“Call Me Tess”: articulating and unwriting identity in Tess of the d’Urbervilles

Author

• Drew Culler

Date of Award

2011

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Edwards, Hilary

Abstract

In Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles, male characters inscribe and project stereotyped images of femininity onto the novel’s eponymous heroine. In this thesis, I argue that Tess defies these inscriptions and projections not only through her use of violence, but also through a radical form of submission. Tess, who is often described by critics as a victim of fate, becomes in my argument a formidable figure; even her death, which is frequently read as a capitulation to the forces against her, becomes in this interpretation a deliberate act of defiance. Tess obliterates her own body, the contested site of inscription and projection, in order to deny it to her persecutors.

Comments

Includes bibliography.

Recommended Citation

Culler, Drew, "“Call Me Tess”: articulating and unwriting identity in Tess of the d’Urbervilles" (2011). Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019. 52.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_honors_2/52

Extent

50 p.

Identifier

FA00003573