Hardy's novels are based on a realist depiction of a society defined by constant progress. The previous era of Enlightenment developed a sense of loss of traditional values ​​in pursuit of intellectual evolution, and this only accelerated the Victorians' constant pursuit of progress. “Modernity” encompasses a network of issues, ideas and concepts ranging from industrialization to sexualization. One could also use the term to describe changes in class distinctions, political systems, and even loss of faith in society. Although it is not specified when exactly Tess of the d'Urbervilles is set, Hardy conveys a strong sense of contemporaneity by firmly placing the plot in nineteenth-century culture; describes the changing conditions of agricultural labor, an evolving class structure in which wealth eclipses the importance of ancestry, and also highlights specific aspects such as Tess's education within the national schools movement. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay All these allusions suggest that the author wishes to address issues of current debate and this is explained in the novel's explanatory note: "The story is sent with all sincerity of purpose, as an attempt to give artistic form to a true sequence of things... I would like to ask any too kind reader, who cannot bear to have said what everyone thinks and feels today, to remember a well-worn phrase of Saint Jerome: 'If an offense comes out of the truth, it is better that it comes out the offense rather than the truth be hidden.'” (p3) The phrases “a true sequence of things” and “what everyone thinks and feels today” convey an awareness of an evolving opinion on topics of contemporary importance “Modernism,” as a term,. it is usually applied retrospectively, however Hardy uses it within the novel itself when Angel reflects that Tess's disposition has the "pain of modernism". This awkward description, together with the statements contained in the explanatory note, indicates that the author does not shares the view that Victorian progress is intrinsically positive and that the novel is intended to depict the flaws in its relentless march forward. Tess of the d'Urbervilles could be perceived as a representation of traditional rural life and the industrial forces that are destroying it. Machinery and urban scenes are often depicted with hellish imagery, while nature is given a softer perspective, alluding to pagan fertility gods and druidic mythology. Hardy's description of the “man-machine” (345) more aptly encapsulates his vision of mechanized agriculture. The language itself suggests that this man, intrinsically out of place in his country setting, serves as a microcosm for the industrialization of Victorian England: “Near the engine stood a dark, motionless being, a sooty, filthy embodiment of height, in a sort of trance, with a pile of coals at his side” (345). The author's descriptive choice could almost be applied to an urban factory, and everything concerning the figure is shrouded in mystery. He is given little sense of identity: a "being" masked by darkness, not a person with human character or characteristics. Every quality of the "man-machine" explored by Hardy is entirely at odds with his surroundings: "He was in the agricultural world, but not of it." (345) These factors evoke the feeling of two very different worlds coming together collide: the city and the countryside, modernity and tradition This is not the case eitherconsidered an isolated event: Hardy emphasizes the movement of this machine “from farm to farm, from county to county” (346), implying continued diffusion throughout the country. The author states that “hitherto the steam thresher was itinerant in this part of Wessex” (346) and although this appears transitory, the opening words “as yet” convey a feeling of inevitable foreboding. Another aspect of the “man-machine” that might be seen as representative of the industrial movement of modernity is Hardy's impression that it separates man from nature: “His thoughts are turned inward upon himself... he almost does not perceive the scenes around him, and does not care about them at all; maintaining only strictly necessary relations with the natives... The long belt that ran from the driving wheel of his engine to the red thresher under the sheaf was the only line of connection between him and agriculture. (346) This introspective and insensitive attitude represents the narrow vision of urbanization: progress for its own sake, without considering the defects that modernity can bring. The “man-machine” is almost as at odds with the “natives” as he is with the crops he imperviously harvests. This suggests that Hardy adopts the idea that those from cities had no desire to care for those who lived in the countryside; that rural inhabitants were perceived as a means of livelihood that will soon become superfluous when the thresher loses its “itinerant” status in favor of permanence. Hardy's realist literature usually has an undercurrent of pessimism, although the natural world does not share the “plutonic” (345) descriptions of industry. Instead of fire and darkness, the forest is given a mythical hue. In describing the Hunt there is a “soft blue” (18) over “one of the few remaining woods in England of undoubted primeval date, where druidic mistletoe was still found on aged oaks, and where enormous yew trees, unplanted by the hand of man, they grew as they had grown when they were pollarded for the bows. (18) The constant historical references add to the sense of nostalgia, there is a feeling of belonging and a glimpse, perhaps, of what all of England could still be. The inevitable progress of modernity stands in stark contrast to Hardy's idyllic natural world. Although towns are not prominent in Hardy's literature, their influence looms large over Wessex imagery and their importance should not be underestimated. Some natural scenes even seem described through the lens of a modernist artist or architect – Hardy comments that “the world seemed constructed” (18) when describing Tess' homeland, and refers to “what artists call the middle distance” ( 18). Their physical presence is largely avoided, however, through descriptions of their significance seeping into the agricultural provinces, we are given insight into Hardy's vision of urbanisation: "The families who had formed the backbone of village life in the past... they had to seek refuge in large cities; the process, jokingly defined by statisticians as "the tendency of the rural population towards large cities", is actually the tendency of water to flow uphill when forced by machinery". 372/373) This is a witty perspective, but severe, of the rural poverty inflicted by the growth of cities in the 19th century. It explicitly states what the novel's negative depiction of mechanized agriculture and idyllic pastoral landscapes more subtly implies: industry and machinery are harmful to life. provincial, forcing the inhabitants to migrate One might try to summarize Tess of the d'Urbervilles asa meeting of industrial modernity and traditional rural life, yet Hardy is not so naively nostalgic as to suggest that his folkloric countryside is the real alternative to Victorian cities. Many, including the Marxist critic Raymond Williams, object to the idea that Tess's fall is a representation of rural England destroyed by modernity. Certainly this is an aspect of the novel, although Hardy's cynicism concerns deeper issues of an increasingly urbanized society. Tess is not the antithesis of modernity: her education in the National Schools movement is an aspect of modernism, and her ambitions to rise socially could also be considered in this bracket. The author even attacks Victorian attitudes towards premarital sex by adding the subtitle "A Pure Woman" - this could be described as sexual modernity. Even if Tess were the embodiment of traditional values ​​that is not, fundamentally, canceled out by any symbol of industrialization such as “man-machine”: Alec D'Urberville is more representative of the new landed rich and Angel Clare of intellectual idealism in opposition to modernity. The rigidity and double standards of Christianity, particularly regarding sexuality, are in fact more traditional values ​​that favor Tess's downfall through the village's condemnation of her family. When considered more deeply, we see that Hardy does not present a clear modernist/traditionalist dichotomy. There are aspects of both that he criticizes, and both influence the trajectory of the plot. Sexualization and secularization are both important aspects of modernity, and Hardy addresses them in many of his novels, including Tess, earning himself many detractors in the process. His interest in the latter is clear from his own life: Hardy thought strongly about joining the Church, but his declining faith led him to writing. Romans 12:19 states, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay,” says the Lord,” which means that Christian justice must be repaid divinely. The biblical implication is that suffering endured in this life can benefit one after death, however any sin Tess inadvertently commits (or has forced upon her), is punished temporarily. She is admonished for Prince's inadvertent death and even her own rape, and Hardy emphasizes this irony by using quotation marks around the word "justice" in relation to Tess's ultimate execution. The paradoxical nature of the Church is also exemplified by Alec's conversion: the way Christianity adopts a man (who is, by his own admission, "a bad boy, a damn bad boy" (89)) but casts out Tess (who according to Hardy to be “A pure woman”) clearly shows the author highlighting the double standards of traditional Christian values. The loss of faith is further explored when Angel Clare turns away from religiosity in the hope that her “intellectual freedom” (133) will answer the questions that Christianity has failed to answer. While less explicit than Angel's humanism, Tess's “pain of Modernism” also exudes some of Hardy's religious cynicism. This can be seen in his description of the world as a “star… ruined” (37); despite the pessimism, there remains a sense of spirituality that permeates the text through references to paganism. Criticisms of Christianity and examples of lost faith do not leave a spiritual void or atheism. Hardy questions organized religion and is cynical in his spirituality, but the novel's ending is left open to interpretation: "Justice" had been done, and the President of the Immortals (in Aeschyles' phrase) had finished his game with Tess. And the knights and the –.