Mere Mortals Book Reviews

Mere Mortals Book Reviews


Misfortune & Injustice Can Strike Down The Best Of Us | Tess Of The d'Urbervilles (Thomas Hardy)

December 22, 2022

At the of it all, there is not much to do other than pity the heroine of this tale.

'Tess Of The d'Urbervilles' by Thomas Hardy is a realistic story of a continually unfortunate country girl set in Victorian England. Tess Durbeyfield (a poor milkmaid) is wronged by Alec d'Urberville and finds love with the gentleman Angel Clare, but is still haunted by her past. It explores a set of weaving themes related to poverty, religion, morality and class divides.

I summarised the book as follows. "It's a brilliant but ultimately hauntingly sad book. Every break Tess gets serves to punish her even further. The blame for her misfortune is mixed across people & society but I think there's no doubt that an injustice occurred. There isn't much to do from this but examine your own moral precepts and err on the side of compassion with others."

I hope you have a fantastic day wherever you are in the world. Kyrin out!

Timeline:
(0:00) - Intro
(0:33) - Synopsis
(4:20) - Misfortune: Fates worse than death
(11:29) - Injustice: The intolerable sorrow
(16:40) - Observations/Takeaways
(20:27) - Summary

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