The discovery of her father that their
family is descended from old Norman nobility prompts Tess onto a tragic journey ending in her execution. She is sent by her parents to claim kinship with another family with the D’Urberville name, not realising that the family are nouveaux rich from a different part of the country who have purchased the name to make themselves seem more respectable. She is greeted by Alec Stoke D’Urberville, a young playboy who immediately takes a shine to her. He rejects Tess as family but invites her to come
work at his estate, where he repeatedly attempts to seduce her until, frustrated at her constant rejections, he drives her out into the forest and rapes her.
Tess goes back to her parents and has Alec’s child, which is sickly and soon dies. To escape the stigma of having given birth to a bastard she leaves to work at Talbothay’s dairy where the folk are unfamiliar with her history. There she meets Angel, a preacher’s son with rebellious tendencies who is training to be a farmer, despite his family’s disapproval. He and Tess fall in love and are married, but Angel is disturbed upon finding out about her trouble with Alec and travels to Brazil to get some distance and think things over. With Angel gone Tess falls upon
hard times, she moves about taking on different farming work which is hard and pays poorly. Alec
returns and renews his efforts to claim her, she refuses to have anything to do with him until her father’s death leaves her family homeless, he provides them with a place at his household in exchange for having Tess live with him in the manner of a wife.
Angel returns from Brazil to find Tess staying with Alec, she sees how he has manipulated and
taken advantage of her, they get into an argument and she kills him. She and Angel run away together, they spend one night in each other’s company before Tess is captured and taken to be executed. She requests that Angel take her younger sister in her place after she is killed, the final scene is of them walking from the gallows
hand in hand..
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