THE SYMBOLIC MEANINGS OF THE SETTINGS IN TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES
Foreign Language Department Wenzhou Teachers' College
Author: Chen Xiangjie
Supervisor: Li Xinde
[Abstract] Setting is the essential part of a novel. In Tess of the D'Urbervilles,
settings are not only the background but also have the symbolic meanings which
imply the main character, Tess' nature, mind and situation. The changing of setting
suggests the changing of Tess' fate. This article will analyze the symbolic meanings
of the settings.
[Key words] setting symbolic meaning Tess
Introduction
Tess of the D'urbervilles is one of the novels called "Characters and Environment"
of Thomas Hardy. For many readers, Hardy's crowning achievement is his creation
of Tess Durbeyfield who has become one of the most memorable women characters
in all of literature. She is once child and woman, strong and fragile, masterful
and timid. She exists in time while she remains timeless. To stress Tess' tragic
fate and her personality, Hardy uses a lot of depiction of the settings. Through
these settings and their symbolic meanings, readers can predict Tess' fate and
have a more profound understanding of the whole novel. The author of this paper
will analyze the symbolic meanings of the settings from the following aspects:
the color, the bird imagery, the places, the seasons and the natural sceneries.
Summary
Setting in Tess is not merely a backdrop against which the action takes place,
but is rather an integral part of the book. The descriptions of setting make an
important contribution to our understanding of the characters and the action.
All the settings in the novel strengthen the point that Tess is a tragic character.
The symbolic meanings of the setting lead us to the miserable fate of Tess. On
the whole, Tess of the D'uebervilles is full of the sorrow of aesthetic feeling
and existence. She fulfills her perfect but short life through agony.
Notes :
1.Thomas Hardy, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Oxford University Press,1994, P20.
2. Page references to this book in my following paper are to be given in brackets.
Sources :
Ackerman, Robert. Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Simon & Schuster,
1962.
Brooks, Jean R. Thomas Hardy: The Poetic Structure, Cornell University Press,
1971.
Bulter, Lance St. John. Thomas Hardy, Cambridge University Press, 1978.
Hardy, Thomas. Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Oxford University Press,1994.
http://www.prestigeweb.com/hardy/critiques/tess.html
哈代(英)，《苔丝》吴笛译，浙江文艺出版社，1991。
曾令富，《象征与神话原理: "德伯家的苔丝"中的环境描写》，《外国文学评论》，1994年第四期。
