Tess of the d’Urbervilles

Name: Tess of the d’Urbervilles
Author: Thomas Hardy

A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented

Thomas Hardy

English · 1891 · Fiction

Hardy's novel about a young countrywoman in rural Wessex facing the judgments of her society, read for its landscape writing and moral seriousness.

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Explanatory Note to the First Edition
Epigraph
Phase the First: The Maiden
Chapter IOn an evening in the latter part of May a middle-aged man was walking…
Chapter IIThe village of Marlott lay amid the northeastern undulations of the…
Chapter IIIAs for Tess Durbeyfield, she did not so easily dislodge the incident…
Chapter IVRolliver’s inn, the single alehouse at this end of the long and…
Chapter VThe haggling business, which had mainly depended on the horse, became…
Chapter VITess went down the hill to Trantridge Cross, and inattentively waited…
Chapter VIIOn the morning appointed for her departure Tess was awake before…
Chapter VIIIHaving mounted beside her, Alec d’Urberville drove rapidly along the…
Chapter IXThe community of fowls to which Tess had been appointed as…
Chapter XEvery village has its idiosyncrasy, its constitution, often its own…
Chapter XIThe twain cantered along for some time without speech, Tess as she…
Phase the Second: Maiden No More
Chapter XIIThe basket was heavy and the bundle was large, but she lugged them…
Chapter XIIIThe event of Tess Durbeyfield’s return from the manor of her bogus…
Chapter XIVIt was a hazy sunrise in August. The denser nocturnal vapours…
Chapter XV“By experience,” says Roger Ascham, “we find out a short way by a…
Phase the Third: The Rally
Chapter XVIOn a thyme-scented, bird-hatching morning in May, between two and…
Chapter XVIIThe dairymaids and men had flocked down from their cottages and out…
Chapter XVIIIAngel Clare rises out of the past not altogether as a distinct…
Chapter XIXIn general the cows were milked as they presented themselves, without…
Chapter XXThe season developed and matured. Another year’s instalment of…
Chapter XXIThere was a great stir in the milk-house just after breakfast. The…
Chapter XXIIThey came downstairs yawning next morning; but skimming and milking…
Chapter XXIIIThe hot weather of July had crept upon them unawares, and the…
Chapter XXIVAmid the oozing fatness and warm ferments of the Froom Vale, at a…
Phase the Fourth: The Consequence
Chapter XXVClare, restless, went out into the dusk when evening drew on, she who…
Chapter XXVIIt was not till the evening, after family prayers, that Angel found…
Chapter XXVIIAn uphill and downhill ride of twenty-odd miles through a garish…
Chapter XXVIIIHer refusal, though unexpected, did not permanently daunt Clare. His…
Chapter XXIX“Now, who mid ye think I’ve heard news o’ this morning?” said…
Chapter XXXIn the diminishing daylight they went along the level roadway through…
Chapter XXXITess wrote a most touching and urgent letter to her mother the very…
Chapter XXXIIThis penitential mood kept her from naming the wedding-day. The…
Chapter XXXIIIAngel felt that he would like to spend a day with her before the…
Chapter XXXIVThey drove by the level road along the valley to a distance of a few…
Phase the Fifth: The Woman Pays
Chapter XXXVHer narrative ended; even its re-assertions and secondary…
Chapter XXXVIClare arose in the light of a dawn that was ashy and furtive, as…
Chapter XXXVIIMidnight came and passed silently, for there was nothing to announce…
Chapter XXXVIIIAs she drove on through Blackmoor Vale, and the landscape of her…
Chapter XXXIXIt was three weeks after the marriage that Clare found himself…
Chapter XLAt breakfast Brazil was the topic, and all endeavoured to take a…
Chapter XLIFrom the foregoing events of the wintertime let us press on to an…
Chapter XLIIIt was now broad day, and she started again, emerging cautiously upon…
Chapter XLIIIThere was no exaggeration in Marian’s definition of Flintcomb-Ash…
Chapter XLIVBy the disclosure in the barn her thoughts were led anew in the…
Phase the Sixth: The Convert
Chapter XLVTill this moment she had never seen or heard from d’Urberville since…
Chapter XLVISeveral days had passed since her futile journey, and Tess was…
Chapter XLVIIIt is the threshing of the last wheat-rick at Flintcomb-Ash farm. The…
Chapter XLVIIIIn the afternoon the farmer made it known that the rick was to be…
Chapter XLIXThe appeal duly found its way to the breakfast-table of the quiet…
Chapter LShe plunged into the chilly equinoctial darkness as the clock struck…
Chapter LIAt length it was the eve of Old Lady-Day, and the agricultural world…
Chapter LIIDuring the small hours of the next morning, while it was still dark…
Phase the Seventh: Fulfilment
Chapter LIIIIt was evening at Emminster Vicarage. The two customary candles were…
Chapter LIVIn a quarter of an hour Clare was leaving the house, whence his…
Chapter LVAt eleven o’clock that night, having secured a bed at one of the…
Chapter LVIMrs. Brooks, the lady who was the householder at The Herons and owner…
Chapter LVIIMeanwhile Angel Clare had walked automatically along the way by which…
Chapter LVIIIThe night was strangely solemn and still. In the small hours she…
Chapter LIXThe city of Wintoncester, that fine old city, aforetime capital of…

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Tess of the d’Urbervilles

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