Tess of the DUrbervilles《The Men are Blind》

As for the Chinese version of Tess of the D’ Urbervilles I had read it twice in my middle school. When I recall the memory it was a heart-breaking novel which arouses too much sympathy and emotion within me. At that time I was especially resentful for Alec and considered seducer as the wickest man in the world. To some extent it influenced me subconsciously in the attitude on chastity that was being maiden no more before marriage would result in fatal blow. How silly I was! I sensed a sort of unfairness in the misfortune Tess had encountered but I couldn’t perceive her fate in depth and deemed it as a mere tragedy.

Today when I reread the novel I couldn’t help being grieved for Tess’s miserable life again yet my abomination towards Clare is much stronger than my previous hatred for Alec. Posing as a man who loves Tess from his heart Clare deserts her cruelly after knowing her not being pure any more. What a hypocritical imposter! Whether Clare had dissipation or not Tess’s love for her Angel will never change. In contrast when Clare is told about her confession of the past his passion dies out. He tells Tess “You were one person; now you are another.” And “I repeat the woman I have been loving is not you.” He even confesses the woman he has loved is just another woman in Tess’s shape. These words like sharp arrow mercilessly aim at Tess’s tender heart. We can see the inequality of love between Tess and Clare for one is profound steadfastly while the other is trickily superficial.

Sadly Clare’s blindness and rigidity prevents him from a prospective happy life. How can he divide the same person into two totally irrelevant women? Tess has not changed since she is still her very self. But after the honest presence of the fact she is destined to be the one who pays.

Ridiculously staying virginal becomes the most important virtue the women should abide. In face the notion of virginity has extremely detrimental effect for women’s life. Some men set women adrift as if the one who is not virgin will undoubtedly grow into a completely different person. According to common sense for one person his personality and intelligence will not alter poles apart after his first sexual act. Being demanding the men feel shameful if their wives are not maidens and put moral pressure on women.

Gradually we come to no the reason why Clare makes such a fuss. For the men like Clare they worship purity of women and exaggerate virginity into divine. In their eyes being chaste is the pre-requisite to be called a good girl. In this case they surely cannot bear their wife not being innocent. Rather they wish they could have absolute control over their women. What’s more they are quite possessive with the ones they long for and in this sense the women are inferior to what they actually are. They are degraded into a sort of existence that is not judged by their inner merit but by their physical condition. From this aspect the men show no respect to the full person of women.

The conception of virginity has been advocated by men-ruling society too long and it has obtained numerous detrimental overtones for women. Some men put too much emphasis on women’s chastity. For women who possess many sparkling virtues if she is not a virgin before marriage they will laugh at her and despise her and be blind to her good points. That is unfair since men have not right to ask women to restrain themselves while men’s fault in sexual matter is not worthy of mentioning.

Even today I can see fierce discussion on the Internet about the topics concerning whether a non-virgin can be accepted by men unconditionally. Many of follow-up comments are full of men’s endless condemnation towards this kind of women. I feel very sorry for that. The feudal thoughts have dominated China too long and it needs great efforts to dispel them to spare more breathing space for women.