Tess of the d’Urbervilles and Perfume: The Story of a Murderer Essay

Control is the sociable construction constituting exercising authority over other beings. It can force many forms, the most prominent of which between Tess of the dUrbervilles and Perfume The Story of a Murderer being physical, psychological, capitalist and patriarchal. Both novels are of the Bildungsroman genre, however whilst Jean-BaptisteGrenouille has a predatory and psychotic personality, this is something to which TessDurbeyfieldis subject without reciprocity until the end of the novel, and it is ultimately thishamartiawhich leads to her oppression.Physical Under the historical influence of Darwins natural selection, Hardy attempts to shine up the physical control that Alec has over Tess through an animalistic comparison. In a reference to the rape of Lucrece, and thus to Tess rape, he states the serpent hisses where the sweet bird sings. This imaging highlights the sly, predatory tendancies of Alec, and diametrically opposes them to Tess delicate predispositions.Later, Hard y impliesthat sheis raped. Feminine tissue, sensitive as gossamer displays Alecs unconscious urges to control such a virgo intacta. The sibilance in this sound out contributes to Alecs presentation as a predator she is also described as blank as snow, a tabula rasa, a form of innocence Alec physically destroys. These factors, along with the traditional norms of wedding days, culminate to create a grotesque parody of a wedding night. Themoons later description as tarnished is symbolic of how Tess has been physically abusedby Alec, although it also exposes a disrupted parallel between the moons 28day pass, and Tess menstrual cycle due to the development and birth of Sorrow.Lucrece, just like Tess is described as if she wer... ... of the works of D.H. Lawrence Study of Thomas Hardy and Other Essays, D. H. Lawrence, page 99, Cambridge University Press,25 Jul 19852 Barrons Book Notes Thomas Hardys Tess of the dUrbervilles, page 114 Douglas Brown Social and Individual Fate in Tess fro m Thomas Hardy, 19613 John Berger, Ways of Seeing, Chapter 1, The social presence of men and women, page 5, 19724 Tess of the dUrbervilles by Thomas Hardy. 123HelpMe.com. 04 Jan 2014 .5 Sin, Society, and the Double Standard, Male and Female Transgressions in Tess of the dUrbervilles, Scott Fowler 6 Twentieth Century Interpretations of Tess of the dUrbervilles, Albert J. LaValley, 19697 Kristen Brady, Tess and Alec Rape or seduction? 19868 Cruel Persuasion Seduction, Temptation and Agency in Hardys Tess, James A. W. Heffernan