Tess of The D'urbervilles Phase Four

Hey, Emily. How are you? No. No? What do you mean? No, I won't tell you what happens in Phase the Fourth. I don't need you to tell me. I read it. SURE you did. I did. Seriously. Okay, smarty pants. What happens in the fourth phase? Okay, well, Angel goes to visit his parents, see? Because he thinks he wants to marry Tess, but it's like he needs his dad's permission or something. That's right so far. Go on. His dad is a minister, and he's not really concerned with who she is, so he says, but that she's a pure-hearted woman. I figure that's dramatic irony, since Angel's so sure she's pure but we know she's kind of not. Sort of. I think I'm in shock. Not only did you read, you know a literary element. What did you do, read SparkNotes? I'm hurt. Really. And no. Anyway, before Angel leaves his dad, his dad tells him about his efforts to convert this guy named Alec. And it's the GUY, right? But Angel doesn't know that. The plot thickens. Go on. Well, he asks her and asks her and asks her to marry him. It comes out that she's descended from the d'Urbervilles, and he thinks that's a good thing. She finally agrees to marry him. Sounds good so far. And then? Well, Tess's mom tells her NOT to tell Angel about Alec and the baby, so she doesn't. The thing is, though, this man finds out about the wedding and tells Angel she's not a ***, but it just makes Angel mad. You kind of have to wonder what would have happened if she had told him before the wedding. Who knows? I think he was the kind of person that already had come to his own conclusions about that. But anyway, she did try to tell him, when she slid that letter under the door, but he didn't see it. That's right. So about the wedding... They get married on New Year's Eve, and his brilliant plan is to stay in this moldy old house that used to belong to the d'Urbervilles. You should never let a man plan your honeymoon. I'm rolling my eyes here, Emily. Anyway, Angel and Tess get married, but after they do, they find out that night that Retty tried to kill herself and Marian's becoming an alcoholic. So they don't die literally, but kind of figuratively. That's kind of important to remember--this whole death or loss of self thing. But you already knew that, I'm sure. I did know that, actually. The phase ends when Angel tells her about his past indiscretions with another woman--SURPRISE! He's not pure. So Tess thinks it's okay to tell him about her past. I'd say that was her first mistake, but I think that would be wrong. I'm not sure if I feel sorry for her or not, exactly. I mean, I'm sorry about what Alec did. That's bad. Yeah, but you have to wonder about how she handles the rest of it. I mean, why tell someone something like that on your wedding night? Either one of them, for that matter? Doesn't exactly scream romance to me. No, and the double standard is ridiculous. I mean, Angel sinned. Willingly. And he expects forgiveness. And Alec will get forgiven. But Tess is damaged goods for the rest of her life, with no hope of redemption? It's not fair. No, it's really not. I have to say, I'm kind of wondering what ends up happening to them all. I was joking about a love triangle before, but I was really surprised to see Alec's name coming back up, and from Angel's dad, no less. Well, Aaron, I'm proud of you. You actually did read the novel. Sounds like you are ready for the quiz. I hope so. And I didn't just read the Spark Notes either. Did you know that they don't list all of the characters by name? Ha ha. I bet a lot of people will only read the Spark Notes. And you know what? They don't talk about a lot of the symbolism and literary elements either. No, but that's not on this week's quiz, is it? No, but I think I heard Mrs. Clark say something about doing activities with that next week in class. Oh, I think I hear the bell. Got to run. See you in class, Aaron. Have a good day, Emily.