Angel

The character of Angel in Tess of the D’Urbervilles interested me and later frustrated me with his complexity and hypocrisy. I enjoyed the way the figurative language used to characterize the man evolved over the course of the novel, along with Tess’ situation. One small example of this occurs during the almost-return to innocence of Tess during her time at the dairy farm- her love interest is named Angel and is viewed in a beautiful garden, playing a harp. This would seem to imply that he is to be something of a savior for Tess and raises expectations for his character that he winds up falling very short of fulfilling. Shortly after their marriage and his departure, Hardy refers to his character less and less by his first name and more by Clare, his last name. To me, this new formality and distance between Angel and the readers parallels the way that Angel has distanced himself from Tess and can no longer be seen as her “angel.” The night that Angel finds out about Tess’ past misfortune with Alec D’Urberville, the imagery used to describe him shifts from tenderness and awe to dark and disapproving- the two unhappy lovers on their marriage night are juxtaposed- she as a delicate, light grey figure and he beside her, dark, “sinister, and forbidding.” This imagery foreshadows that he will bring misery to her or at the very least will darken the light that shines inside of her.

During the darker stage of their relationship, the awe with which Hardy surrounds Angel’s character- emphasis of his intelligence, culture, sensitivity, his rejection of convention- is slowly stripped away, perhaps as a means of foreshadowing Tess’ disillusionment with her husband after months of abandonment. Words used to describe him become disapproving, like “vague,” “abruptly,” “shame,” “misery, and “stern.” Angel is even described shortly after the essential dissolution of their marriage as a ghostly figure descending the hill to his home- almost as if he were a fallen angel, having exhausted his light and his potential as a satisfactory partner for Tess. In regards to the literal characterization of Angel, he reveals himself (or Hardy reveals him) to be shallow, a poser pretending to be above the conventions of his family (his brothers in particular). The perfect exemplification of this change is his immature attempt at expressing his desires, “My position- is this,’ he said abruptly. ‘I thought – any man would have thought – that by giving up all ambition to win a wife with social standing, with fortune, with knowledge of the world, I should secure rustic innocence as surely as I should secure pink cheeks; but – However, I am no man to reproach you, and I will not.” Tess feels his contradiction with that last statement and his curt and confused ramblings decrease the reader’s trust in his character. He proves himself to be in love with the idea of a country girl (wanting ruddy cheeks, the whole package) and not the actuality of the individual to whom he has pledged his love. By the end, any angelic qualities Angel might have appeared to have are gone- he is a weak, confused young man, no better than anyone else.