Premium Content Tess: A Bold Examination of the Double Standard in Victorian Culture
By Christian Donlon - July 30, 2002
Thomas Hardy's Tess portrays a central character who is at the mercy of both circumstance and fate. Tess, by Victorian definition, is a fallen woman and, as such, not accountable for her own fate. Numerous critics -- Rosemary Morgan, Norman Page, and Terrence Wright among others -- have argued that Tess is to be forgiven or, at the very least…
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