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Tess of the d'Urbervilles - Born At the Wrong Time
superstitious things such as this during these times.
Hardy illustrates the hopelessness for the children of the Durbeyfield household to climb out of their social and economic status by calling them "passengers in the Durbeyfield ship-entirely dependent on the judgement of the two Durbeyfield adults . . ." (34). For the Durbeyfield children, these two particular adults provide little hope of ever climbing out of their socioeconomic class. According to Anne Mickelson, Tess is "trained from childhood to fit herself for an inferior role, [and] she becomes early in life a prisoner to her sense of responsibility and duty to family" (106).
When John Durbeyfield learns that he is of an "ancient and knightly family" having no one around with "grander and nobler skillentons in his family" than himself, Tess's life changes dramatically (Hardy 18, 21). Tess's family pushes her into approaching the rich d'Urberville family in Trantridge. Her ignorant parents think their families are related and, as a result, might possibly receive financial help from this hopeful kinship. "But Tess's pride made the part of poor relation one of particular distaste to her," writes Hardy (47).
Due to the death of the family's horse while under her control, Tess feels responsible for the loss of her family's livelihood, so she consents to her parents' wishes and goes to meet the d'Urbervilles in Trantridge. These rich d'Urbervilles have bought their name; Tess has received her name the natural way, by birth. The fact that poor, rural Tess descends from this once great family, while the wealthy d'Urbervilles must buy the name, is an ironic twist Hardy uses to illustrate how people perceived names and titles during the Victorian times. According to Raymond Chapman, "Hardy was acutely sensitive to the rural hierarchy with its relative positions which more sophisticated society would not have noticed" (124).
Tess has received an education, referred to in the novel as "Sixth Standard in the National School under a London-trained mistress" (Hardy 31). This education makes Tess painfully aware of her family's status. She desires a teaching career, but family responsibilities prevent her from pursuing this. During the times represented in this novel, people from rural societies didn't have much education. City dwellers had more education than country people, and men had more education than women (Walvin 83).