Chapter 11

• "But where was Tess’s guardian angel?"- Hardy invokes the question of divine justice here. The absence of Tess’s "guardian angel" suggests that she is abandoned not only by society but also by fate or Providence, reinforcing the novel’s tragic tone.
• "Why it was that upon this beautiful feminine tissue, sensitive as gossamer, and practically blank as snow yet, there should have been traced such a coarse pattern as it was doomed to receive."- This metaphor emphasizes Tess’s purity and vulnerability. The "coarse pattern" represents Alec’s violation of her, and Hardy highlights the injustice of such a fate befalling someone so innocent.