Throughout the novel, Hardy juxtaposes nature and society in order to argue that the natural world is generally benevolent and self-regulating, while human society is cruel, destructive, and full of falsehoods and hypocrisy. Because of Tess’s origins on a humble country farm and her work in various agricultural labors, those around her often perceive her (and the novel often frames her) as “a fresh and virginal daughter of Nature” (156). Metaphors comparing her physical attributes to natural phenomena heighten the connection, such as when Alec mentions her “holmberry lips” (61). Tess’s alignment with the natural world makes her an object of desire, especially to men who have largely lost their connection to the rhythms of nature through modernity and industrialization. At the same time that he is falling in love with Tess, Angel is benefiting greatly from immersing himself in nature and agricultural labor at the dairy: “[H]e became wonderfully free from the chronic melancholy” (134).

Since Tess is aligned with nature and the rhythms of an older, agrarian life, she finds refuge in the natural world after her traumatic encounter with Alec. After being shamed by other villagers, she will only leave her house to creep into the woods, where no one judges her since “she ha[s] been made to break an accepted social law, but no law known to the environment” (98). This contrast between the natural and societal responses to Tess’s illicit experience of sexuality deepens with the birth of her child; from a social perspective, this is incredibly shameful, but from a natural perspective, it is unremarkable and even positive. Later, after her child’s death, Tess’s hopes and aspirations for her future are directly linked to her observations of a natural world animated by cycles of rebirth and regeneration. As Tess thinks to herself, “[T]he recuperative power which pervaded organic nature was surely not denied to maidenhood alone” (112).

While Tess believes in the possibility of renewal and regeneration, she is ultimately stymied by more rigid social conventions. Even though she may have grown and changed, in the eyes of society, she remains a fallen woman. Angel explains that one reason he cannot stay with Tess is because of the potential impact on any future children: “[T]hink of wretches of our flesh and blood growing up under a taunt” (262-63). According to the rhythms of nature, Tess going on to bear more children with Angel would be healing and restorative, but Angel fixates on the social stigma those children might be subject to. Angel even twists the language of nature against Tess, arguing, “[H]e [Alec] [is] your husband in Nature, and not I” (262). Unlike nature, society bows to rigid and arbitrary conventions that restrict and limit resilience and growth. The sacrificial imagery present just before Tess’s death, when she stretches out on an ancient stone believed to be associated with pagan sacrifices, solidifies the novel’s message: As a child of nature, Tess must ultimately be sacrificed to social norms lest she reveal just how arbitrary these expectations are. 

While the novel presents Tess’s fate as tragic and inevitable on the one hand, Hardy also utilizes his narrative to offer a critique of class privilege—in particular, how poverty exposes individuals to exploitation. Tess is born into a modest family, and her parents’ careless behavior leaves the family very vulnerable. Before the accident in which Prince dies, Tess insists that she will not go anywhere near the d’Urberville home, and yet as soon as the horse dies, she laments, “[W]hat will mother and father live on now?” (39). The threat of poverty forces Tess to go to the d’Urberville estate and stay there even as she grows more and more uneasy with Alec’s behavior. While Tess’s financial and class position gives her no option other than to endure Alec’s advances, those advances are also fueled by class positionality. Alec feels entitled to seduce and potentially even rape Tess because of his elevated class; as he tells her, “[W]hat am I, to be repulsed so by a mere chit like you? […] I won’t stand it” (79). The irony—that Tess actually hails from a much more pedigreed line than Alec—reveals the hollowness of such social distinctions, even as those distinctions impact individuals’ lives in material ways.

In fact, it is the intrusion of class into Marlott—a village where all are more or less on equal standing—that sets Tess’s tragedy in motion, as the discovery of the Durbeyfield lineage gives Tess’s parents an inflated sense of self-importance and encourages them to seek help from their (supposed) wealthy relatives. Likewise, the happiest period of Tess’s life occurs in the relatively classless bubble of the Talbothays Dairy. Even though Angel is financially better off and better educated, he and Tess work alongside one another as equals. Since everyone at the dairy is comfortable and relatively content, class and income tensions don’t play a significant role here, and Tess and Angel can fall in love within a protected setting.

After Angel abandons her, financial tensions resurface as a prominent aspect of Tess’s life. While Angel does make some effort to provide financially for his wife, Tess is too proud to accept much help and has to rely on difficult agricultural labor that offers “poor subsistence” (303). She is also bitterly ashamed when Angel’s brothers unknowingly mock her walking boots, believing that they will reject her because of her humble class origins. Tess’s shame around her class and financial situation is ironic because the novel refers frequently to the previous majesty of her ancestral family, and yet the lack of readily available assets makes her lineage meaningless—especially in an increasingly capitalist and industrialized society that privileges wealth over aristocratic rank.

Tess’s financial and class position pairs with her strong sense of responsibility to make her vulnerable to Alec’s advances for a second time. He is shrewd enough to know this and repeatedly offers financial protection to both her and her family, assuring her, “I can make them all comfortable, if you will only show confidence in me” (355). Tess correctly intuits that Alec will want a sexual relationship in exchange for this financial support, and she holds out until her family is reduced to homelessness after the death of her father. As she rages at Alec in their final confrontation, “[M]y little sisters and brother, and my mother’s needs…they were the things you moved me by” (403). Tess’s beauty is what attracts Alec’s attention and makes him desire her, but her financial vulnerability is what ultimately allows him to exploit her.