Tess of the d’Urbervilles · Chapter
The Ruin of Prince explained
Tess falls asleep while driving the family's horse Prince to market, and a mail-cart collides with their wagon, fatally wounding the horse.
What happens
Tess falls asleep while driving the family's horse Prince to market, and a mail-cart collides with their wagon, fatally wounding the horse. Prince dies, and Tess is consumed by guilt, blaming herself for the family's ruin. Her parents, however, are more concerned with their noble ancestry and plan to send Tess to claim kinship with the wealthy Mrs. d'Urberville, hoping it will lead to a grand marriage. The chapter ends with the family returning home from Rolliver's inn, with Sir John drunkenly boasting of their lineage.
Themes in this chapter
Social Class and Inequality
The Durbeyfields' poverty and their reliance on noble ancestry to improve their fortunes highlight class disparities.
Fate and Inevitability
Tess's accident with Prince and her family's subsequent plans seem driven by an inescapable chain of events.
Suffering and Resilience
Tess endures the trauma of causing Prince's death and the family's ruin, yet her parents remain resilient in their schemes.
Characters to notice
- Tess Durbeyfield
Consumed by guilt after Prince's death, she blames herself entirely for the family's misfortune.
- Jack Durbeyfield
Shows stoic pride in refusing to sell Prince's carcass, but later drinks at Rolliver's and boasts of the d'Urberville vault.
- Joan Durbeyfield
Devises the plan to send Tess to claim kin with the wealthy Mrs. d'Urberville, hoping for a grand marriage.
- Abraham Durbeyfield
Accompanies Tess on the fateful journey, sleeps through the accident, and later suggests the family visit the wealthy relation.
- Liza-Lu
Mourns Prince's death along with the other children.
- Prince
The family horse, killed in a collision with the mail-cart; his death symbolizes the family's ruin.
Key passages
“In the Durbeyfield countenances there was nothing of the red wrath that would have burnt upon the girl from parents more ambitious for her welfare. Nobody blamed Tess as she blamed herself.”
Unlike more ambitious parents, the Durbeyfields did not express anger at Tess; only Tess blamed herself.
Highlights the family's lack of ambition and Tess's intense self-blame.
“The pointed shaft of the cart had entered the breast of the unhappy Prince like a sword, and from the wound his life's blood was spouting in a stream, and falling with a hiss into the road.”
The mail-cart's shaft pierced Prince's chest like a sword, and his blood gushed out with a hiss.
Vivid description of the fatal accident.
“She is rich, and she'd be sure to take notice o' the maid, and 'twill be a very good thing. I don't see why two branches o' one family should not be on visiting terms.”
Joan argues that the wealthy Mrs. d'Urberville will surely take an interest in Tess, and that family branches should visit each other.
Joan's plan to send Tess to claim kinship.