The beauty or ugliness of a character lay not only in its achievements, but in its aims and impulses. In Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Tess is abandoned by her new husband, Angel Clare, when she tells him of her past of being involved with a horrible man named Alec d'Urberville. As Angel promises to come back, Alec is offering his help to gain Tess's affection. Tess writes two letters to Angel by cause of her circumstances and as they change, Tess's tone shifts from desperation to anger and her rhetorical primarily relies on pathos. Tess's different circumstances affect the purpose of each letter she writes. When Tess writes the first letter, she is living on the "joyless monotony"" (350) Flintcomb-Ash farm and working for her family since Angel left her with little. Her purpose of writing her letter is to ask Angel for help and come back home. Tess is now in a situation in which she is suffering a life of work that can be solved if Angel returns She also deals with the troubles of Alec asking for her and she again asks for Angel to save her before she is "presses to do what [she] will not to do "(354). Under the circumstance that Alec offers Tess money for her family, Tess is worried that the pressure will soon break her and wants Angel to forgive her soon. The purpose continues to be Angel to return since abandoning Tess only brought her misfortunes. The circumstances with Tess change and Alec comes back adamant about him being "[her] friend " (373) offering his help. Now that her family is out on the streets, Tess knows Angel has left her in a corner in which she is trapped by Alec. In her second letter, Tess reveals her anger towards Angel not convincing him to come back anymore. Tess writes to Angel pleasing that "[she] did not intend to wrong [him] " (374) and demanding to know "why [he has] so wronged [her] " (374). When her father dies, her reputation finalizes their fate and the loss of their lease.
