Hardy's major works are Tess of the D 'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure.
Tess of the D 'Urbervilles (189 1) describes the life experience of a poor peasant woman Tess. She longed to live by her own labor, but she was hit by heavy pearls one after another in the society at that time. When Tess was very young, because of her poor family, she had to work as a female worker in the D 'Urbervilles. She was insulted by Alec D 'Urberville, a bourgeois dude, became pregnant and became a "prostitute". She endured the pressure of discrimination and moral prejudice from people around her. After her child died of illness, she worked in a dairy factory, met a young college student, Angie Clay, the son of a priest, and fell in love with him soon. After Tess told Clay about her unfortunate past experience, Clay, full of bourgeois hypocrisy and ethical prejudice, suddenly abandoned Tess and made her embark on a more tragic road. Tess moved to another farm to work and was exploited more cruelly by the capitalists. Later, her father died, and her family was reduced to the streets. Alei, a dude, came to haunt her again, and she had to accommodate him again. Clay's sudden return greatly stimulated Tess, and finally she killed Alec. She became a murderer and was sentenced to death by the court. The oppression suffered by Tess is twofold. Under the condition that the self-sufficient small-scale peasant economy can't be maintained, she has to endure the exploitation of agricultural capitalists and the insults of rich children in order to make a living. But what made her desperate was the moral prejudice of bourgeois society. Clay, who represents this prejudice, abandoned her, causing her to suffer a heavy mental blow, losing confidence in life and eventually becoming a victim of bourgeois ethics. Hardy expressed deep sympathy for Tess, believing that she was innocent and a victim. He called such a woman who committed adultery and murder "a pure woman" and used this title as the subtitle of this book to protest against the ethics of capitalist society. The novel takes the bankruptcy of British small-scale peasant economy at the end of 19 as the background, and also describes the tragic situation of capitalist farm workers selling their labor.
Jude the Obscure (1895) describes the life experience of Jude, a young stonemason. He had no faith since he was a child. He taught himself Latin and Greek and gained a lot of knowledge. He is bent on going to college and becoming a teacher in the future, but institutions of higher learning in capitalist society look down on this young man of humble origin and shut him out, and his study plan has failed. His love with his cousin violated the religious and moral dogma of capitalist society. Under the pressure of public opinion, his lover left, his children died tragically, and he himself died in loneliness. In this way, the moral, legal, religious and even educational systems of bourgeois society pushed young masons to a dead end step by step. Jude struggled personally all his life, but in the end he was unknown and failed to realize his desire to become famous. Through Jude's experience, the author condemned the unreasonable education system and marriage relationship in capitalist society.