As one of the greatest novelists in British Victorian period, Thomas Hardy’s literary works have been enjoying high popularity in contemporary times. His masterpiece, Tess of the d’Urbervilles is a critical realistic novel describing the misfortune of a poor peasant girl named Tess. This novel stands out among the English novels of critical realism for its deep sympathy to the simple rural people, and for its true exposure and powerful condemnation of the social injustice and bourgeoisie morality. In the novel, the heroine Tess has an intense love. However, it is her love for her family that pushes her into painful swale every time. She struggles in the contradiction in bitterness. Though she never yields to her tragic fate, life plays tricks on her again and again. In the end she does have some happy days with her beloved. Nevertheless, it is at the cost of her life. In the contradiction of her life, she undergoes a series of mental trials through which she contends against fate in endurance. This essay tries to probe into the mental development of the heroine from her endurance to final resistance. Besides, the social significance of her mental development is revealed in this essay.

Jiang Weijin. From Endurance to Resistance--a Brief Analysis of the Mental Development of Tess. Frontiers in Educational Research (2020) Vol. 3 Issue 14: 35-40. https://doi.org/10.25236/FER.2020.031407.

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[3] McEathron. Scott (2005). Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles. New York: Routledge Press, pp.70-72.