Alec

• "He stood there openly and palpably a converted man."

  - After her return from her journey to Angel's family, Tess encounters the utterances of a preacher. It was Alec.

  - Tess, as well as the readers, would be shocked by Alec's conversion.

  - Some readers would question if Alec's conversion should be accepted or is believable.

  - Some readers may argue that Alec's conversion depicts the unjust treatment of the church towards people. Tess, who was forced into sinning, was ostracised by society and the church, yet, Alec, a rapist, is accepted for his conversion.

  - Corrupt church; Did Alec pay his way into the religion> Would Tess have been forgiven for her sins too had she had enough money? Exploitation of the poor?
• "D'Urberville was not the first wicked man who had turned away from his wickedness to save his soul alive."

  - Once again, the validity of his conversion is questioned. Did he convert out of a genuine desire to become more Christian and become more moral or did he convert for his own personal benefit? SELFISH?

  - Does Alec really change?
• "You, and those like you, take your fill of pleasure on earth by making the life of such as me bitter and black with sorrow; and then it is a fine thing, when you have had enough of that, to think of securing your pleasure in heaven by becoming converted!"

  - Tess' stance on Alec's conversion is very believable. From the very beginning, Alec was presented as a self-centred, obsessed and selfish character who sought to manipulate people for his pleasure. Therefore, Tess' view is understandable and plausible; it wouldn't be shocking if Alec converted for his own benefit, rather than become more Christian-like.

  - Alec as a tragic villain.

  - Corruption of the church; the church accepting the conversion of sinners for their own benefit.
• "Mr Clare's warm assurance of forgiveness for D'Urbervilles former conduct."


  - Corruption of the church. Why is a deliberate sinner forgiven for sinning, yet Tess is not?

  - Would the same forgiveness be applied and given to Tess? Or is money a gateway to forgiveness in the Victorian context?
• "She tired to argue, and tell him that he had mixed in his dull brain two matters - theology and morals, which in the primitive days of mankind had been quite distinct."


  - Tess is arguing with Alec about his view on morality and theology.

  - Like Hardy, Tess is taking a similar stance. Tess is not challenging religion itself, but rather, is challenging the application of religion to morality which often leads to inflexible, strict and weaponised moral laws, making people victims of those moral laws.

  - In stating that "theology and morals" being "quite distinct" in the "primitive days of mankind", Hardy adopts a Darwinist approach, Deming the links between religion and morality as unnatural. Rather, people should pursue what develops from evolution. Therefore, Tess is not sinning according to evolution.