Tess of the d’Ubervilles Tess of the DurbervillesThe difference between destiny and fate is that with fate, it is up to the individual to make the decisions on the path of life, whereas with destiny, a path has already been decided. Everybody has the opportunity to take the path of life in the right direction, and make good decisions.
When choices are not made with the heart, it can often lead to somebodys demise. In Thomas Hardys novel Tess of the Durbervilles Tess decides her own fate, which leads to her downfall as seen through her unwillingness to stand up to Alec, her telling Angel of her past, and by allowing Alec to remaster her. After many hardships to the Durbeyfield family, and the death of their horse, Tess takes it upon herself to do well for her striving family and make good relations with her thought to be long lost relatives. Once there, Tess quickly observes, and witnesses the sexual and dominating nature of Alec and could have very easily terminated their relationship. But Tess was very innocent at the time, and had the wellbeing of her family in the forefront of her mind. Tess life begins its downfall after meeting Alec, as she is constantly pursued, and taken advantage of in areas that made her uncomfortable.
“Tess, why do you always dislike my kissing you?””I suppose-because I dont love you. “”I havent offended you often by love-making?””You have sometimes” Tess chose to remain an acquaintance of Alecs even though his advances, and attitude towards her were unwarranted, and disliked. Tess inability to walk away from Alec when she knows she hates him leads to the pain and anguish she suffers at the hands of Alec when she is raped, and impregnated, and then again later on after she has been married to Angel. After some time, Tess begins to put her life back together and manages to get a job away from home on a dairy farm. It is here where Tess encounters Angel, the love of her life. Tess has the opportunity to leave her past behind her forever and go onward in happiness with Angel, but in order for this to be possible, she must keep her past to herself.
Tess returns home from the farm for the fall and tells her mom of her dilemma, about whether or not Angel should learn of her past. “But with respect to your question, Tess, J between ourselves, quite private but very strong, that on no account do you say a word of you Bygone Trouble to him. “. Tess mother clearly knows what is best for Tess, and pleads for her to never tell Angel, but the choice was for Tess to make.
“It cannot – O no, it cannot!” She jumped up joyfully at the hope. “No, it cannot be more serious, certainly,” she cried, “because tis just the same! I will tell you now. “The decision was made to tell Angel of her past, and Angel can not bear it. Tess made her second bad choice, and has now fallen down another level. This fall has left Tess in a bad state, and because of this Alec is able to lure her back to him.
Alec becomes aware of Tess unstable condition, and manages to exploit it even further through his power and wealth. Alec offered his wealth to her family, and Tess, with no other direction to turn breaks down, and accepts his offer. This decision proves to be dreadful, as Angel returns from Brazil to take Tess back only to find that he is to late. “Tess!” he said huskily, “can you forgive me for going away? Cant you – come to me? How do you get to be – like this?””It is too late, too late” “He has won me back to him. ” It crushes Tess internally to speak this way to Angel, but she is completely overwhelmed by the situation.
Her spiral down hits bottom, as she goes back upstairs to confront Alec with all the anger she has been hosting throughout their entire relationship. Tess then proceeds to find peace with herself and kills Alec in order to try and rekindle her love with Angel. Her happiness was short lived, as she chose to let the authorities take her away, where she was charged with murder and executed. In Thomas Hardys novel Tess of the Durbervilles Tess decides her own fate, which leads to her downfall as shown through her inability to take a stand with Alec, her telling Angel of her past, and by allowing Alec to remaster her. Although it may seem as if Tess was born cursed, her downfall was a direct result of the decisions that she made as her life unfolded. Tess was in control of her fate every step of the way, and had the opportunity to turn back at any point.
Tess choose not to turn back at any point on her downward spiral, and as a result was destroyed by a cruel and uncaring world which takes no prisoners, and never looks back.
