Compare and Contrast Wilde and Hardy's Presentation of the Fallen Woman - Coursework Example

He depicts the type of woman Tess portrays by putting it her description in the story. In a very good manner, he uses narration to highlight facts about women. Hardy provokes more sympathy through his portrayal of Tess than Wilde because of the systematic way he shows her suffering. First, Tess is in a relationship that she expects to work out, but has a secret that when revealed can destroy the relationship. Hardy explains the way Alec got hold of Tess while in the woods and molested her without caring about the consequences2.

Hardy could have chosen to minimize the suffering for this woman, but instead adds on more. Angel, Tess partner, leaves for Brazil on realizing that she was raped leaving her without somebody to nurse her wounded heart. Tess wishes that Alec was a lusty young farmer instead of being that entire Angel hated. Probably, the idea of being just a farmer would have lessened Angel’s heart into forgiving her. Peak of emotional sympathy happens when she had to get executed for murdering Alec. In my opinion, she deserved to get pardoned because her actions towards Alec were based on the pain she felt and the pain he had caused her.

Hardy brings more sympathy in the way he portrays Tess as the neglected woman. She is left to give birth in her village despite that her child is of a very wealthy man. Despite having just delivered, she has to ensure her survival by working as a field hand which leads to the death of her child. Hardy ensures that Tess’ misfortunes are elaborated in a narrated way. On the other hand, Wilde uses a number of characters to portray a fallen woman. The main character could be Mrs. Arbuthnot since she holds a dark secret of how she failed to stop her affair with the lord master.

Her affair led to the emergence of a son out of wedlock. Wilde’s character does not provoke a lot of sympathy since; she has acquired a respectable name and lives a good life. Mrs. Allonby has had a lot of controversies in her life resulting to a flirtatious lady. Miss Hester can be used to portray a fallen woman since she is an orphan and has had to witness the shortcomings of life, despite being an heiress3. In addition, Jane can be identified as an indication of a fallen woman in the piece because the way she argues her points.

Her arguments depict a woman of great ignorance and lack of education. Tess is used to show the different suffering women undergo and the how painful events can concurrently occur in a person’s life4. Hardy uses her to show the different ways in which women are treated in the society. During a conversation with Alec, Tess tries to bring out her own thinking about theology by rejecting sign writers words of condemnation. Her argument is purely ignored Hardy simply because he thought her agnosticism could be attributed to just a replication of angels.

The fact that Tess’ ideas are not made up to something shows how the author used Tess to depict women in certain societies. In contrast, Mrs. Arbuthnot is a woman who lost her husband but has gained a lot of respect from the people of her village. Her respect s earned from helping the poor and her neglect to associate with various people in social gatherings. Tess is identified as woman with sixth grade training in understanding and reproducing arguments. She seems intelligent and could have prospered as teacher if she was given a chance.

This proves