1. Tess of the d’Urbervilles
by Thomas Hardy

2. Aims:
-to assess the benefits of the whole film approach
-to provide an opportunity for the Ss to make predictions,
develop the skills of listening for specific information and
identify extended contexts
-to provide an opportunity for group work and critical
thinking
- to develop moral character features and values such as
empathy, respect, integrity, non- discrimination – with the
help of literature

3. Activity 1 : Brainstorming
(to assess the benefits of the whole movie approach)
Answer the following questions:
1.What have you learned from the movie
“Tess of the d’Urbervilles” ?
2.What is your favourite scene from the movie
“Tess of the d’Urbervilles” ?

4. Activity 2 : Speaking and Listening
A. Predict the two missing words in each of the sentences below:
1."I'm ------------of that. Will it do us any good, -----------------?"
2."'Tis all my doing , all mine!" the girl cried, gazing at the spectacle. "No excuse
for me-none. What will ----------------and ----------------- live on now?
3. "I shouldn't care to do that," says Tess. "If there is such a ----------- ----, 'twould
be enough for us if she were friendly , not to expect her to give us -----."
4. "I didn't ---------------- you ever sent them -------------------!" she murmured,
much moved. "I almost wish you had not--yes, I almost wish it!"
5. "Then I don't ------ you!" she burst out, "and I'll never come to your-------no
more!"
6. "O yes, yes! And I would rather be yours than anybody's in the--------,"
returned the sweet and honest voice of the distressed girl. "But I CANNOT---
-you!"
7. "It cannot. O no, it cannot!" She jumped up joyfully at the hope. "No, it cannot
be more --------------,certainly," she cried, "because 'tis just the ----------! I will
tell you now."
8."I waited and waited for you," she went on, her tones suddenly resuming their
old fluty pathos. "But you did not come! And I ------------------to you, and you did
not come! He kept on saying you would never come any more, and that I was a
foolish woman. He was very kind to me, and to mother, and to all of us after
-----------------------'s death."

5. Activity 2 : Listening and Speaking
B. Listen to the eight fragments, check your
predictions and identify the extended contexts in
the novel for each fragment, taking into account
the following:
- the setting
- the characters
- the plot sequence

6. Activity 3 : Group –work
- to practise making assumptions, giving advice,
expressing opinions
Work in groups of 4/5 to discuss 8 episodes/ influeces in
the life of the main character. (Timing : 5 mins)
When you complete the tasks, a spokesperson from each
group will have 2 minutes to introduce your answers to
the class.

7. Group 1:
Tess is a simple country girl who had a basic
education growing up, but had little exposure to the
world outside Marlott. She is unschooled “in the
ways of the world” and therefore unable to protect
herself. Tess scolds her mother for not telling her the
truth about a less-than-kind world: “Why didn’t you
tell me there was danger in men-folk?”
Would her life have been different if she had had
some life experience?
Was her innocence or her ignorance the cause of
her fall?
Do children nowadays have more life skills?

8. Group 2:
Tess is attractive to all men, and even her attempts
to change her appearance are not enough to hide her
natural beauty.
Would things have been different if she hadn’t
been so beautiful?
In her case, was beauty a blessing or a curse?
What about today? (Do you know/ have any
prejudices about beautiful women?)

9. Group 3:
Tess realizes that she and her family are in an even
worse situation when Prince - the family horse- is
killed, she accepts blame for its death and she must
go to the Stoke-d’Urbervilles for financial recovery.
Do you think she was guilty? Why? Why not?
How should her parents get over their financial
difficulties?
What would happen today if a child did something
similar?

10. Group 4:
Tess is seduced by Alec d’Urberville, returns home
ruined and bears a child. She baptizes her child
herself as her father prohibits her to go to the local
parson.Her infant, dies only a couple of days after it
is born. She doesn’t tell Alec about the child.
Are public opinion and public acceptance so
important?
Should Alec have been informed about the
pregnancy or later about Sorrow’s birth? Why? Why
not?
What would you have done in her situation?

11. Group 5 :
Tess leaves home three times in her life to “test the
waters of the world” outside her village.
Were these good decisions? Why? Why not?
Is it better to look for happiness far away from
where you are born?
Should she have considered the saying: ”Bloom
where you are planted!”

12. Group 6 :
Tess makes several attempts to rectify her
“mistakes”, among which her refusal to ask Angel’s
parents for money during Angel’s stay in Brazil.
Did her dignity and/or pride make her Alec’s
victim again?
Was being an independent woman an impossible
dream in those times?
What would you have done in her place after
Angel’s leaving?

13. Group 7:
Tess has a great willingness to undergo great pains in
order to make her family’s life better.
Should she have refused to leave home and work
at such a young age?
Should she have ojected to Alec’s financial aid?
Would you sacrifice yourself for the sake of your
siblings?

14. Group 8:
Tess falls in love with Angel, refuses his marriage
proposals for quite a while trying to find a way to tell him
about her past with Alec d'Urberville. She confesses her past
mistake only to find out that the way he feels about her has
changed completely.
Why does he change his opinion about/ feelings for her?
Should she have hidden her past indiscretion from him?
Why? Why not?
Do you think the mistakes of the past are relevant in the
present? Why? Why not?

15. Activity 4: Role play
to illustrate and discuss the double standard
A. Working in pairs, try to re-create the scene
after Tess confesses her past mistake to Angel.

16. Activity 4: Role play
to illustrate and discuss the double standard
B. Now exchange roles/ imagine a modern version
of the same episode.

17. Homework
Imagine a
different ending
to the novel using
no more than
150 words.

18. Additional info : Chapter 35 – ” The Woman Pays ”
`In the name of our love, forgive me!' she whispered with a dry mouth. `I have forgiven you
for the same!'
And, as he did not answer, she said again-- `Forgive me as you are forgiven! I forgive you,
Angel.'
`You - yes, you do.'
`But you do not forgive me?'
`O Tess, forgiveness does not apply to the case! You were one person; now you are another.
He paused; then suddenly broke into horrible laughter - as unnatural and ghastly as a
laugh in hell.
`Don't - don't! It kills me quite, that!' she shrieked. `O have mercy upon me - have mercy!'
He did not answer; and, sickly white, she jumped up.
`Angel, Angel! what do you mean by that laugh?' she cried out.
`Do you know what this is to me?'
He shook his head.
`I have been hoping, longing, praying, to make you happy! I have thought what joy it will be
to do it, what an unworthy wife I shall be if I do not! That's what I have felt, Angel!'
`I know that.'
`I thought, Angel, that you loved me - me, my very self! If it is I you do love, O how can it be
that you look and speak so? It frightens me! Having begun to love you, I love you for ever –
in all changes, in all disgraces, because you are yourself. I ask no more. Then how can you,
O, my own husband, stop loving me?'
`I repeat, the woman I have been loving is not you .'
`But who?'
`Another woman in your shape.'