Author(s): Jianjun Zhang

Abstract: Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) is one of the greatest rustic novelists as well as a great poet in English literary history. He is very good at looking at life in a tragic way and describing the human suffering in the tragic sentiment and a unique manner, so he is regarded by critics as " Shakespeare in English fiction ". His representative masterpiece, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, tells the tragic fate of Tess, a very pretty rural girl who is seduced by one man, then deserted by the other and finally propelled to murder for which she is hanged as a miserable consequence. Any tragedy is not isolated or accidental, but the result of many factors. Tess’s tragedy happens with a lot of causes. This paper aims to analyze the causes which lead to Tess’s tragedy from three perspectives: characters’ factors, social factors and writer's factors.

Keywords: Tess ; Tragedy; Characters' factors; Social factors; Writer’s factors

Article Info: Received: 07 Sep 2024; Received in revised form: 05 Oct 2024; Accepted: 11 Oct 2024; Available online: 31 Oct 2024

DOI: 10.22161/ijels.95.45