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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wish Tess had just gone with Angel

229 replies

WallaceinAnderland · 21/05/2025 23:50

This is probably a popular and well discussed opinion but it just makes me so sad every time. She didn't have to kill Alec, she was legally married to Angel. She could have just walked away.

OP posts:
myplace · 22/05/2025 07:44

Because women in her situation, with a lifetime of trauma under her belt, lose the ability to make rational choices.

She’s written that way because that’s how people are.

Devastating.

You could equally ask why Clare was such a hypocrite, and why Alec was so destructive.

This was the moment Tess reclaimed her agency. But I’m worried about her little sister…

Onedayiwillsomething · 22/05/2025 07:44

OneForTheRoadThen · 22/05/2025 02:34

I studied this for GCSE back in the day, put me off Hardy for life.

I like books where there is at least one character you like. Or even have one feature that you can like. Tess is a dreadful wimp, even when stuff is going well for her she’s still a wet blanket.

ranoutofquinoaandprosecco · 22/05/2025 07:41

One of my favourite novels and as mentioned it’s so bleak it really shouldn’t be!

Buffypaws · 22/05/2025 07:39

Tess probably didn’t think she deserved Angel. He basically told her Alec was her rightful husband. Also Hardy wanted us traumatised.

DuckonaBike · 22/05/2025 07:38

To answer the original question, I’ve always assumed that she thought Angel couldn’t truly love and respect her after she had chosen to go back to Alec and live as his mistress. So she killed Alec as revenge for destroying her only chance of happiness.

It is a very beautiful and very sad book.

crumblingschools · 22/05/2025 07:37

@Amelie2025 can AIBU not be cultural? Surely most questions/discussions in AIBU could fit in other sections too eg relationships, parenting

Buffypaws · 22/05/2025 07:37

Amelie2025 · 22/05/2025 07:23

Don't 'oh mate' me, patronising!

if belongs in book/tv, whatever form you want to chat about. Not in AIBU.

Show quote history

YABU. The OP is asking whether they are being unreasonable. OP has posted a question and a poll about a matter on which many of us will have an opinion. Their query is allowed to relate to a book unless the rest of us have missed a rule.

TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross · 22/05/2025 07:34

Literature questions are always an easy win for me because Pointless contestants are almost universally terrible at them.

shop
inn
mill
castle
vicarage
casino

The “hall” has confused me because surely that’s the building part of the title?

EmpressaurusKitty · 22/05/2025 07:29

Threads like AIBU to ask how to book a holiday / use the tube / what your favourite salad is should be kicked out of AIBU but at least this one has a discussion point.

It’s years since I’ve read the book but given all she’d been through, Tess can’t be blamed for exploding. And Angel was such a sanctimonious git that I think he’d have thrown Alex at her constantly.

TimeForTeaAndToast · 22/05/2025 07:28

I read the book a long time ago, but didn't Angel dump her for being impure even though he admitted she was "more sinned against than sinning". Alec had ruined her life and that's why she killed him.

Amelie2025 · 22/05/2025 07:26

wanttokickoffbutcant · 22/05/2025 00:22

It's a novel?

Show quote history

No shit Sherlock. But the TV adaptation is often played & discussed. It belongs in TV or Reading. NOT in AIBU.

Amelie2025 · 22/05/2025 07:23

PlutoCat · 22/05/2025 00:23

Oh, mate.

Show quote history

Don't 'oh mate' me, patronising!

if belongs in book/tv, whatever form you want to chat about. Not in AIBU.

Amelie2025 · 22/05/2025 07:22

AgathaMystery · 22/05/2025 00:31

Love this for you.

it’s the most depressing book ever written. If it were on TV, the only adverts allowed would be for the Samaritans.

Show quote history

It's reasonably often in the TV.

there's a book section too

BeethovenNinth · 22/05/2025 05:59

Such a sad book. I read it in once and never again

ThatCyanCat · 22/05/2025 05:57

It's been a very long time since I read it but I think she thought Angel would never trust her again as long as Alec was alive. I also think she may have been so mentally unwell at that point that she was beyond reason... or maybe it was an elaborate kind of murder-suicide.

Seymourscat · 22/05/2025 05:48

It’s a very ‘modern’ novel given when it was written. Hardy writes women well, for the time. It’s a great story but yes very sad.

SwanRonsen · 22/05/2025 05:41

Oliver Milburn as Angel was absolutely gorgeous. That was my favourite adaptation

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 22/05/2025 05:28

Why? Anything and everything goes in this section. At least the OP had an AIBU. Lots post here without one.

Missey85 · 22/05/2025 05:26

wanttokickoffbutcant · 22/05/2025 00:22

It's a novel?

Show quote history

So post it in the book/reading forum 🙁

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 22/05/2025 05:22

Never been able to read Tess again after having it as a set book at school. Too young, I think - equivalent of year 10, IIRC.

I knew which book you meant, though. People assuming TV reminded me of Pointless yesterday. Fill in the missing buildings from book titles. They got hardly any, although the authors' names were provided too. List included
Hall
The Old Curiosity
Jamaica
The on the Floss
I Capture the __
Murder at the __
__Royale

JasmineAllen · 22/05/2025 05:17

It was one of my A level texts too, maybe we're the same age. I absolutely loved the book and still often think about it especially when I visit Dorset. It's such a well written account of how women's lives were limited by their sex. Man's inhumanity to woman indeed.
I was completely in love with Angel Clare, I suspect because he was played by the lovely Peter Firth in the film adaptation 😊

BCBird · 22/05/2025 05:07

Knew straight away what you meant, transported me back to A level English- nearly 40 years ago. Might re read. Wonder what my take will be on this now after some life experience?

HaroldMeaker · 22/05/2025 04:59

I think she just unleashed a lifetime of abuse on Alec, so in a way that bit was quite satisfying. Angel didn’t deserve her anyway, dickhead.

Glowingup · 22/05/2025 04:40

Also she didn’t have to kill him, no but nor do any other people who kill. He’d abused her for a long time and she had enough. Her husband was also a wanker and abusive in a different way.

Glowingup · 22/05/2025 04:38

WallaceinAnderland · 22/05/2025 00:57

I have read Jude. It's not about the deaths; I'm pondering on the reasons for them. There was no need for Tess to die. She had a legal husband to protect her. And she claimed to still love him and to want to be with him. So she could have just gone with him and avoided the gallows.

Was there a need for the small children in Jude to die?

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