Term Papers on Alec D’Urberville, A Heroic Tragedy

Term Paper Title	Alec D’Urberville, A Heroic Tragedy
# of Words	901
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	3.6

Alec D’Urberville, a Heroic Tragedy
2/4/2004

Honors English 10

Tess of the D’Urbervilles essay

Aristotle first defined the meaning of what a tragic hero was in the times of ancient Greece. Today that same definition is still being used, appearing in countless literary works. Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles is no exception. In the novel, the character Alec D’Urberville is a wonderful example of what a tragic hero is. His personal flaws lead to the own demise of himself and the people around him, and ultimately his own death. He is a Tragic Hero.

As the story begins to play out Hardy introduces Alec D’Urberville. He is portrayed as an insouciant young man whom seems to take advantage of his wealth and status. His real name, however, isn’t D’Urberville at all but instead Stoke. When Tess first meets with him she describes Alec to have “…almost a swarthy complexion”(51). This is an obvious reference to his less then noble origins. His greatest flaw is perhaps is his divided and duplicitous personality. His full last name, Stoke-D’Urberville, symbolizes the split character of his family, whose origins are simpler than their pretensions to grandeur. This is most evident at the very end of the novel, when he quickly abandons his newfound Christian faith upon re-meeting Tess. It is hard to believe Alec holds his religion, or anything else, sincerely. Alec D’Urberville also a womanizer. During his attempts to woo Tess into a relationship with him, Car Dartch, a hand at the D’Urberville mansion, reveals Tess isn’t the first young peasant girl Alec has tried to seduce. She says “ … th’ beest first favorite right now with he just now!”(81). If there were one individual that best represented Alec it would be Satan. ‘Stoke’ inspires images of fiery energies, as the stoking a furnace or the flames of hell. His devilish links are evident when he wields a pitchfork while addressing Tess early in the novel, and when he seduces her as the serpent in Genesis seduced Eve. Additionally, Alec does not try to hide his bad qualities. In fact, like Satan, he revels in them. He bluntly tells Tess, “I suppose I am a bad fellow—a damn bad fellow. I was born bad, and I have lived bad, and I shall die bad, in all probability”(93). Like Satan, Alec symbolizes the basic forces of life that drive a person away from moral perfection and greatness.

Using these qualities he begins malevolently twisting the characters he comes into contact with. Most importantly he alters Tess’s life significantly. Tess is no match for Al...

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