In Hardy’s Victorian novel, Tess of the d’urbervilles, one of the best and most popular works. In this work Hardy use a lot of symbols like objects, figures or colors to build suspense of character’s life as well as represent author’s idea of fatalism and criticism of the reality. Due to its specific age, the novel is blending of symbolism and realistism. This paper analyze a lot of Hardy’s symbols in order to make the readers understand the vicissitudes in Tess’s life in Victorian age.

Outline:

I. Introduction

II. Hardy’s concept of fatalism and the Victorian society have effect on Tess
2.1 Hard is both a naturalistic and a critical realist writer
2.2 The Victorian age is a transitional age of the past and the modern

III. There is Hardy’s criticism of the reality embodied in his symbols
3.1 Prince symbolizes Tess as the representative of the old rural world.
3.2 The d’Urbervilles family vault represents both the glory of life and the end of life.
3.3 Machine symbolizes the industrialized society.
3.4 Birds are symbolic of the freedom which people go after.

IV. There is Hardy’s fatalism embodied in his symbols.
4.1 Prince represents Tess as a victim of fate.
4.2 Brazil symbolizes a fantasyland where dreams come true.

V. Conclusion

Notes
1. Richard Carpenter,“ Tomas Hardy” in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism,Vol.18,(Kansas:Gale Research Company,1985)p.102
2. Dorothy Van Ghent, “On‘ Tess of the d’Urbervilles’,” in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism,Vol.18, (Kansas:Gale Research Company,1982) p.98
3. The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English,ed. Ian Ousby.(Hungary:Combridge University Press,and The Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited,1989)
4. Van Ghent,p.99.
5. Tomas Hardy, Tess of the d’Urbervilles,(London:Clay Ltd,1987)and all the following parenthetic pages in this thesis refer to the same book unless otherwise indicated
6. Thomas Hinde, “Accident and Coincidence in ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles’,”in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism,Vol.18,( Kansas: Gale Research Company,1982)p.116
7. Van Ghent,p.97
8. Thomas Hinde,p.115
9. Adventures in English Literature, ed. Safier,(Washington:Harcourt Brace Jovanovic, Inc.1979)











Bibliography
Carpenter, Richard. “Thomas Hardy”. In Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, Bol.18. Ed. Dannis Poupord. Kansas: Gale Research Company, 1985


Ghent, Dorothy V. “On ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles’,” In Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, Vol.18. Ed. Da nnis Poupord. Kansas: Gale Research Company, 1982.


Ian Ousby. Hungary: Cambridge University Press, and The Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited, The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English. Ed 1989.


Safier. Washingto: Harcourt Brace Jovanovic, Inc. Adventures in English Literature. Ed 1979.


Thomas Hinde,. “Accident and Coincidence in ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles’”. In Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, Vol.18. Ed. Da nnis Poupord. Kansas: Gale Research Company, 1982.


Wang zuoliang and others. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2002.


.Zhang Boxiang and others. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 1999.

Thomas Hardy (1940-1928) was born at Upper Bockhampton, son of a stonemason, whose family had known better days. Living at the turn of the century, Hardy is often regarded as a transitional writer. In him we see the influence from both the last and the modern. Most of his novels are set in Wessex, the fictional primitive and crude rural region which is really the home place he both loves and hates. They are known for the vivid description of the vicissitudes of people who live in an agricultural setting menaced by the forces of invading capitalism. His works, known as “novels of character and environment,” are representative of him as both a naturalistic and a critical realist writer. As the last Victorian writer, Hardy showed his bitter and sharp criticism and even open challenge of the irrational, hypocritical and unfair Victorian institutions, conventions and morals in his Wessex novel. On the other hand, he owed the people’s misfortune to some kind of mysterious forces beyond the individual’s command. Tess of the d’Urbervilles, one of the best and most popular works of Hardy, just embodies these two characteristics of Hardy’s writings. In this novel, Hardy planted a lot of symbols to reveal the fate of characters and the cruelty of the world, depending on the social background and his own experience. Some of these symbols are kind of omens, which prefigured the main characters’ life, especially the tragedy of Tess—‘A Pure Woman’, Richard Carpenter, in his brilliant essay, points out that “Tess is a fine novel from the realistic point of view as well as from the symbolic. ”① And some critics see it as a novel full of symbolism of “which we are constantly aware from beginning to end.”②
This paper is a study of the use of symbolism in Tess. It begins with a brief introduction to Thomas Hardy and the specific Victorian society, which affects Hardy a lot. And through the analysis of these symbols, readers can figure out the fate of the character is pre-determinedly tragic influenced by the realistic world.