The Name beyond the Grave: “Good Night, Sir John”

Lineage can play a crucial role in the status of those in which the names and blood are passed down to, which is highly depicted in Tess of the D’Urbervilles. Baring anything short of the noble, a name can leave the descendants among the unwealy and mendacious. There is no lack thereof in the story of Tess of the D’Urbervilles. With many instances in the story, which is known from all generations, this concept is common knowledge from the old to the young. The knowledge of this status also comes with the knowledge of the inevitable labor and hardships that “poor” lineage presents.

Thomas Hardy attempts to elucidate poverty in the country as it was during this time period. The two classes that he appeared to make visually prominent were the working class and the upper class. The family’s class was very dependent on the family’s lineage. Before becoming aware of the details of the Durbeyfield’s history, Tess’s family lived as a working class family-working alongside the laborers of Marlott and moving to others in attempts of making ends meet.

Upon finding out that their lineage was much more prominent, having come from a knightly family, the d’Urbervilles, Tess’s father, Jack, attempts to regain the long-lost status that the name originally offered. This knowledge of the importance of lineage in the youth is portrayed in Tess’s younger brother, Abraham, who asks her, “Bain’t you glad that we’ve become gentlefolk,” upon hearing this gain from their parents, (p. 36). He continues, “But you will be glad that you ‘m going to marry a gentleman,” and further details that she would have been rich if they were born with the name and Tess would have been born rich, without the need of marrying a gentleman to become so. Hardy compares apples on a tree to a person’s place in a family tree when Abraham dances with the idea of the possibilities presented through their father’s discovery, (p. 37). Instead of being confused about the possibilities, or lack thereof, that the situation represents, Abraham came across as very educated in the dependency of a strong and hearty lineage.

Lineage carries on from birth to death. The graveyards in which one was to be buried is also a portrayal of the family’s pedigree. Hardy introduces the importance of lineage as he highlights this fact immediately upon the beginning of the book in the first chapter when Jack finds out that they are actually part of the d’Urberville lineage. The clergyman who advised him of this when he shared the knowledge of the final resting place of his extinct family. He stated that the deceased family lies at “Kingsbere-sub-Greenhill: rows and rows of you in your vaults, with your effigies, under Purbeck-marble canopies,” (p. 15).

There is a constant strive to gain a notable reputation through a distinguished name. The name originated from Simon Stoke, who made his fortune from haggling and conning families in England and wanted to settle as a country man. He deemed it necessary to change his name in order to be able to settle and not be easily found with the last name that was connected to his previous profession. Rather than selecting just any name, Stoke chose a name from those who were extinct, or close to being extinct, or obscured that embodied high status and d’Urberville seemed fitting. The mere action of this change highly depicts the relation of name to status.

With all of the importance placed on the name and the lineage it holds, there is one person that Hardy uses to tell a different side of the significance of this passed-down attribute, which is Tess. Through Tess’s experiences, Hardy exposes the detestable reality of those where are considered to be alluring and noble because of the family name in which they belong to. While Clare states his disdain for the d’Urbervilles, he encourages Tess to take on the last name because he understands the importance that comes with it. He pleaded, “But you must, dearest! Good heavens, why dozens of mushroom-millionaires would jump at such a possession,” (p. 207).

Tess has shown us that she has been willing to do anything asked of her, whether it was asked by her parents, Clare, or even Alec d’Urberville. She may have been reluctant at first with certain requests, but she has usually seemed to give in. However, this was one request that she refused to comply with, knowing of the repulsiveness that comes along with the name, d’Urberville.

So, what is in a name? It lays in the perception of the lips it falls from. It depends upon the experiences of those who know it best. Thomas Hardy brought attention to the fact that a name does not make a person, but rather the shift of importance should be placed on those with high moral values.

photo source: https://www.bluffton.edu/homepages/facstaff/sullivanm/mexico/oaxaca/domingo/domingo3.html