Mental & Physical Purity of Tess or Tess as a pure woman

     Thomas Hardy is Victorian novelist and Modern Poet. The purity of Tess has been a debated topic among the critics. It was published in 1981 and the sub-title “The Pure Woman” created a storm among people and they considered it offensive. Hardy regretted that his critics did not know the real meaning of “Pure”. According to Victorian society purity meant the physical purity and virginity of woman. But Hardy says that it means, the purity of mind and soul not the physical one. 

      It is obvious from the scenes in the novel that she did not want to be harassed and raped but it was the fate which left her with no way but destruction. When Alec took her from the party on horse and tried to seduce her, she preferred to walk rather than riding on horse. 

      When Angle Clare was trying to propose her for marriage, she rejected it again and again and told him that he can marry other maids working here better than her. She was aware of her past and did not want to offend him.

      Again when Alec came after Angel left her, he spoke against Angel, but Tess told him to not speak against him, because he is absent.

      To sum up, purity is not determined from the physical sense but by that it means, the purity of mind and soul. It became clear that Tess was a pure woman