Is Tess is responsible for her own suffering
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In Hardy's 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles', Tess, the heroine, has hardships and injustices endlessly heaped upon her, though she never wallows in self-pity or abandons hope. Tess is a victim of Hardy's male-dominant view of the world in the 19th century. She is a morally ambiguous character. Her behaviour discourages the reader from classifying her as purely evil or purely good.
External influences often manipulate Tess' decisions throughout the novel.
Although Tess is portrayed as an innocent girl who makes wrongful decisions, which lead to her destruction, Tess' parents, Angel Clare, Alec d'Urberville and other external influences play an important part in her life, leading to her tragedy.
Tess' parents started the cycle of tragedy in her life by thinking of themselves first. Her parents' weakness is that her father is lazy and her mother is simple. The Durbeyfield's need of a new horse, and the mother's greed for her daughter to claim kin against her will with a noble family member of the d'Urbervilles, starts Tess on her journey to her misfortune.
"You must go to her and claim kin, and ask for some help in our trouble...