, and not the murder.
But then Alec was never, ever going to leave her alone. So maybe Tess is right. I really can’t decide.
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That night Tess tells Angel the story of his sleepwalking episode, but she begs him not to talk about the past, saying that she is going to enjoy the present. The next day they explore the house and Angel only leaves to get food. Five days pass and they are isolated but for the forest birds. They never speak of the past, and Tess doesn’t want to leave. She accepts her fate but wants to keep the cruel world outside while she can. She also fears that Angel will despise her later, and says she wants to die before that happens.
The next morning the caretaker comes early to open the windows, and she sees the sleeping couple in the house. They look so peaceful and idyllic that she does not disturb them, but leaves to tell the neighbours.
Tess and Angel awake uneasily and Angel says they should leave. Tess says goodbye to the happy place, and would liek to stay as she will only live for “a few more weeks�, but Angel won’t accept it and wants to keep moving. Later she rests hidden among some trees while he buys food.
They begin to cross the open country at night, and walk through Melchester, and past the cathedral. so that they can use the bridge to cross the river. The moon is covered by clouds and they are alone. Suddenly a huge stone monolith rises up out of the darkness and they can hear the wind humming through other pillars. Angel realises that they are at Stonehenge, and Tess described it as the ancient heathen temple.
Tess lies down on an oblong slab of rock and does not want to go further. Angel urges her on, saying that they will be visible for miles around after daybreak. But Tess says she is at home among the heathen stones and wants to stay. Angel says she is lying on an altar.
"Something seemed to move on the verge of the dip eastward - a mere dot." - D. A. Wehrschmidt - "The London Graphic"
Tess feels solemn and peaceful, and suddenly she asks Angel if he will marry her sister Liza-Lu once she is gone. She says Liza-Lu is like the best part of her without the bad, and if they married it would be like she and Angel were not separated at all.
Tess asks if they sacrificed to God at Stonehenge, but Angel says it was to the sun instead. Tess asks if he thinks they will meet again when they are dead. Angel kisses her and Tess starts to cry, begging him to say they will meet again, but he is silent. After a long while she falls asleep, and dawn starts to break on the horizon.
A man walks up the hill and approaches them in the dim light. Angel stays quiet, but then is aware there are more men all around them. He suddenly realises that Tess;s story must be true, and he gets ready to fight, or escape. But there are too many men, and he begs them to at least let Tess finish resting. They agree, and Angel holds her hand as she sleeps.
The sun rises and its light awakens Tess. She knows immediately what has happened, and she feels almost glad, as their happiness could not have lasted. She goes forward ro the men:
““I am ready,� she said quietly.�
Works of Thomas Hardy
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Iris Murdoch (other topics)John Bayley (other topics)
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Phase the Sixth: Fulfilment: Chapters 53 - 59
Turberville's coat of arms window in Bere Regis Church ("Kingsbere")
Thomas Turberville Trenchard's coat of arms window in Bere Regis Church ("Kingsbere")
For details of Bere Regis church, see LINK HERE