Full title · Tess of the d’Urbervilles

author · Thomas Hardy

type of work · Novel

genre · Victorian, tragic

language · English

time and place written · 1880s, England

date of first publication · 1891

publisher · Random House, but also published serially in different periodicals

narrator · Anonymous

point of view · The narrator speaks in the third person, and looks deep into the characters’ minds. The narrator is objective but has an omniscient understanding of future implications of characters’ actions as they happen.

tone · Realistic, pessimistic

tense · Past

setting (time) · The 1880s and 1890s

setting (place) · Wessex, the southwest of England

protagonist · Tess Durbeyfield

major conflict · Tess is seduced, impregnated, and abandoned by the son of her upper-class patroness, making her unacceptable to her true love Angel later in life.

rising action · Tess’s family’s discovery that they are ancient English aristocracy, giving them all fantasies of a higher station in life; Tess’s accidental killing of the family horse, which drives her to seek help from the d’Urbervilles, where she is seduced and dishonored.

climax · Tess’s new husband discovers her earlier seduction by Alec and decides to leave her, going off to Brazil and not answering her letters, and bringing Tess to despair.

falling action · Tess’s last-ditch decision to marry Alec, who claims to love her; Angel’s return from Brazil to discover Tess marriage to her former seducer, and his meeting with Tess; Tess’s murder of Alec and short-lived escape with Angel before being apprehended and executed

themes · The injustice of existence; changing ideas of social class in Victorian England; men dominating women

motifs · Birds; the Book of Genesis; variant names

symbols · Prince; the d’Urberville family vault; Brazil

foreshadowing · Tess’s killing of the pheasants foreshadows her own death by hanging; Alec’s assertion that he will “master” Tess again foreshadows his reemergence in her life

full title · The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

author · Robert Louis Stevenson

type of work · Novel

genre · Gothic mystery story

language · English

time and place written · 1885, Bournemouth, England

date of first publication · January 1886

publisher · Longmans, Green and Co.

narrator · The narrator is anonymous and speaks in the third person. Dr. Lanyon and Dr. Jekyll each narrate one chapter of the novel via a confessional letter.

point of view · For most of the novel, the narrative follows Utterson’s point of view; in the last two chapters, Lanyon and Jekyll report their experiences from their own perspectives.

tone · Mysterious; serious

tense · Past

setting (time) · The late nineteenth century

setting (place) · London

protagonist · Henry Jekyll

major conflict · Jekyll attempts to keep his dark half, Edward Hyde, under control and then to prevent himself from becoming Hyde permanently.

rising action · Utterson attempts to discover the truth about the Jekyll-Hyde relationship.

climax · One could argue for two different climaxes. The moment when Utterson breaks down the door to Jekyll’s laboratory and finds Hyde’s corpse constitutes a climax in that Utterson finally admits and accepts that something terribly wrong has taken place. But one might also see the novel’s climax as arising within Lanyon’s letter, at the moment that he witnesses Hyde’s transformation into Jekyll and the mysterious connection between the personas is finally explained.

falling action · Utterson leaves Jekyll’s laboratory, goes home, and reads the letters from Lanyon and Jekyll, which explain all.

themes · The duality of human nature; the importance of reputation

motifs · Violence against innocents; silence; urban terror

symbols · Jekyll’s house and laboratory; Hyde’s physical appearance

foreshadowing · While a general mood of impending disaster pervades the novel, there are few instances of explicit foreshadowing.

Date: 2015-01-02; view: 1227