28, May 2026

Denial of Poetic Justice in Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles : A Feminist Perspective

VOLUME-12; ISSUE-5; MAY-2026

Author(s): Dr NIKUNJA KISHORE SA

Authors Affiliations:

ASST. PROFESSOR (ENGLISH)                                      RADHANATH IASE, CUTTACK

 

DOIs:10.2015/IJIRMF/202605026     |     Paper ID: IJIRMF202605026


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Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles (1891) dramatizes the relentless suffering of Tess Durbeyfield, a heroine whose moral integrity is systematically crushed by patriarchal hypocrisy, class oppression, and deterministic fate. This article argues that Hardy deliberately denies Tess the consolation of poetic justice, exposing systemic injustice rather than offering moral recompense. Hardy portrays Tess as a symbol of natural innocence trapped within an unforgiving social order. While Alec, the primary agent of her suffering, escapes throughout the novel, Tess bears the weight of guilt and punishment. Even her brief moment of happiness with Angel is shattered. The tragic conclusion – Tess’s arrest and her ultimate execution – exposes the hypocrisy in a patriarchal world as well as the illusion of justice. Hardy replaces poetic justice with tragic inevitability. The novel’s ironic conclusion—“‘Justice’ was done” (p.384)—underscores his rejection of Victorian morality and anticipates feminist critiques of systemic oppression, leaving readers with outrage rather than catharsis.
Poetic justice; feminist criticism; patriarchal oppression; Victorian morality; tragic heroine; systemic injustice; fate and determinism; gender and class

Dr NIKUNJA KISHORE SA (2026); Denial of Poetic Justice in Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles : A Feminist Perspective, International Journal for Innovative Research in Multidisciplinary Field, ISSN(O): 2455-0620, Vol-12, Issue-5, Available on –   https://www.ijirmf.com/

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