The concept of courtly love in literature blossomed in France during the middle ages. Stories of knights, damsels in distress, and low status beauties marrying upper class noblemen become not only a form of escape, but a beacon of hope for those born to less fortunate families. This sexual revolution of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, frowned upon the church but allowed none the less, refined the art of love making into a series of tropes which came to be defined in the late medieval period as chivalric love.
In Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Hardy creates a classic love triangle between Alec, Angel and Tess. H.M. Daleski in his criticism Thomas Hardy and Pardoxes of Love states:
"The typical Hardy plot places a female protagonist in a love triangle with two male protagonists who are portrayed as polar opposites. The woman contradicting a general view of her as victim is always granted the freedom of choice of a marriage partner. She invariably makes the wrong choice, which leads to a bad marriage and disastrous sexual relationships."
How do we see this thesis fulfilled in Tess? In what ways are the male protagonists polar opposites? Does this criticism work for the second Hardy novel you are reading in your Literature Circles?
