An Exploration of the Fatalistic Philosophy Highlighted in Tess of d'urbervilles

An overview of Exploration of the Fatalistic Philosophy Highlighted in Tess of d'Urbervilles

 

According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, fatalistic refers to a belief in the notion that “events are decided by fate and that one cannot control them” or prevent “them from happening” (558). A person who terms himself as a fatalist believes that the circumstances of one’s life are beyond one’s control and hence, it is fate rather than free will that determines the outcome of one’s actions or the course of one’s life. In his essay, Thomas Hardy’s Philosophical Outlook, Andrzej Diniejko claims that Hardy was a fatalist “who was aware that man's life is controlled by some inexplicable external force, which he sometimes calls” fate (http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/hardy/diniejko3.html). David Cecil also maintains that Hardy’s novels highlight, “A struggle between a man on the one hand and, on the other, an omnipotent and indifferent Fate…That is Hardy’s interpretation of the human situation…the conflict is not, as in most novels, between one man and another, or between man and an institution” (qtd. in Dixit and Saxena 37). On the contrary, the individual in Hardy’s books struggles “against impersonal forces, the forces conditioning his fate” (qtd. in Dixit and Saxena 37). The all-pervasive role of fate in triggering and magnifying the tragic ordeal experienced by Tess and other characters depicted in Tess of the d’Urbervilles is discussed below:

1)    It is due to some mysterious working of fate that Tess and her parents remain unaware of the fact that Alec and his mother are not authentic d’Urbervilles but are rather Stoke-d’Urbervilles and have merely assumed the name “d’Urberville” to elevate their social status. It is ignorance of this fact that leads John and Joan Durbeyfield to compel Tess to accept a position at Alec and his mother’s poultry-farm – a position that ultimately leads to Tess’s unfortunate abuse and sets off a chain of unpleasant challenges.

2)      Another way in which fate intercedes in Tess’s happiness is that Angel, despite observing Tess at the May Day Dance (Chapter 2) does not ask her to dance with him and therefore, remains unacquainted with her. Through some cruel design or conspiracy of fate, Tess meets Alec instead and becomes a victim of his malicious intentions. This cruel intervention is highlighted in the following passage:

 “In the ill-judged execution of the well-judged plan of the things they call seldom produces the comer, the man to love rarely coincides with the hour for loving. Nature does not often say 'See!' to her poor creature at a time when seeing can lead to happy doing; or reply 'Here!' to a body's cry of 'Where?' till the hide-and-seek has become an irksome outworn game. We may wonder whether at the acme and summit of the human progress these anachronisms will become corrected by a finer intuition, a closer interaction of the social machinery than that which now jolts us round and along; but such completeness is not to be prophesied, or even conceived as possible…maladroit delay sprang anxieties, disappointments, shocks, catastrophes and passing-strange destinies” (Hardy 55).

1    3)  Hardy also portrays fate as an unseen, non-benevolent force that is indifferent to humankind’s hopes, desires, needs, and suffering. For instance, during Tess’s abuse by Alec d’Urberville, fate conveniently remains oblivious to her plight and does not ordain a “guardian angel” to protect her (Hardy 89). On the contrary, it almost seems as if Tess’s assault is sanctioned by fate. Hardy reinforces this “fatalistic” stance by stating, “It was to be.” There lay the pity of it. An immeasurable social chasm was to divide our heroine's personality thereafter from that previous self of hers who stepped from her mother's door to try her fortune at Trantridge poultry-farm” (Hardy 89). Thus, although fate instigates Tess’s tragedy, it does not offer her any remedy or consolation.
     4) Hardy also depicts fate as an unpredictable, elusive force that gives rise to tragic encounters and coincidences. These unforeseen occurrences thwart human will thereby limiting the scope of possibilities for an individual. For instance, once Tess decides to determine her own destiny and starts her life afresh at Talbothays Dairy, the bliss of this new phase of her life is magnified by Angel’s proposal. However, fate or the unseen sinister force that lurks behind every tragedy casts a shadow on Tess’s happiness through an unanticipated encounter between Angel’s father and Alec d’Urberville. Thus, in a way, the overarching power of fate ensures that Tess is never able to escape her unfortunate past. As a result, her life becomes an entangled web of fear and minimal opportunities as she herself exclaims to Angel at one point: “Just a sense of what might have been with me! My life looks as if it had been wasted for want of chances!” (Hardy 141). This sense of Tess’s unfulfilled potential is also affirmed at another point when it is stated that Tess “had hoped to be a teacher at the school, but the fates seemed to decide otherwise” (Hardy 60).

     5)  Cosmic Irony is another way in which Hardy highlights the unjust, malevolent force of fate.  “Cosmic Irony or the irony of fate” is one “in which God, or destiny, or the universal process, is represented as though deliberately manipulating events to frustrate and mock the protagonist. Cosmic irony is manifested through a host of outcomes opposite to the desires of the characters.” (Saxena & Dixit, 2001, p. 37). For instance, “In Tess of the d’Urbervilles, the heroine” loses “her virtue because of her innocence, then loses her happiness because of her honesty, finds it again only by murder, and having been briefly happy, is hanged” (37 Dixit). This realization that her happiness lies beyond her control is conveyed by Tess in the following phrase: “I don't quite feel easy,” she said to herself. “All this good fortune may be scourged out of me afterward by a lot of ill. That's how Heaven mostly does” (Hardy 223).

      6)  The inevitable force of fate ruins not only Tess’s life but the lives of her friends as well. After Tess’s wedding, Izzy becomes melancholic, Marian takes to drinking, and Retty Priddle tries to commit suicide. Tess attributes their tragic responses to the workings of mischievous fate and entertains the following thoughts: "They were simple and innocent girls on whom the unhappiness of unrequited love had fallen; they had deserved better at the hands of Fate” (Hardy 241).

    7)   With respect to the invincible fatalistic power, Hardy suggests that peace can only be ensured by ultimately surrendering oneself to one’s fate. In her life-long struggle with fate, it is not Tess but rather fate that emerges as the triumphant force. Tess however, exercises the minimal power granted to her by giving up all resistance and by embracing her unfortunate destiny. This is epitomized through her brief, peaceful sleep at the Stonehenge, moments prior to her arrest. She harbors no complaints and merely says: “I am ready” (417).

The hoisting of the black flag highlights her execution and is followed by the following thought-provoking remarks by Hardy: “Justice” was done, and the President of the Immortals (in Aeschylean phrase) had ended his sport with Tess. And the d’Urberville knights and dames slept on in their tombs unknowing. Justice hoisting of the black flag” (419).  This statement signifies that fate has reduced Tess from an individual to a mere pawn or a plaything. Hence, the fatalistic power in Tess “checkmates the narrator at every turn and…in the end, wins the game” (Hamann 7).  Thus, even though Tess encounters a peaceful death and transforms her perspective toward the end, she is unable to alter the final decree or verdict of fate. 

Credit goes to Ma'am Saima Najib

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