Book v. Mini-series





Synopsis
Tess Durbeyfield knows what it is to work hard and expect little. But her life is about to veer from the path trod by her mother and grandmother. When her ne'er-do-well father learns that his family is the last of a long noble line, the d'Urbervilles, he sends Tess on a journey to meet her supposed kin- a journey that will see her victimized by lust, poverty, and hypocrisy. With its sensitive depiction of one of literature's most admirable and tragic heroines and its powerful criticism of social convention, Tess of the D'Urbervilles is one of the most moving and poetic of Thomas Hardy's novels.



I loved this book and the mini-series. Hardy really points out hypocrisy in society, especially in what people believed over 100 years ago. Tess was victimized by almost everyone she meets, yet people look down on her as if the actions of those people were her own fault. I don't know how many people read the book, but Tess is raped by Alec, the people in town scorn her, her own mother practically sells her back to her rapist, and her husband, the one she truly loves, Angel, abandons her when he finds out she was raped. It such a sad, but beautiful story.

On a side note: I don't understand how people can argue that Tess was seduced, not raped. Granted, in the novel Hardy wasn't really able to write a detailed rape scene. In fact, the book was censored back when it was first published, I read. But Tess is sleeping right before the rape. Alec leaves her in the woods beforehand to search the area for any familiar markers - they are lost - and when he returns she's sleeping. He decides that while she's sleeping, it's perfectly okay to get on top of her and do his thing. How the hell is that seduction?

Hardy's writing is very poetic. So poetic that at times I had no idea what he was saying. He also alludes to things in religion and mythology that I'm not familiar with, which made reading a little difficult. However, it's a good thing I read the novel and saw the mini-series simultaneously because that really helped me when it came to visuals.

I think the characters are all realistic. No one is perfect in the story. And it's interesting to read how everyone's choices lead to Tess' demise. She really has no control over her destiny.

The mini-series follows the book very closely. The only changes made, I feel, were made for the better. The changes in the mini-series made the story more dramatic. For instance, at the end of Episode 2 (there are four altogether), Tess writes a note to the guy she loves - Angel - telling him all about her past. She slips the note under his door. In the morning, she believes he's fine with her confession because he's not treating her any differently. However, she discovers that the letter was never opened. She finds it under the doormat and doesn't have the nerve to tell him what the letter says.
Even some of the arguments were more dramatic in the mini-series: like when Angel finally finds out the truth and when Alec crosses paths with Tess for the second time and he won't leave her alone. I think the actors all did a great job and that's why the arguments were fun to watch.

Now, on a totally shallow note, my only qualm (with the mini-series) is Tess' attraction to Angel v. Alec. I'm not talking about the guys' actions or personalities because if that's the only factor, Angel is clearly the better choice: both in the movie and book. However, look-wise, I personally find the actor who played Alec to be more attractive than the actor who played Angel. So when Tess rejected Alec time and time again and developed an attraction to Angel as soon as she saw him, I was left thinking, What? Him? Why? How could she not like Alec?" I guess Tess saw Alec as the guy he truly was: a creepy, emotionally and physically abusive, controlling, stalking rapist and that's why she knew to stay away and wasn't attracted to him. But yea, even though Angel wasn't physically attractive, and I don't understand why Tess loved him (I know, I know, shallow), the actors were perfectly casted. I believed them in the roles.