英美文学(1)

CONTENTSThe Same Faults, the Different Fates — The causes of the different fates of Tess and Hester (1)Ⅰ. Introduction (1)Ⅱ. Causes of their different fates (1)A. The exterior causes of their different fates (1)1. Moral values (2)a. The moral values of Tess (2)b. The moral values of Hester (3)2. The ways of communication (3)a. Tess’s ways of communication (4)b. Hester’s ways of communication (5)3. The spirits of resistance (5)a. Tess’s spirit of resistance (6)b. Hester’s spirit of resistance (6)B. The interior causes of their different fates (7)1. Different social backgrounds (7)a. A men-dominated society for Tess (8)b. A feminism-arising society for Hester (8)2. Different influences of social utilitarian ideas (9)a. The influence of utility on Tess (9)b. The influence of utility on Hester (10)III. Conclusion (11)Bibliography (12)Acknowledgements (12)The Same Faults, the Different Fates— The causes of the different fates of Tess and HesterⅠ. IntroductionTess and Hester are the main female roles in Tess of the D‘Urbervilles and The Scarlet Letter. Tess of the D‘Urbervilles, written by Thomas Hardy, is a famous novel; so is The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. These two works are both famous for their vivid description of characters and the deep exposure of society, and the two heroines, Tess and Hester, become household words.Tess and Hester, have many similarities. First, they are intelligent, strikingly attractive, and kind-hearted. Second, they have sex with the men who are not their husbands. Third, they both have babies out of wedlock. Tess and Hester make the same mistakes. Tess is reluctant, while Hester is voluntary. When Tess realizes that all her happiness is absolutely exterminated by Alec, she feels indignant and kills him, and then she is arrested and sentenced to death. Different from Tess, Hester is guilty, but she gains people‘s sympathy and understanding gradually, and becomes dignified in people‘s heart. The letter ―A‖ becomes a symbol of respect by her spirit of devoting herself and taking care of others. It seems that Hester has a more serious fault than Tess, but Hester has a better result than Tess. Why do they have different fates?Ⅱ. Causes of their different fatesThrough comparison and analysis, there are two basic causes. One is the exterior causes —the personal reasons; the other is the interior causes — the social reasons.A. The exterior causes of their different fatesThe exterior causes mentioned here are the differences of their personalities, and it can be expressed by their different moral values, different ways of communication, and the different spirits of resistance.1. Moral valuesMoral values are things held to be right or wrong, desirable or undesirable. Moral values (beliefs or attitudes about what is good, right, desirable, worthwhile, etc.) and the value system (the ways you organize, rank, prioritize and make decisions based on your values) provide the foundation from which you make your personal and professional judgments and choices. They refer to how one should act (for example, to be honest, self-disciplined, kind) and what one wants to accomplish or obtain in life (for example, to want a lot of money, security, fame, health, salvation, wisdom). (Danney Ursery, 1996)In this aspect, the differences of Tess and Hester mainly refer to their attitudes towards the same mistake — having sex with the man out of wedlock.a. The moral values of TessTess is a beautiful, honest and kind girl. She lives in a vain family and there are many vain people around her, but she never hopes to gain the happiness without hard work. As a beautiful country girl, she has the virtues of the laborers, and she is reluctant to betray herself for benefits.After she is seduced by Alec, she chooses to leave him, not to be his mistress. ―…I have said so, often. It is true. I have never really and truly loved you, and I think I never can.‖ ―…Perhaps, of all things, a lie on this thing would do the most good to me now; but I have honor enough left, little as 'tis, not to tell that lie. If I did love you I may have the best o' causes for letting you know it. But I don't.‖ (Hardy Thomas, 2002: 102)Tess does this not only because she does not love Alec, but also because she thinks it immoral to have sex with a man without marriage.When Tess falls in love with Angel, she still can not get rid of her sense of guilt. ―…Her love for him acts to blot out the memories of the past in her, but she is always aware that her forgetfulness is only temporary, that the doubts, fears, and shame were only waiting likes wolves just outside the light‖ (Hardy Thomas, 2002: 324)Tess is tortured by guilt. She can not get rid of the moral standard of the days, which lets her believe that she has to pay for what she has sinned. She yields to the arrangement of the fate.b. The moral values of HesterHester is also kind-hearted which can be shown by her behavior of helping people. However, on the attitude towards the sex act without marriage, Hester is different from Tess. She refuses to reveal the identity of Pearl's father even though she is questioned by Rev. Wilson (the Church), the Governor (the State), and Chillingworth (her husband). When she pledges not to divulge Chillingworth's true identity, she obediently keeps the vow and seeks his permission. Moreover, Hester believes that all the mistakes are made by her husband, and she has no guilt.Hester thinks that she has no guilt to have sex with the man she loves, all things she has done are reasonable, and all the mistakes are made by Chillingworth. ―…She marvelled how she could ever have been wrought upon to marry him! She deemed it her crime most to be repented of, that she had ever endured, and reciprocated, the lukewarm grasp of his hand, and had suffered the smile of her lips and eyes to mingle and melt into his own. And it seemed a fouler offence committed by Roger Chillingworth, than any which had since been done him, that, in the time when her heart knew no better, he had persuaded her to fancy herself happy by his side.‖ ―…Yes, I hate him!‖ (Hawthorne Nathaniel, 2000: 157)Her belief that she is not guilty makes her sturdy, and this attitude enables her to withstand people‘s cool detachment and scolding, and it is a premise for her to communicate with others and obtain others‘ sympathy later.2. The ways of communicationFor a common people, it is very important to communicate with others. People can exchange their emotions and obtain others‘ acknowledgement t hrough communication, and they can feel satisfied from this acknowledgement. Then they would believe life is meaningful and happy. On the contrary, being lack of communication will lead to serious consequences. (Zhang Zhiguang, 1996: 249) Some people are active communicators while others passive.The active communicator can communicate with others easily and maintain the extensive human relationships while the passive one is the opposite. Tess and Hester are the typical cases; Tess is a passive communicator while Hester an active one. The differences of their communication ways lead to the great differences of their human relationships, and influence the tracks of their lives.a. Tess’s ways of communicationTess is a passive communicator. On the one hand, Tess believes that she is guilty and debased, thus she eludes herself from others consciously. On the other hand, she has the great pressure by people‘s comments and views. She has no choice but to isolate herself from the outside world.Tess likes to listen to songs at the church, but she dares not go to church after being seduced. Even if she goes there, she avoids others‘ attentions and never talks with others. ―…To be as much out of observation as possible for reasons of her own, and to escape the gallantries of the young men, she set out before the chiming began, and took a back seat under the gallery, close to the lumber, where only old men and women came, and where the bier stood on end among the churchyard tools.‖ (Hardy Thomas, 2002: 141)She dares not go out, and ―…The only exercise that Tess took at this time was after dark; and it was then, when out in the woods, that she seemed least solitary. …She had no fear of the shadows; her sole idea seemed to be to shun mankind - or rather that cold accretion called the world, which, so terrible in the mass, is so unformidable, even pitiable, in its units.‖ (Hardy Thomas, 2002: 144)The self-condemning and people‘s indifference let Tess feel fearful to talk with others. She knows that she will not feel happy forever, because people know her past—her attempt to seek refuge with the d‘Urbervilles. What Tess thinks about is not to communicate with other, not to reestablish the human relationships, but to escape. She believes she must leave if she wants to escape from the past. Because of her passive communication, she escapes from the public and loses the chance for people to understand her. Without people‘s understanding,she lives a hard life.b. Hester’s ways of communicationDifferent from Tess, Hester is an active communicator. Hester not only stays in the town, but also faces to others bravely. She does not leave, and this is a chance for her to change the public opinions.When the pestilence is spreading, Hester continues to work hard and helps every people, with all her heart. ―…None so ready as she to give of her little substance to every demand of poverty; even though the bitter-hearted pauper threw back a gibe in requital of the food brought regularly to his door, or the garments wrought for him by the fingers that could have embroidered a monarch's robe. None so self-devoted as Hester, when pestilence stalked through the town.‖ (Hawthorne Nathaniel, 2000: 142)Therefore, people begin to change their attitudes towards her. They get so many help from her, and people begin to say that the letter ―A‖ means ―Ability‖, not ―Adultery‖. ―…Such helpfulness was found in her- so much power to do, and power to sympathize- that many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification. They said that it meant Able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman's strength.‖ (Hawthorne Nathaniel, 2000: 143) She gains people‘s respect through communicating actively and helping others.Hester gains people‘s sympathy and understanding more easily because of her active communication, and finally she becomes people‘s worship. Her active communication gives her more courage to live on. She talks with others and gets people‘s understanding gradually. Thus her life is better than Tess, and she has the courage to fight with the dominant men.3. The spirits of resistanceTess and Hester both have the spirits of resistance, but the extents of their resistance are different. Tess‘s resistance is not thorough, while Hester‘s is strong.a. Tess’s spirit of resistanceTess displayed her resistance mostly in the relations between Tess and Alec. Tess dislikes Alec, and she leaves him angrily after she is seduced by him. Later, when they meet again, Tess finds Alec suddenly changes his identity to be a priest, and she feels it is a great irony to the religion. So she uncovers his filthy inbeing with the acid-tongued words. ―Have you saved yourself?‖ ―…You, and those like you, take your fill of pleasure on earth by making the life of such as me bitter and black with sorrow; and then it is a fine thing, when you have had enough of that, to think of securing your pleasure in heaven by becoming converted! Out upon such–I don‘t believe in you-I hate it!‖ (Hardy Thomas, 2002: 322)And at the end of the story, Tess feels that she has been ruined completely by Alec, and she kills him in desperation. ―…now I have killed him? I thought as I ran along that you would be sure to forgive me now I have done that. …now I have killed him!‖ (Hardy Thomas, 2002: 523)Undoubtedly, Tess‘s gracious q ualities and rebel spirit should be appreciated. But as a descendant of downfallen nobility, Tess is affected by some old conceptions of fatalism. As everyone knows, Tess is seduced by Alec. It is not her will, and she is a victim. Therefore, she obeys Angel like a slaver, and is willing to accept any punishment Angel has given to her. In order to get Angel‘s forgiveness, she could lose her life. She thinks it is her fate, she has no power to change it, and there is no use to revolt. Consequently, Tess ―flu ng herself upon an oblong slab that lay close at hand,‖ waits for the arrest and her eventual death quietly.b. Hester’s spirit of resistanceAs far as Hester is concerned, her resistance means to revolt against the Puritanism, to fight with Chillingworth, and to live with her true love — Dimmesdale. She does not feel that she is guilty, and she believes that having sex with her true love is sinless.As is described in Chapter Two of the novel, ―…she took the baby on her arm, and, with a burning blush, and yet a haughty smile, and a glance that would not be abashed, looked around at her townspeople and neighbors. On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth,surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the letter ―A‖. It was so artistically done, and with so much fertility and gorgeous luxuriance of fancy, that it had all the effect of a last and fitting decoration to the apparel which she wore…‖ (Hawthorne Nathaniel, 2000: 23) When Hester Prynne is brought from ja il to the town‘s public square，all the people，men and women，old and young are talking about her symbol of shame and cursing her sin．Then she is punished to stand on the platform of the scaffold for three hours and wear the letter ―A‖ forever, and she accepts this judgment calmly. However, it does not mean she will bend her knee to the Puritanism.Actually, she is full of strong spirit of resistance, and she does not think she is guilty. That is why she goes to the town‘s public square with a haughty smile. After the sentence, she lives with her daughter sturdily and never takes notice of others‘ scolding. Hester begins to think more independently, questioning the puritan social structure. From her sin, Hester becomes aware of the inequalities within Puritan society, and hopes that women would one day see the equality she was never been able to experience. Through her efforts, she changes the meaning of the letter ―A‖ to ―Ability‖, ―Admirable‖, and ―Advancement‖ eventually.The above-mentioned part is about the exterior reasons of their different fates. As we know, human being is one part of the society. Without the society, people can not live, and the society is very important to human beings. In the following part, I‘ll explore the interior ones — the social reasons.B. The interior causes of their different fatesThe interior causes are the main reasons of their differences — the social reasons, including the different social backgrounds and the utilitarian ideas.1. Different social backgroundsTess lives in a men-dominated society. This society suppresses her and she feels that she can not revolt against it which is overpowering, While Hester lives in a society where the feminism appears, and she has the courage to resist the Puritanism.a. A men-dominated society for TessThe background of Tess of the D‘Urbervilles is the late 19th century, in which the cruel capitalism exploitation has ruined the English countryside severely, and the capitalism brings a great harm to the old, rural and agricultural life of the place. In such a kind of society, men dominate women, and women have no rights to revolt.When Alec acknowledges how he has seduced Tess for his own momentary pleasure. Alec‘s behavior, the most life-altering event that Tess experiences in the novel, is clearly the most serious instance of male domination over females.Angel‘s love for Tess, which is pure and gentle, dominates her in an unhealthy way. Angel imagines an ideal picture of Tess‘s purity. When Angel calls Tess like ―Daughter of Nature‖ and ―Artemis‖, we feel that he may deny her true self in favor of a mental image that he prefers. Thus, her identity and experiences are suppressed unknowingly.This pattern of male domination is finally reversed with Tess‘s murder of Alec, in which, for the first time in the novel, a woman takes active steps against a man. Of course, this act only leads to even greater suppression of a woman by men. When the crowds of male police officers arrest Tess at the Stonehenge, she resigns herself to fate. ―She stood up, shook herself, and went forward, neither of the men having moved. ‗I am ready,' she said quietly.‖ (Hardy Thomas, 2002: 527)Tess is a victim, who is ruined by the bourgeois society. Tess lives in such a kind of society, and has no courage to fight against this society. Though she has the spirit of resistance, she can not stick it out, and her resistance is unsuccessful.b. A feminism-arising society for HesterThe Scarlet Letter expresses the aspects of relationships, religion, community, discipline and punishment in the puritan community of 17th century Boston. Relationships between men and women were very constrained and that is what made adultery such a bad sin in the eyes of everyone in the community. At that time, the Puritanism develops to such an extreme thatwomen who smile on the street will be punished. Owing to this extreme development, the women begin to revolt, and the feminism appears.For example, when Hester knows that the puritan mission wants to snatch the rights of bringing up her daughter, ―…Hester caught hold o f Pearl, and drew her forcibly into her arms, confronting the old Puritan magistrate with almost a fierce expression. Alone in the world, cast off by it, and with this sole treasure to keep her heart alive, she felt that she possessed indefeasible rights a gainst the world, and was ready to defend them to the death.‖ ―…God gave me the child!‖ (Hawthorne Nathaniel, 2000: 82-83)Hester is an independent woman, and she is a rebel to the Puritanism. Her behaviors are contrary to the standard of the Puritanism. In order to pursuit the happiness, she casts away the matrimony, and she uses her power to destroy the religious disciplines of the Puritanism. She is not afraid of the dominant men, and fights against them.2. Different influences of social utilitarian ideasUtilitarianism is a form of the Hedonistic ethical theory which means that the end of human conduct is happiness, and that consequently the discriminating norm which distinguishes conduct into right and wrong is pleasure and pain. Under the condition of non-utility, people will comply with the moral regulation. Otherwise, people will ignore the regulation, and they will incline to the profit unconsciously. (Leviathan, 1651)In this aspect, the utilitarian idea of Tess refers to her family‘s desire that they can get benefits from Tess. And Hester‘s utility refers to two parts: one is from people around who get help from her, and the other is her own desire of her lover.a. The influence of utility on TessTess encounters two tragedies, one is being seduced by Alec, and the other is falling into Alec‘s snare again and killing him finally. One reason of the two tragedies is the social utilitarian ideas, especially her family members‘ desires. If she does not seek membership of the same clan d‘Urbervilles, Te ss will live a simple life as other girls do, but it is impossiblenot to do so.Her mother, who thinks that Alec likes Tess and he will marry her and the family will become noble, forces her to claim the same clan. And she tells Tess‘s father: ―…But do le t her go, Jacky, coaxed his poor witless wife. `He's struck wi' - her you can see that. He called her Coz! He'll marry her, most likely, and make a lady of her; and then she'll be what her forefathers were.‖ (Hardy Thomas, 2002: 70)Her father is vain too, and he just wants money. ―…Tell him - I'll take a thousand pound. Well, I'll take less, when I come to think it. He'll adorn it better than a poor lammicken feller like myself can. Tell him he shall have it for a hundred. But I won't stand upon trifles – tell him he shall have it for fifty-for twenty pound! Yes, twenty pound - that's the lowest. Dammy, family honor is family honor, and I won't take a penny less!'‖ (Hardy Thomas, 2002: 77)What‘s worse, her sisters and brothers think that if Tess does not go to claim the d‘Urbervilles, they will have no money to buy things, no beautiful horse to ride, no good clothes to wear.Under the whole family‘s pressure, Tess loses her morality of honesty and purity. She has to meet Alec and it is the only way that makes their life comfortable. She has no choice, and she is driven to the last ditch by the family‘s desire.b. The influence of utility on HesterThe influences on Hester can be divided into two parts. One is from the people around her, the other is from herself — her desire to her lover.The utilitarian ideas lead Tess to be tragic; on the contrary, it helps Hester to throw off people‘s derision and scolding. Hester's selflessness is also reflected in the services that she renders to the poor, needy and sick. Her philanthropic way of living reflects her devotion to those more underprivileged than herself. People around her are helped by Hester frequently, so they feel they get benefits from Hester. As time passes, people begin to forgive her. ―…As is apt to be the case when a person stands out in any prominence before the community, and, at the same time, interferes neither with public nor individual interests and convenience, aspecies of general regard had ultimately grown up in reference to Hester Prynne.‖ (Hawthorne Nathaniel,2000: 142)And as discussed before, the kindness of Hester does not change her guilt and her desire to Dimmesdale. She believes that all the mistakes are caused by her husband. And the priest Dimmesdale also says: ―…We are not, Hes ter, the worst sinners in the world. There is one worse than even the polluted priest! That old man's revenge has been blacker than my sin. He has violated, in cold blood, the sanctity of a human heart. Thou and I, Hester, never did so!‖ (Hawthorne Nathaniel,2000: 176) Hester wants to take advantage of her husband‘s revenge to conceal her guilt. Hester‘s desire is not for money, but for her desire to Dimmesdale. She wants to take it on the lam with her lover and live with him.She lives in the town bravely by her desire, because she believes that she will be together with her lover one day. She supports her life by herself.III. ConclusionTess is a victim of her own characters and the society. She fights the hardest fight and is destroyed by her ravaging self-destructive sense of guilt, life denial and the cruelty of the society at that time.Hester is described as a youthful, beautiful, spirited and proud woman. Her strength of character in public and courage to rebel against the society enable her to heal up her inner wound inflicted by the letter ―A‖. Her silent tolerance eventually wins the sympathy of others.Through comparison and analysis, we can find the answer to their different fates. What‘s more important is that we can learn a lot from their fates. We can have a better understanding of the respective society in which Tess and Hester live in. Women have no status at that time and they are treated unfairly by men. However, we are luckier than them in that we enjoy the same rights as man and our status has been greatly improved. As women of the modern society, we should cherish our life and fight for the rights we are entitled to. Meanwhile, as a member of the society, we should make as much contributions to our country and society as possible.Bibliography[1]Annette Fogline. Analysis of The Characters in The Scarlet Letter. http:∥/thescarlet.html. 2002[2]Bradford Smith. Analysis of Tess of the D‘Urbervilles.http:∥/users/tragedy_and_tess.html. 2001[3]Charles Bazerman. 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