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AIBU?

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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:
Delphiniumandlupins · 22/05/2025 03:56

Tror · 22/05/2025 01:07

"Done because we are too menny" sic

Still heartbreaking and it's 30 years since I read Jude the Obscure.

Responding to:
How is Jude bleaker?
This question implies you haven't read it. Let's just say Tess isn't the only novel with death in. /end

Tess was just worn down and felt trapped by it all. I loved her moonlit flits and hated Angel.

What about the scene setting for Mayor of Casterbridge? How Hardy did like to torture his characters.

I was hoping someone would bring up The Mayor of Casterbridge. Loved Thomas Hardy when I was a gloomy teenager, need to read them again

ChocolateMagnum · 22/05/2025 03:11

Because her mental health was absolutely shot due to the society she lived in, her social class, expectations of women, inequality, poverty, her bonkers dad, and then, to top it all off, the horrific abuse she'd suffered all her life. She wasn't really in the best position to be making good decisions. That's why!

ChessorBuckaroo · 22/05/2025 03:05

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

Fascinating. I know of the novel of course but never knew what it was about.

CarrieMoonbeams · 22/05/2025 02:50

This is one of my favourite books of all time, I've read it so many times (and still get emotional about baby Sorrow and the ending too). Beautifully written.

I agree with @GoldLash , the TV version with Gemma Arterton and Eddie Redmayne is sublime.

And yes, I think she killed Alec because of how he ruined her life and just kept appearing again and again - she'd been driven beyond reason I think.

OneForTheRoadThen · 22/05/2025 02:34

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

Bonster37 · 22/05/2025 01:38

I didn’t see this as I try to avoid movies with sad endings etc as I feel life is real enough for me (sad). I need a different ending when I’m watching a movie. I guess it’s all about what you are in the mood for. Sometimes it’s good to cry. If you want a good pick me up, I watched Dr Thorne this evening.What a gem! Why haven’t I heard of that before? I loved it.

sweeneytoddsrazor · 22/05/2025 01:32

Hardy was a superb writer. I love pretty much all of his work. The christening/death of baby Sorrow is so moving. Tess has already accepted she will be damned but she doesn't want that for her child. Leaving Alec to go to Angel may have spared her death but it wouldn't have spared her damnation so she had nothing to lose.

Happyinarcon · 22/05/2025 01:30

WallaceinAnderland · 22/05/2025 01:18

I do understand how worn down she was. As an absolute last resort she sold herself for the good of her family and she was wretched.

But then, the man that she claims to still love turned up. And he wanted to take her away from the horrible situation she was in. She had no money of her own. No property or rights to anything. But she was married and, legally, that gave her rights.

She could have walked away from Alec. She did not need to kill him. She could have just left him and gone with her legal husband.

I always assumed she was the end of her tether by then and by the time Angel came back it was too little too late. I also don’t know why Hardy chose the name Angel, I’ve never heard of a bloke called that before and I don’t think it worked.

Original poster
WallaceinAnderland · 22/05/2025 01:24

HigherWaffle · 22/05/2025 01:19

Me, too. Thomas Hardy is my favourite novelist.

They are ancient, but I do like the Wessex Tales on iplayer.

OP posts:
TheBroonOneAndTheWhiteOne · 22/05/2025 01:19

Lovemydoggie · 22/05/2025 00:54

Is this a TV series 🤔

'Tis a novel.

HigherWaffle · 22/05/2025 01:19

Me, too. Thomas Hardy is my favourite novelist.

Original poster
WallaceinAnderland · 22/05/2025 01:18

I do understand how worn down she was. As an absolute last resort she sold herself for the good of her family and she was wretched.

But then, the man that she claims to still love turned up. And he wanted to take her away from the horrible situation she was in. She had no money of her own. No property or rights to anything. But she was married and, legally, that gave her rights.

She could have walked away from Alec. She did not need to kill him. She could have just left him and gone with her legal husband.

OP posts:
AdaColeman · 22/05/2025 01:15

The mistake Tess made was in confessing her past to the awful Angel.

GoldLash · 22/05/2025 01:10

it’s on iplayer so I highly recommend you all watch it

GoldLash · 22/05/2025 01:08

The TV version of Tess with Gemma Arterton is sublime.

Tror · 22/05/2025 01:07

"Done because we are too menny" sic

Still heartbreaking and it's 30 years since I read Jude the Obscure.

Responding to:
How is Jude bleaker?
This question implies you haven't read it. Let's just say Tess isn't the only novel with death in. /end

Tess was just worn down and felt trapped by it all. I loved her moonlit flits and hated Angel.

What about the scene setting for Mayor of Casterbridge? How Hardy did like to torture his characters.

GoldLash · 22/05/2025 01:05

Well Tess and Fantine are both innocent women destroyed by society and its values at the time

PlutoCat · 22/05/2025 01:04

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.

Alec abused her from when she was a young girl. When Angel turned up, Alec taunted her about him, she finally snapped and killed him.

MrsBennetsPoorNerves · 22/05/2025 01:00

Lovemydoggie · 22/05/2025 00:54

Is this a TV series 🤔

Is this a joke?

PlutoCat · 22/05/2025 01:00

Lovemydoggie · 22/05/2025 00:54

Is this a TV series 🤔

No. It is a novel. Although a TV version was made in 2008ish in the UK and there was a film version made by Polanski back in the very late 70s.

Original poster
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.

OP posts:
PlutoCat · 22/05/2025 00:57

GargoylesofBeelzebub · 22/05/2025 00:45

God I hated this book. So depressing.

But the writing is beautiful. Especially the way Hardy incorporated the natural world into the novel and particularly into the descriptions of Tess and Angel's developing romance at Talbothays.

I love the book, as you can probably tell.

Lovemydoggie · 22/05/2025 00:54

Is this a TV series 🤔

Loooop · 22/05/2025 00:51

Keeping it current are we mumsnet?

Maybe people thought was love island? Cracking twist that, on love island, murder and a hanging.

EBearhug · 22/05/2025 00:50

I think she thought she could never be free of Alec while he was still alive.

How is Jude bleaker?
This question implies you haven't read it. Let's just say Tess isn't the only novel with death in.

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