WRITING LITERARY ESSAYS: WRITING ABOUT SETTING - TESS OF THE D`URBEVILLES- BY THOMAS HARDY -CHAPTER LVIII-

WRITING LITERARY ESSAYS: WRITING   ABOUT SETTING TESS OF THE D`URBEVILLES- BY THOMAS HARDY  -CHAPTER LVIII-

The excerpt deals with Tess`s last appearance before she is hanged. The setting reveals, accompanies and intensifies the s 333e43d olemnity and tragedy of the whole scene.

Time creates special effects in the scene, it helps us to understand it better. `it was about midnight`- it is well known that night is the protector of love. It suggests mystery and depth. On the other hand, even if the situation is going to be dangerous for them, night is a romantic element.

It is common knowledge that the nature and the landscapes are playing a very important role in Hardy`s novels, as they project the feelings of the characters on a background of eternity. In order to understand why Thomas Hardy had chosen Stonehenge to all the places in the world, one must know a little about the history of this magnificent monument. It represents a circle of small bluestones enclosing a horseshoe- shaped arrangement of bluestones capped with lintels. Within these trilithons stands a slab of micaceous sandsatone known as the Altar Stone. It seems that Stonehenge was the only right setting for such a dramatic scene. The Stonehenge fragment begins with Hardy`s detailed description of the monoliths. We can almost see Tess passing her fingers along the vertical surface of the stone. Angel himself names this edifice a `very Temple of Winds` because the wind blowing among it`s blocks of stone made a sort of a buzz. Many rituals took place here, including sacrifices. The connection between Tess and Stonehenge is that when she sees the place, she stops there..she feels that her end is very close .Stonegenge is a gate to another world. She isn`t afraid anymore from the police and she feels this place is her home- ` so now I am at home`.

The weather forebodes the tragedy is going to happen- the unhappy end of Tess- `the sky was dense with cloud, some fragment of a moon1- Tess is scared of the sky , of the moon, of what she may see.

The primordial elements of nature are to support and to echo Tess`s tragedy. There is not a real description of the vegetation - vegetation itself is rare. There is the `presence` of `turf` and `grass`- it is a simple road, a simple way of receiving their sacrifices, especially from the adjective `roofless`.

The silence of the night, in a way or another, may prevent or announce Tess about what is going to happen and it keeps the reader in suspense. The whole scene is covered by silence- the only `noise` is the `echo of their footsteps`.

The setting gives the story a crust of the events, it explains the symbols from the novel and it may also make us to discover new symbols that we thought to be simple elements. It is the essence that catches the reader into the novel`s atmosphere.