Tess of the D’Urbervilles

John Durbeyfield, a ‘haggler’ and a drunk, is weaving his way one afternoon towards the pub when he meets the village priest, Parson Tringham. The priest informs him that his family have distinguished ancestry. They are descended from the d’Urbervilles, a wealthy, though now extinct, clan. John Durbeyfield’s daughter, the beautiful Tess is dancing along with the other village girls at the May Day parade. There she spies a handsome young stranger joining in the dance, but he doesn’t seem to notice her. His name is Angel Clare, a parson’s son. Alec begins to seduce Tess, showering her with attention and gifts and assuring her that her family will want for nothing. Eventually the inevitable happens. Offering to ride her home after a village fair, he gets deliberately lost, tells her to sleep while he finds help, but returns and rapes her. Tess returns home in shame and confusion. A year has passed since the May Day dance. Now Tess can only watch the dancing girls from afar, holding a tiny baby boy in her arms.

The baby is mortally ill. Because Tess’s father refuses to let him be baptised in a church, she is forced to perform the ceremony herself, calling him ‘Sorrow’. The baby dies. Tess pleads with Parson Tringham to allow the baby to be buried in the churchyard, but the parson says he cannot permit this, so Tess digs a small grave for Sorrow in a field next to the church, on unconsecrated ground. Tess leaves home and finds work at a dairy farm, a happy and sun-filled place, presided over by the jovial Mr Crick. Tess becomes immediate friends with three dairy girls, Marion, Izzy and Retty. The girls are totally besotted with an educated young man who is on the farm learning how to become a gentleman farmer. His name is Angel Clare. Tess instantly recognises him.

A heartbroken Retty does not attend the wedding. As a small but joyful ceremony takes place, she tries to drown herself. Tess and Angel leave for their honeymoon, to be spent at an old mansion once owned by the ancient d’Urberville family. What they hoped would be a romantic evening is interrupted and darkened by news of Retty’s attempted suicide. A suddenly troubled Angel decides it is time for them to make known their former trangressions to each other. Solemnly he informs Tess of a wrongdoing in his past and is surprised when she readily forgives him and seems almost pleased with the confession. Tess has misjudged the situation. She thinks that if she forgives him he will forgive her. So she tells him about Alec d’Urberville – the whole story… Angel is appalled.

Through a cruelly bitter winter, Tess continues to work on the farm. Alec, who seems to have replaced any religious fervour he once had with a passion for Tess alone, continues to plague her with his relentless attention. Tess’s younger sister Liza-Lu arrives at the farm to report that their father is dying. Tess and her sister hurry home. John Durbeyfield dies and is buried. The family are turned out of their house. They travel to the village once owned by the blighted d’Ubervilles with all the possessions they can carry. Tess writes an angry letter to Angel. She cannot forgive him now for ignoring her as he has. But for all we know, Angel is dead.