Úvod

1.

Tess

2.	Alec d’Urbervilles

3.	Angel Clare

4.	Angelovi rodiče

5.	Tessini rodiče

Závěr
Seznam použité literatury

"Angel is closer to nature than to society and he likes everything connected to it, including Tess who is called by him in poetic names such as “the Daughter of Nature” or “Artemis”, the Greek goddess of hunt. Finally, he decides to engage in agriculture and farming which approaches him to Tess. When falling in love with her, we get to know how much he is obsessed with spiritual love, purity and morality. His love is very much idealistic, for he does not love Tess for what she really is and if so, only partially, but more for what she stands for him as a symbol, a “mythical incarnation of womanhood” : “It was the third day of the estrangement. Some might risk the odd paradox that with more animalism he would have been the nobler man. We do not say it. Yet Clare’s love was doubtless ethereal to a fault, imaginative to impracticability. With these natures, corporeal presence is something less appealing than corporeal absence; the latter creating an ideal presence that conveniently drops the defects of the real. She found that her personality did not plead her so forcibly as she had anticipated. The figurative phrase was true : she was another woman than the one who had excited his desire.“ (Hardy, Thomas, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, 212)
That is why the main reason of leaving Tess after her confession is the intensity of bitter disillusion. His ideals of purity are so much elevated that they cannot be applied to ordinary people. However, when exposed to the harsh environment in Brazil, he undergoes a some kind of readjustment of values realizing that he had been unfair to Tess. She is a fallen woman, indeed, and she has made several mistakes in her life, but unlike Alec d´Urbervilles she will always strive to be better and she should be judged according to this point of view. When it comes to the judgment of Angel himself, we might consider him as a good person with elevated ideas, good education and refined personality, but it is his inability to face the reality and to be aware of the actual state of things which prevents him from being regarded as a truly mature person.
When it comes to Angel’s parents, Reverend and Mrs.Clare, they are epitomes of followers of a strict Protestant doctrine. In a way, they resemble to the well-known Pilgrim Fathers for whom the Bible was the only truthful reference when questions of life are concerned. Reverend Clare is not only a radical Protestant who considers his duty to convert others into devoted Christianity, but he believes fiercely in determinism, and his opinions on life, much deformed by Christian faith, represent a moral framework for the whole family. His values are bound up with religion, which became obvious during his discussion with Angel about the nature of his future wife : “ ‘What kind of wife do you think would be best for me as a thrifty hard-working farmer?’ ‘A truly Christian woman, who will be a help and a comfort to you in your goings-out and your comings-in. Beyond that, it really matters little.’” (Hardy, Thomas, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, 140) His wife, Angel’s mother, shares these values and puts a great emphasis on the proper family background of Angel’s future spouse. It is difficult to judge Angel’s parents, for they have not done anything wrong in their life, on the contrary. They have brought up three children, secured them materially and were trying to be a moral support for them. Their strong Puritan faith, however, causes that they have a limited view on things and that is why it is not easy for them to understand the freethinking of their youngest son Angel Clare..."

Vypracováno pro obor Anglická a francouzská filologie.