Connections to Tess characterisation
in 'The Voice'
In the poem Hardy is hearing the voice of his estranged dead wife from
when they were once in love. It is full of regret and remorse towards the lonely
times that he spent without her after her death.
The setting is very similar to Tess of the D’Urbervilles as it is set in
a the cold isolated moors with the wind blowing metaphorically through the
words such as “wistlessness” and “listlessness” as though the past that he
remembers simply blew away in the wind. This metaphor of the wind could also be
interpreted as a ghoul of his dead wife that is haunting Hardy and the reflects
similar ideas in the ghoul of Alec that Tess must carry with her throughout her
times in the story. The fragility of Tess’ situation is mirrored in Hardy’s
relationship with his wife as both see the future as bleak due to the past.
Therefore the setting has an almost pathetic fallacy continuum that can be
associated with both the novel and the poem.
Hardy
reflects similar characteristics in both his wife and Tess as he refers to the
time in which he wishes to remember his wife, he remembers her in an “air-blue
gown” for which is similar to the white gown that Tess wore before she went off
with Alec. He presents this time as before she had ‘changed’ which can also be
said for Tess who does not return home again till after the incident that
changes her life.
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