Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891), written by Thomas Hardy is late Victorian novel that engulfs the idea of fate and chance that governs human life. Fate and chance become an important element of Harry’s writing because of the impact of Darwin’s theory and Victorians felt that human life is governed by fate and chances.
In the story, the fate and chance play an important role that leads to the tragic fall of Tess. Tess’s innate flaw or hammartia also resulted in the tragedy of her own life. Hardy has put forth that Tess is an innocent woman and she is naive enough to believe the Machiavellian characters who manipulated her leading her to the tragedy. Her innate flaw also resulted in making choices that could have changed the course of her life but the circumstances and situation also made her to submit herself to her flaws.
The role of fate is evident in the beginning of the novel. Tess’s father thinks that he is the descendent of the mansion of d’Urberville and he decides to send his daughter Tess to live in the mansion. In reality, Mrs. d’Urberville husband Simon Stokes change his name to d’Urberville after he retires. It indicates the role of fate that governs the life of Durbeyfield family where it seems the fortune of the family cannot be attained as such due to fate.
The most important incident that governs the fate and life in the novel is when Tess is physically assaulted by Alec. She lives with the sexual assault and she gives birth to a child named Sorrow that dies after he is born. This incident left a remarkable impression to Tess’s life because it continues to control her life. The role of chances also play side by side arguably and one can also observe the tragic flaw in the character of Tess’s character as well.
Tess meets Angel Clare while working at Talbothays, they grow closer together and Tess decides to write a letter to angel about her past with Alec and the incident. She slips the letter under the door but it slides into the carpet and Angel never gets to read the letter. When Angel tells her about his past, Tess forgives him but Angel is unable to forgive Tess’s past and he leaves her while boarding a ship to Brazil. The scene clearly projects the role of fate where Tess’s life is at the expense of her past with Alec and it governs her present relationship with Angel. One can also note the role of chances if Tess did not disclose his past to Angel then she would have been married to Angel Clare but she did it because of her honesty and purity. Her honesty and purity is the tragic flaw of Tess and it results in the leaving of Angel Clare to Brazil.
However, the role of fate and chances can be seen again in the later stage of the novel. When Alec meets Tess again, Tess decides to stay from him. After hearing her mother’s illness and the decease of her father, Alec returns to offer help to Tess. Tess writes many letters to Angel to return. Here, the role of fate is situated beautifully where the situation of Tess makes her vulnerable and Alec manipulates her into marriage declaring that Angel would never return back to her. It is her purity and innocence again that made her to be susceptible to accept the offer of marriage and considering the situation, Angel returns very late. This made the situation for Tess to be very vulnerable and she has no choice but to accept the marriage.
Critically, one can see the role of chances presented if Angel returns back fast then he would be with Tess immediately but he fails to return fast. The other chance is if Tess learn from her previous experience with Alec and wait for Angel to return, then she would be with Angel as well. One can observe that Tess’s innate flaw results in the wreckage of a chance that she has to be with Angel. The tragedy of Tess at the end of the novel is caused due to the two man including Alec and Angel who forces her to kill Alec. When Angel returns back to meet Tess, she feels betrayed and she stabs Alec to death resulting in an execution. One cannot blame Alec alone itself because if Angel accepted the past of Tess then it would have been different in the beginning itself. If Tess also learn from his previous incident with Alec , she would have been with Angel happily and she would not have been in a situation to kill Alec and in a prison waiting to be executed.
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