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

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Date Issued:
2011
Summary:
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.
Title: “Call Me Tess”: articulating and unwriting identity in Tess of the d’Urbervilles.
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Name(s): Culler, Drew, author
Edwards, Hilary, Thesis advisor
Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Florida Atlantic University
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Thesis
Date Created: 2011
Date Issued: 2011
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: online resource
Extent: 50 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: 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.
Identifier: FA00003573 (IID)
Degree granted: Thesis (B.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, 2011.
Collection: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections
Note(s): Includes bibliography.
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00003573
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU

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