Chivalry Is Not Dead
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?
This is how you would sum up Tess using a paragraph instead of 315 pages. Tess, being the female protagonist, had to choose between two very different men; Alec, a nobody who became high and mighty and is her "natural" husband, and Angel, a man who left the church to become a farmer and the one she wants to be with. This criticism works for the Mayor of Castorville (so far) until the last sentence. Elizabeth-Jane has to choose between her crush Farfrea, who her father banned her from seeing, and Elizabeth's "step" father, who she wants to please.
ReplyDeleteErikka so you agree Alec and Angle are polar opposites. They both kinda rape here, just Angle does it mentally. Wouldn't that make them similar? Also in my book Jude, he is a guy. Not the strongest/ manliest but nevertheless a guy. Yet I do have to agree that the triangles, seem to have a member of relation to the main person in the web such as: Eliza having her step dad to Jude's cousin and then to Tess's cousin.
DeleteIn Tess Alec would be Tess's love that she is forced to have, through her family and social interpretation, while Angle would be Tess's courtly love, because she is not gaining any riches from him. Although it could be argued that Angle is not her courtly love because he does come from a family of wealth and does retreat to it for the purposes of going to Brazil and knows he can fall back on it whenever he chooses, even if that is when his wife asks of him. This does not work for Jude so far because he is a male, has only one female partner, and he has not yet married her. All this could change as I continue the book though.
ReplyDeleteThis thesis is fulfilled in Tess a number of ways, however it is revoked by the plot of Jude. In Tess, the protagonist was a woman (Tess herself), she is given the love triangle options of Alec and Angel, and she is free to pick between them. They are very different; Alec is forceful and controlling, Angel is more respectful of her and what she is feeling. Alec is simple and "caveman" esque, Angel is a member of the clergy and is highly educated. On the surface, the two men are polar opposites. Tess can pick whichever one she wants, however she ends up making the wrong choice by going back to Alec later in the book, even though Angel is certainly the man she wants. Of course, the choices she made weren't completely up to her (getting raped for example), so that doesn't completely follow the thesis, however the fact that she chooses to bear the guilt for all of this is her choice and it's stupid. That leads to her getting executed after she kills Alec.
ReplyDeleteIn Jude though, the thesis is immediately disproved because Jude is a man and not a woman. Also, where Tess seemed to have freedom of choice in her partners, Jude has not so far. He had to marry the woman he did because of his social status. He can't marry the woman he wants because she's his cousin and is already married. He has his lot in life; he is not the victim of his own poor choices. He is simply a victim of bad luck and awful circumstances as a child.
I completely agree with Kraig's response; Alec and Angel are very different and the choice (of who she wants to be with) is generically all up to Tess (aside from the natural vs matrimonial partner), and yet she still ends up making the wrong choice by going back to Alec. Angel and Alec are pretty much opposite...Angel is kind and loving, while Alec is a controlling and devious rapist.
DeleteIn Mayor of Casterbridge, the thesis is slightly disproved, as the type of love being seeked out is not the same as in Tess or Jude. Emily Jane is vying for the affection of her father but she is also falling in love with Farfrae and she has a choice to make. Emily is not going to try to marry her father, so Daleski's summary is flawed in that sense, however, the conflict between choosing one's love over the other will, in choosing Farfrae, will invariably lead to "disastrous consequences".
Kraig this is good stuff but, the triangles do involve the same feeling of having your cousin in the web. Do you think there is intended incest to mock the Blue bloods? Or just limited amount of people in your social life so you are drawn to them?
DeleteThe characters are in ways similar. The characters are presented in different ways, but the way they are towards Tess is very similar. Alec was presented as a unwanted man where as Angel was more of a prominent choice and best suitor. In the end though, Angel turns to be just like Alec when he leaves Tess because of her imperfections.
ReplyDeleteIn Far From the Madding Crowd, the marriages are still based upon which two people will be best suited for each other when it came to economics and social status. Bathsheba turned Gabriel down because she said that it would not be most socially acceptable because he is a farmer in debt to another. The marriages are still being forced upon old ways of thinking and not separated from the true hidden feelings that these people do posses.
I can just disagree with Dalseki from the start. I agree with everyone that Tess does have to choose between two males that are complete opposites. Alec doesn't respect society and the values of society (he gets Tess pregnant and they're not married) while Angel wants to follow society (upset when he finds out about Alec, even though it wasn't Tess' fault). But Daleski says "the woman contradicting a general view of her as a victim." Tess is definitely the victim. Through almost all of the book she has these "fated" things happen to her that weren't really her fault. I think this continues to Mayor of Casterbridge. Both Susan (the wife) and Elizabeth Jane (the daughter) are sold. I would say this classifies them both as the victim. Elizabeth Jane does have to choose between two different men, but the middle part of Daleski's criticism doesn't work with either of these novels.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kraig. This thesis is certainly exemplified in Tess. Tess, the female protagonist has to choose between two males who, on the surface at least, are completely different. Alec, the man that is her "natural husband", is controlling of Tess. He rapes her and is rough around the edges so to say. Angel is the man that she wants to be with. He is sweet, well educated, and a member of the clergy. And while she could be with either one, she picks Angel. But we find out that while Alec and Angel are different, they're not polar opposites. So this doesn't follow the thesis completely but it does for the most part, especially the last sentence when Daleski says "...she invariably makes the wrong choice, which leads to a bad marriage and disastrous consequences."
ReplyDeleteIn The Mayor of Casterbridge, the thesis is also followed (at least so far). There is a female protagonist, Elizabeth Jane, and she has to chose between her father and Farfrae. She could either be with Farfrae, the man she loves, and defy her father or not be with him and please her "Step" father.
In Tess, the love triangle that Daleski mentions in his thesis is between Tess, the female protagonist, and Angel and Alec, the two male protagonists. The polar opposite piece comes from Hardy's beliefs on the natural Pagan world and the man-made Victorian Society; Alec is Tess's natural husband and Angel is Tess's man-made husband. Tess is considered a victim from what Alec did too her and because she has too choice between the two of them, one who she loves but leaves her and the other who she hates but offers to take care of her and her family. Tess actually picks both of them and they both ended up being a bad marriage; so, this disproves his thesis because with either choice it would have been the wrong one. She picked Angel first and that ended up with him leaving her to go to Brazil and getting ill and her working in hard conditions in order to live. After that she ends up being forced (so wasn't really freedom of choice) to pick Alec because her family was in dire need of help and Alec convinced her that Angel wasn't coming back. This ended up in Alec's and Tess's death, which could be considered a bad marriage to some. Daleski thesis does work for Tess if you don't think about it too much, but once you think about the book, it fails to work.
ReplyDeleteSo far in my book, Far From the Madding Crowd, I don't think this thesis works either. There is a female and male protagonist in this but you could argue with the number of each and the triangle part. I wouldn't say Oak and Boldwood are polar opposites, the only difference that I can think of now is their wealth differences. Bathsheba isn't a victim of anything and she does have the choice of who she wants to marry, but she doesn't want to marry either of them. I'm not far in enough to know who she picks and why it turns out bad. This thesis may end up working, but for now it doesn't.
I agree with Brian. If you look only on the surface of Tess then you will see that the thesis seems to fit perfectly. A woman and two men between which she has to choose. Her life continually goes in the wrong direction and there is nothing that she can do about it; therefore making her the victim. If you delve deeper into Tess you see as Brian said that no choice is a good choice. Either way Tess is not going to benefit. Tess never really makes a true choice. As far as my book goes, which like Brian is Far From the Madding Crowd, I have not read enough to see if the thesis fits. I have noticed that again as in the other books there is a woman who must choose between two men, but I do not know where this will lead her yet.
DeleteI agree with both Brian and Alanna. Although Tess is said to have a choice between good and bad, both are inevitably bad choices; nor does Tess really have a choice at all. Tess is said to have a choice, but in reality her annoyingly fickle personality and the situation of her family, gives her no choice at all on who she can be with. Honestly, I think Tess brings all of the bad things on herself all on her own, disagreeing with the love triangle theory that she will inevitably choose the wrong man no matter what because of her ¨Freedom of choice".
DeleteIn Return of the Native, the love triangle does not fit at all. Like we discussed in class, its more like a love diamond. Not only is there two main female protagonists but there is this whole mess of who is in love and who is getting married. Eustacia at first is in love with Wildeve, but then she decides not to marry him because he is supposed to marry Thomasin. Then Thomasin was supposed to marry Clym, but then she doesnt cause he leaves for paris so then shes supposed to marry Wildeve who is in love with Eustacia. Like honestly, this is just a messed up book. This in a way would sort of make sense for the love triangle with Eustacia, needing to choose between Clym, who is essentially the golden boy, and Wildeve, who is basically the player of the entire novel. If it werent for Eustacia, the love triangle theory would not fit this book at all.
I agree with Lily completely. Although Tess of the D'urbervilles contains the love triangle Daleski describes, mostly, Tess' choices are both bad ones. Although Tess technically has a choice she really doesn't because what happens is fated to happen, due to her family's situation.
DeleteI also agree with Lily about Return of the Native. If Eustacia wasn't in this book it wouldn't really have the love triangle concept. The love "triangle" in our book really consists of like 5 or 6 people. Eustacia marries Clym, but loves Wildeve, even though Thomasin is married to Wildeve. Then Eustacia has her stalker, Charley to deal with. We also have Diggory who is in love with Thomasin, but also wants what is best for her in her marriage with Wildeve. All in all this book is just a big mess when it comes to relationships.
I completely agree with Erikka's comment, "this is exactly how you sum up Tess in a paragraph rather than 315 pages." The plot of Tess fits every part of this very generic summary. Tess, the female protagonist, does indeed find herself in a love triangle between two men, Alec and Angel, who are portrayed as polar opposites. To society, Alec is the "successful" man from a wealthy family, whereas Angel is the struggling farmer apprentice who has disappointed his family in numerous ways. On the inside, Alec loves the idea of being with Tess - or more specifically, hates the idea of NOT being with her. Alec cannot believe that Tess refuses to love him; she's the poor girl from the next town over, and he's "royalty" - he 'should' be able to make her love him. He abuses his wealth and power and tries to force Tess to love him. Angel on the other hand, truly does love Tess for who she is, or rather, who she portrays herself to be. He doesn't "force" Tess to love him, but rather, tries to prove his love to her. Tess does have the freedom of choice when it comes to a marriage partner, and she does make the wrong decision. To the reader, it seems as if marrying Angel would be the "right choice" as he loves and respects Tess more than Alec does. This choice is clearly wrong though, as Angel cannot accept the fact that she gave birth to Alec's baby. Angel does't want anything to do with Tess for the remainder of the novel, and ends up marrying her sister. The consequences are truly disastrous and lead to the murder of Alec and the trial and succeeding death of Tess. In The Mayor of Casterbridge, Elizabeth Jane has a choice to make too. She must decide whether she values reconnecting with her father (who sold her in a drunken episode 18 years earlier) more than being with Farfrae, a possible husband. While the choice of Elizabeth Jane does not revolve around which man she would rather marry, she can still only "be" with one man. I don't know about the disastrous consequences... but I can only imagine.
ReplyDeleteI'd have to agree with previous comments. This thesis is exactly portrayed in Tess and I could probably even go further to say that this thesis was extracted from the love plot depicted in Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Tess obviously takes on the role of the female protagonist, appearing to be victimized (other than in her choice of a husband) who is forced into a love triangle that includes two male characters, opposite in manner. Here, we have Alec and Angel. Alec is the more frank and vulgar of the two while Angel portrays a rather nurturing and caring nature (that is, until he finds out the truth about Tess) not typically found in a man of that period.
ReplyDeleteThe similar concept can be seen in Far From the Madding Crowd, with the exception of an additional male character. Bathsheba represents the female protagonist in the novel. She is put into a position where she must choose one of three men to be her husband, and she of course marries the wrong man, Troy, who is somewhat the equivalent to Bathsheba. Then there is William and Gabriel. All three men really have contradicting personalities to one another. Troy is reckless and irresponsible, William is obsessive and a murderer, and Gabriel depicts a perfect choice in husband, especially for Bathsheba.
This is exactly portrayed in Tess. She Is caught up between Angel and Alec, Angel being the good choice and Alec the bad. She first ends up making her mistakes with Alec. Because of them she finds it hard to be with Angel, who would of been perfect for her if her past never happened. She created a huge mess trying to fix what she had done. Angel was good to her, and truly loved her. He did everything the right way. Alec never cared for her and just did whatever he wanted. The only time he offered to marry was only because he felt bad for what he did.
ReplyDeleteIn Far From the Madding Crowd,Bathsheba find herself in an even bigger mess. She gets caught up between William, troy, and eventually Gabriel. William wasn't a horrible choice, but naturally she finds herself married to Troy, who wasn't honest and basically just used her money. Gabriel was so dedicated to helping her and protecting her when they weren't even married. Both Tess and Far from the madding crowd has similar stories of a helpless girl falling for the jerk.
I'd have to partially agree with the previous posts. The "love-triangle", if you will can clearly be seen. Tess, the lovely farm girl who has been through so much trouble in her short life has to chose between her "natural" lover, Alec and her conventional, Victorian lover, Angel. I can also see how Daleski would view the male protagonists as polar opposites. Alec is the physical, forcible lover who wants to control Tess. Angel is the caring, gentle lover who wants to love Tess for who she is (or what he thinks she is). But, I can't say I personally view Alec and Angel as polar opposites. Sure, most people view Alec as the horrendous, forceful, and controlling man who raped Tess and only wants to assert himself upon her. But, Angel in my opinion was no better. Angel violated Tess mentally and emotionally just as Alec violated Tess physically (and mentally and emotionally too I suppose). I'd argue that Angel's rejection of Tess after discovering her past was almost influential and harmful to Tess's future as was the rape. I suppose my overall point is, I agree that a love triangle is present, but I can't support the claim that Angel and Alec are polar opposites.
ReplyDeleteI also disagree with Daleski's statement that "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." Simply put, I don't believe Tess really had a choice in choosing her partner. Alec forced her to Angel, and Angel forced her back to Alec, and then back to Angel again after Tess decided that killing Alec, and therefore herself, would benefit Angel, Liza-Lu, herself, and society the most. Confusing right? That's the point. Hardy forces choices upon Tess through "fate" and gives the illusion that Tess is making choices, when society is forcing itself upon her life.
Contrarily, in Jude this thesis, like Kraig said, can be immediately disproved. Jude, a male protagonist is the middle of a love triangle between his wife Arabelle and his cousin Sue. Jude also appears to be indecisive of his choice in a partner. He cannot leave his with Arabelle because he feels bound by her, but he also is very deeply in love his cousin. The triangle exists, but Jude also appears to be in love with his own suffering. So, I guess according to Daleski, the triangle is reversed but, Jude is stilled obsessed with his own suffering.
This thesis is fulfilled in Tess, kind of, although to me Alec is not really a valid choice. But what happens between them does have disastrous results. Angel is always the man she wants to be with, yet because of the incident with Alec, she cannot really have him. In Far From the Madding Crowd this is true, with three choices rather than two. Boldwood is driven crazy by his love for her while Troy is a jerk to her pretty much throughout the whole story. The two are polar opposites, with Gabriel falling as a happy medium- he loves her in a healthy and positive way, unlike the others.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIn some ways I agree with the thesis, in the sense that Tess has to choose between two men. One who is construed as mean and awful, and one who is construed as, well, an angel.
ReplyDeleteBut are Angel and Alec really that different? Both of them put Tess through some kind of trauma, whether it be emotional or physical. Alec raped her, and then apologized and tried to make things right by asking to marry her and flirting with her and just generally being nice. Angel, on the other hand, started out by being kind and sweet and loving her and then once he found out about her past, he turned on her and emotionally abused her and left her by herself, with nothing. So yes, the two men are different. But only because they have each others actions backwards. Alec starts out evil and then he's a preacher and is kind to Tess. Angel starts out kind to Tess, and they fall in love, and then he turns on her the second he hears about her being raped and leaves her in his dust.
In some ways they're similar because they both caused Tess a lot of pain. In some ways they're different because they have opposite actions towards Tess.
I can see where everyone else is coming from, but at the same time i'm still on the fence.
As far as Jude the Obscure goes, the whole thesis is basically thrown into the dirt and stomped on. Starting with the fact that Jude is not female, and he's not choosing between two men. He's barely choosing between two women in the book, because with Sue and him it's on and off again. He marries Arabella, against his will I might add, and then that gets ruined because he loves Sue and Arabella's in Australia anyway and then Sue loves him and then Sue doesn't want to marry him and then she does and they almost do and then they decide not to and it's just a whole lot of whiplash.
ReplyDeleteIn the end (spoiler alert) everyone dies except for Arabella who goes off with some random guy the second Jude dies because she never really loved him and he never really loved her and all that jazz. And Jude never really had a choice anyway, unlike Tess who deliberately chose incorrectly.
So as far as Jude the Obscure goes, this thesis is officially MYTHBUSTED.
I would have to agree with the agreement of previous posts. This theory of the general plot of Hardy's novels is exemplified in Tess of the d'Urbevilles, she is a female protagonist who has to choose between two different men, she undoubtedly chooses the wrong one of course, which later comes to ruin her life. She contradicts her view as the victim by gaining power over her life as she does by not marrying Alec and later killing him. My only issue with this theory is the phrase "Polar opposites". I question whether Alec and Angel are really that different. They are both men, both have faith, both attempt to do the right thing at some point, both truely love Tess and both severely wrong her. What gives them the view as polar opposites is that Tess loves Angel, making him appear different from Alec to the reader, and that Angel respects her boundaries by not raping her, he has a less aggressive personality. I do not think these small differences make them polar opposites.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of Far from the Madding Crowd this theory does not apply as well. Instead of gaining power as Tess does, Bathsheba starts with power and keeps it through two marriage proposals until she falls in love with Sargent Troy and losses her power over her life. She makes herself the victim, and seems to want this to happen. In the beginning she denies Oak (who she ends up with in the end, big surprise) by saying that "I want someone to tame me; I am too independent; and you would never be able to, I know." Therefore, she is searching to lose her power over her life and makes herself the victim. Though it is correct she gets to choose her marriage partner, that is how she makes herself the victim, under the power of Troy specifically. The biggest opposition this book offers to Daleski is that Bathsheba's wrong choice doesn't lead to disastrous consequences for her and her relationships. By refusing to marry Oak in the beginning, falling in love with Troy and making the ill choice of marrying him, and unfortunately getting together with Boldwood all ultimately ruined Troy's, Boldwood's, Fanny's and the newborn child's lives, but improved Bathsheba's own. She ended up happily with Gabriel Oak, instead of in poverty as they would have been in the beginning they were very well off. The tragic ending is missing in this story.
I think that there is absolutely a love triangle present in Tess. It's obvious. As previous comments have stated, Alec is the forceful, teasing, and, arguably, the bad guy, while Angel is the guy that Tess falls for, making him the good guy. He's polite and respectful and the perfect guy for Tess. At this point in the novel, Angel and Alec are, indeed, polar opposites. Yet, as the novel continues, and Tess' past is revealed to Angel, he turns on her, and ends up being no better than Alec. The polarity of their opposition changes, if you will.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Return of the Native, Eustacia is trying to decide between Wildeve, her secret lover, the guy she's loved from the beginning (however argumentative their relationship may seem), and Clym, her absolute fantasy. No man is really the good guy or the bad guy, yet one can form their own opinion, certainly, that Wildeve is not as good for Eustacia as Clym is. We see the old Victorian way of 'courtly love', Eustacia playing the damsel in distress. She wants Clym to whisk her away from Egdon Heath, so they can start their perfect life together in Paris. Yet Hardy knocks down this optimistic dream of hers. Clym has missed Egdon Heath, and doesn't want to return to Paris, he wants to stay and become depressed about his depressed mother. Eustacia, realizing her dream was just a dream, tries to return to Wildeve, yet they all drown or whatever. This theory of courtly love, damsels in distress is completely blown apart by Hardy's take on fate. As the characters are blinded by their own lives, we see the flaws in the theory previously mentioned. We see the triangle fall apart. We see Eustacia's dream collapse, like Mrs. Yeobright's life after the snake bite. Yet, somehow, this theory does match up to Return of the Native. By the end of the book, Eustacia has made the wrong choice. She does choose the wrong marriage partner, which leads to a "bad marriage and disastrous sexual relationships". The thesis has been fulfilled.