Modern Essay Criticism of Tess of the D'Urbervilles

Gillian Beer appeared to have one of the shorter essays. It’s not that I was deliberately looking for a short review…okay maybe I was…but only because some of these essays are dense and hard to understand. So I read Beer’s “Descent and Sexual Selection: Women in Narrative.” Regardless of it being short, it was actually really interesting. Also, maybe because it was so short, but Beer doesn’t really talk about Hardy very much. It obviously applies to Tess and she does talk about it but that’s not what she quotes most. She’s not discussing Tess specifically. Instead Gillian is discussing social and evolutionary theories regarding the sexes.

She quotes mostly Darwin and it was totally fascinating! I never really realized that Darwin’s work might extend to people. I always thought he was studying animals and evolution in general but Gillian references works by Darwin which dealt with people and the quotations are awesome. It reminds me of another book I once read called “The Naked Ape” which was a zoologist’s study and observations of people as if they were animals.

Right off the bat, one of the most useful quotes or statements by the writer which I thought could be applied to Tess was this: “Succession and inheritance form the ‘hidden bond’ which knits all nature past and present together, just as succession and inheritance organize society and sustain hegemony” (446). This quote is in the first paragraph so maybe that’s why I liked it so much...I read the first paragraph three or four times before I finally focused enough to keep reading. I thought it was very interesting since we raised the idea several times of what was the point of mentioning the D’Urderville lineage connection to the Durbeyfields? Beer also said “variations in nature are not within the control of will; they are random and unwilled and may happen to advantage or disadvantage an individual and his progeny in any particular environment.” It’s all very interesting because I feel like both statements could’ve been connected and referenced in a discussion about Tess but that’s wasn’t Beer’s priority. Gillian Beer was more concerned with discussing Darwin’s theories on human social evolution in regards to male dominance and social classes.

She quotes Darwin saying “Civilised men are largely attracted by mental charms of women, by their wealth, and especially by their social position; for men rarely marry into a much lower rank.” She also calls Darwin out on claiming “that ‘in civilized nations women have free or almost free choice,’....in contrast to all other species, among humankind the male dominates choice.” I suppose I might just leave these quotes here. I feel like these easily apply to past discussions in class: Hardy’s insistence on his characters having or not having free will, etc. It also gives an interesting claim that men rarely married into a lower rank. We saw in Tess that this was actually an observed issue as Angel worried about marrying Tess.

Gillian’s essay discusses the process of sexual selection and the suffering of the female sex (menstruation) compared to the male sex. In writing about the struggles between the sexes and their rights and ambitions as characters, Beer refers to Hardy and George Eliot (I assume MiddleMarch because it fits the topic).

Overall, Gillian Beer’s essay covers the idea of social expectations of women and how their portrayed in narrative literature. She uses Darwin’s theory of evolution as a great assistant since the d’Urberville’s “’are extinct—as a county family…that is, gone down, gone under.’” The essay is short and full of golden nuggets of ideas. It’s likely that I didn’t even cover everything she discussed but it’s late and most of these essays are dense. This essay, however, is five pages and a quick read if you’re interested in checking  out all the Darwin theories which Beer refers to.