To wish Tess had just gone with Angel

[WallaceinAnderland]

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.

Mr Crick says he can lend you a spade off the farm, should you need it.

IMO it does not belong in AIBU,

Your opinion has been noted with all the respect it is due. Can you move on now?

To clarify, I can confirm that I did not start this thread off the back of any screen adaptation. I'm not aware of any new screen adaptation either. I did not even start it after reading the book, I read that years ago. It just popped into my head whilst I was out walking and I started wishing that Tess had just walked out of there with Angel. Because she did love Angel.

But obviously that has led to discussion about what she would have been thinking and feeling and how different it was for women back then. I still wish she had lived but I understand how Hardy didn't want that ending for his book. He's no happily ever after Austen after all.

🙄🙄🙄🙄

Well if people would stop quoting me, then I wouldn't keep replying to them would I. FFS

Maybe time to accept that you were in the wrong?

The problem is that there will always be idiots who respond to a post without having read the rest of the thread to check how many people have already said the same thing.
On a name thread we once counted the number of posters who corrected a minor error made by the OP. I think it totalled about 30 in the end & she copied & pasted the same reply to each of them.

My cringing for you is hilarious (to me). Sorry!

You could always ignore them.

And ?

its aired fairy frequently

Yes, this was my thought - she killed him because he had worn her down to believe that Angel would never want her and then Angel’s there and Tess is all WTAF, Alec!

Probably misery-lit Hardy wanted a tragic ending.

I dislike the trope in fiction that abused women ‘lose it’ and lash out/kill, even allowing for Tess being written when it was. Also a stretch that Tess, though not well educated etc, wouldn’t have been aware that she was not ‘married’ to Alec.

Your lack of comprehension is hilarious.

try reading a thread before commenting.

They could stop making the same stupid & untrue statements.

urgh. Almost as tedious as some of the Hardy.

But I wasn't 'in the wrong' 🙇🏻‍♀️

In MY opinion (which I'm entitled to & anyone is at liberty to agree or disagree with) this doesn't belong in AIBU and starting a thread about characters as if they are real people without any context is ridiculous & will confuse many posters who have not read/seen it, as quite a few other posters have said.

the stupid comments aimed at me about it being 'a classic', 'cringing' & 'embarrassed' for me etc are pathetic. I read the book 40 years ago before half the posters were born or could read.

however, as I pointed out, it is mostly discussed on MN after yet another airing of one of the screen adaptations.

anyway, it's a lovely day here, I've been for a walk around the lake & im going to enjoy my coffee while you continue to wring your hands over this.

I haven't read it for decades, it's so sad. My interpretation was that Tess felt she was damned because of the baby, she could never have found happiness with Angel. She killed Alec, because he didn't deserve to live, but it was also a way of committing suicide.

Hardy lived in such a beautiful spot, yet seemed haunted by the poverty around him. The most beautiful depressing books.

Your multiple posts are derailing an otherwise nice thread.

Off topic but I often think of Tess in those muddy turnip fields if I’m tramping in muddy fields with my dog.

Lovely thread - years since I read Thomas Hardy and I’m tempted to read them again over the summer, bleak and beautiful at the same time.

You were demonstrably wrong in suggesting that it should be in the TV section, given that people were quite obviously talking about a book. Your claim that you thought it was about a TV adaptation makes no sense, as there was absolutely nothing to suggest that - it's very obviously just an attempt to dig yourself out of the embarrassing hole that you had dug for yourself. Give it a rest.

And while you are entitled to have an opinion about what should be posted where, other people can post wherever they see fit. If you have a problem with it, contact MNHQ to ask if they will consider moving the thread, but please don't derail the conversation for other people. If you don't like the thread, just scroll the fuck on.

She may have felt that she was spiritually married to him as they'd had sex, and therefore had not been free to marry anyone else unless he was dead.

It's been such a long time since I read it (I'm going to reread it now) but now I think about it, I think the book was ambiguous about whether it was rape or consensual? He may have worn her down rather than getting proper consent.

Perhaps @ThatCyanCat. I don’t recall how religion was covered in the book. I recall that in my class most people read it as rape. True consent wouldn’t have been possible in the circumstances.

I still don’t want to re-read it 😆

I shouldn't reply, but I will.

You made a silly mistake, thinking we were talking about something else. Instead of admitting it you are insulting everyone who is enjoying this thread.

however, as I pointed out, it is mostly discussed on MN after yet another airing of one of the screen adaptations

The only MN discussion I can find of the screen adaptations was in 2008. Which was when the last screen adaptation was made. Not exactly frequent, is it?

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/telly_addicts/606685-tess-of-the-d-urbervilles-tonight-excited

Now, I am going to.be sensible and stop engaging.

I love Hardy, but I really, really do understand why some people don't!

No I didn't make ANY mistake. Stop ignoring my clear explanation in order to TRY to put me down & belittle me.

I'm not insulting anyone ENJOYING the thread, I (& others) are simply of the opinion it doesn't belong in AIBU. People can disagree, but they don't need to be gratuitously insulting & make (incorrect) assumptions & accusations.

just because you can't find other threads doesn't mean they didn't happen 🙄🙄

right, second coffee made, I'm going back outside to enjoy the coffee & the birds