The Circularity of Life in Tess of the D'Urbervilles

The Circularity of Life in Tess of the D'Urbervilles

Thesis: Hardy is concerned with the natural cycles of the world, and the disruption caused by convention, which usurps nature's role. He combats convention with the voice of the individual and the continuing circularity of nature.

Phase the First: The Circles of Life

The circularity of life is a major theme of the novel. Hardy treats it as the natural order of things. The structure of the novel reflects this reigning image of the circle at several levels. First, the use of seasons to denote the passage of time implies circularity rather than a linear world-view. Years are shown as repetitions with variations rather than as new creations. Tess herself views time in this way, as she reflects on the various recurring dates which mark events in her life. "She philosophically noted dates as they came past in the revolution of the year; the disastrous night of her undoing at Trantidge with its dark background of the Chase; also the dates of the baby's birth and death; also her own birthday; and every other day individualized by incidents in which she had taken some share. She suddenly thought one afternoon... that there was yet another date, of greater importance to her than those; that of her own death" (149). In the novel, the past and the future are merely points on the cycle which nature designs. Reveals the destructive aspect of this realization to Angel when she declares her disinclination to study history which will only tell that she is "one of a long row only... just like thousands' and thousands'" (182). Secondly, the plot itself is not only circular, but contains a myriad of smaller circles within it. The main circle of the plot is from the discovery of the D'Urberville Tombs to Tess's death. Within this circle revolve others. The life and death of Sorrow is a small circle within the larger one. Alec D'Urberville's repentance and recantation form another. Clare's and Tess's physical journeys towards and away from and back again to each other represent more circles. Hardy's consistent use of these circles in the plot reinforces their importance to the theme. The diction of the novel seems designed to forcefully remind the reader of this theme. At the start of the novel Tess and her companions dance in a circle on the green; at it's end, she stops to rest at Stonehenge.