Tess of the d’Urbervilles · Chapter
VII explained
Tess prepares to leave for Trantridge to work for her wealthy 'relatives.' Her mother Joan dresses her up to attract Alec d'Urberville, while her father jests about selling the family title.
What happens
Tess prepares to leave for Trantridge to work for her wealthy 'relatives.' Her mother Joan dresses her up to attract Alec d'Urberville, while her father jests about selling the family title. Tess's family accompanies her partway, and she is met not by the expected humble cart but by Alec himself in a stylish gig. Despite her misgivings, Tess steps up and they ride off together, leaving her younger siblings in tears.
Themes in this chapter
Social Class and Inequality
Tess's family sees her departure as a chance to improve their station, with her father willing to sell the family title and her mother dressing her to attract Alec.
Female Purity and Double Standards
Joan dresses Tess to appear older and more attractive, treating her daughter's appearance as a 'trump card' to secure a husband, reflecting societal pressures on women.
Fate and Inevitability
Tess's misgivings about going with Alec are overcome by the thought of having killed Prince, suggesting a sense of doomed inevitability in her choices.
Characters to notice
- Tess Durbeyfield
Awake before dawn, she submits to her mother's dressing-up and leaves home with a heavy heart, ultimately accepting Alec's ride.
- Joan Durbeyfield
Dresses Tess to attract Alec, expresses later regret, but trusts to chance; she claps her hands when Alec arrives in the gig.
- Jack Durbeyfield
Napping after a morning drink, he jokes about selling the d'Urberville title for as little as twenty pounds.
- Alec d'Urberville
Arrives in a spick-and-span gig to pick up Tess, urging her to ride with him instead of the humble cart.
- Abraham Durbeyfield
One of the younger children who walks partway with Tess and later cries after she leaves.
- Liza-Lu
One of the younger children accompanying Tess on her departure.
Key passages
“I was thinking that perhaps it would ha' been better if Tess had not gone.”
Joan reflects that maybe it was a mistake to let Tess leave.
Joan's nighttime regret foreshadows the tragic outcome of Tess's journey.
“What's her trump card? Her d'Urberville blood, you mean? No, stupid; her face—as 'twas mine.”
Joan says Tess's best asset is her beauty, not her noble lineage.
Highlights the theme of female purity and the value placed on appearance.
“I'll sell him the title—yes, sell it—and at no onreasonable figure.”
Jack Durbeyfield offers to sell the d'Urberville name to Alec.
Shows the family's desperate grasp at social status and their commodification of ancestry.