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Bradley Talley

Winter

British Literature, Period 1

10, May, 2017

The Truth About Thomas Hardy

Women were deliberately and heavily oppressed in the 19th century, and heres why. In

the novel Tess of the dUrbervilles, Thomas Hardy addresses a key point in feminism by

showing the injustice that women suffered through in the nineteenth century. This is shown

through the main character of the novel, Tess. Tess is a woman who experiences the worst

hardships that life could ever bring. The fact that Thomas Hardy, a man, wrote this book in the

shoes of Tess presents evidence that real women in this time period were heavily censored. It is

beyond evident that women in the nineteenth century were practically silenced.

Going back to the late eighteen hundreds, women werent as appreciated or accepted as

well as they are today. A woman attempting to make a living for herself in the eighteen hundreds

without a husband was seen as moral panic, according to Lyn Pykett. In other words, a woman

trying to live her life without being married to a man was so unheard of and outlandish that it

caused people to panic and fear the fact that a woman could live on her own. It is true that

women werent properly recognized during this time period, especially writers. If a woman in

this time period were to write a book with a similar topic that Thomas Hardy did in Tess of the

dUrbervilles, she would be seen as mentally ill or even devious. Another way women were

categorized and criticized was that they were judged by their clothing and arranged into

societal constructions of gender and class(Scott, Fashion) depending on what their clothes were
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made of. This bias against women is one of the main reasons feminism was needed during the

eighteen hundreds.

Bain, George. Thomas Hardy. Wikipedia

This man, Thomas Hardy, can be considered a hero or a villain towards first wave

feminists. It can be argued that Hardy, instead of demeaning the voice of a woman, was actually

trying to promote better treatment of women. Some would say that Thomas Hardy took womens

hardships and philosophies and brought it forth to a recognizing public. Thomas Hardy, being a

well known male writer, was able to get his work read and analyzed thoroughly, versus and

female writers at this time. In better words, it can be argued that Thomas Hardy was actually

trying to help women by showing this type of tale to the public.

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It can definitely also be argued the other way around, Hardy is intentionally using the

story of a troubled woman to benefit himself. There seems to be more evidence pointing towards

Hardy supporting patriarchal ideals in order to gain profit by using the deadly tale of Tess rather

than supporting womankind. Hardy says that The question of silence and censorship arose

immediately upon publication. [He] contended that his heroine had been muted by what he calls

the merely vocal formulae of society" (Higonnet,Woman's Story), meaning that he is perfectly

aware that it was normal for women to be silenced and embraces this culture of oppression and

censorship. Thomas Hardy was not trying to challenge the perspective on how to treat women,

instead he embraced it to make an interesting novel. It is said that In the 1880s and 1890s

virulent misogyny infected all the arts (Dijkstra, Idols viii). (Daniel, Science) and this fact

does not exclude Hardy, he is a major culprit. Anyone can see with unreasonable doubt that

Thomas Hardy was using the unorthodox tale of Tess to benefit himself.

One might ask, May Thomas Hardy be supporting womens rights? After all, he did

write a novel the hardships of a woman. Arguing that Hardy isnt silencing women by writing

this novel is borderline ludicrous because of the amount of evidence pointing in the other

direction. There is no evidence showing that Hardy was writing this novel for the sake of

womankind. If Thomas Hardy was attempting to expose the inhumane treatment of women

during this time period, he went about it in the wrong way. Protesting or writing more

non-fiction books would have been a better way to show the real life issues from eyewitness

events. The way that Hardy expressed his idea of womens hardships was a skewed perspective

of his point of view, as a man, thus making Tess possess biases women would not normally

partake in during this time period. On top of being harshly ridiculed, taken advantage of, and
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abused, women were then used for an entertaining story by Thomas Hardy rather than being

properly recognized.

Its obvious that during this time period women were not properly recognized. There are

beyond enough examples for this including Hardy showing a womans relation to their

large-veined udders (Hardy 16.26) to a whole sex condensed into one typical form (Hardy

20.10). It is incredibly easy to understand exactly how women were treated in this time period

and it is unacceptable. A lot of women were taken advantage of and others were completely

disregarded, no matter how many revolutionary accomplishments they achieved. If a woman

created something innovative or productive, her husband would be recognized. Thomas Hardy is

a contributor to these generalizations and prejudices, mocking the lack of power women obtained

in the eighteen hundreds.

It is beyond simple for the reader to understand just how silenced women were in the

nineteenth century. These types of actions and limitations towards women are likely to carry

over into modern age and it is important to understand and reflect on older issues in order to

learn from mistakes and continue a productive and equal society.

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Works Cited

1. "The New Woman in Nineteenth-Century Literature." Nineteenth-Century Literature

Criticism, edited by Jessica Bomarito and Russel Whitaker, vol. 156, Gale, 2006. Literature

Resource Center,

go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GLS&sw=w&u=eldorado&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CH1410001

463&it=r&asid=381ff4ddce2f0e6a16c3b499ca7c5f03. Accessed 27 Apr. 2017.

2. "Fashion in Nineteenth-Century Literature." Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, edited

by Lynn M. Zott, vol. 128, Gale, 2004. Literature Resource Center,

go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GLS&sw=w&u=eldorado&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CH1410001

001&it=r&asid=0cd07c48a0303bb6cf66b8542e3abba4. Accessed 27 Apr. 2017.

3. Kincaid, James. "'You did not come': Absence, Death and Eroticism in Tess."

Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, edited by Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J.

Trudeau, vol. 229, Gale, 2010. Literature Resource Center,

go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GLS&sw=w&u=eldorado&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CH1420096

921&it=r&asid=9522cd0f16c86312f81381501286bcb5. Accessed 27 Apr. 2017.

Originally published in Sex and Death in Victorian Literature, edited by Regina Barreca,

Macmillan Press, 1990, pp. 9-31.

4. Higonnet, Margaret R. "A Woman's Story: Tess and the Problem of Voice."

Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, edited by Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J.

Trudeau, vol. 229, Gale, 2010. Literature Resource Center,

go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GLS&sw=w&u=eldorado&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CH1420096
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922&it=r&asid=d430551fdb111262e9e5dd80bbae4605. Accessed 27 Apr. 2017.

Originally published in The Sense of Sex: Feminist Perspectives on Hardy, edited by

Margaret R. Higonnet, University of Illinois Press, 1993, pp. 14-31.

5. Daniel, Clay. "Science, Misogyny, and Tess of the d'Urbervilles." Twentieth-Century Literary

Criticism, edited by Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Trudeau, vol. 229, Gale,

2010. Literature Resource Center,

go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GLS&sw=w&u=eldorado&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CH1420096

926&it=r&asid=4aad31ca273c6637937f5773a3ea8ab3. Accessed 27 Apr. 2017.

Originally published in Hardy Review, vol. 1, no. 1, July 1998, pp. 99-108.

6. Hardy, Thomas. Tess of the dUrbervilles. London: 1891. Print.