Tess of the d'Urbervilles: Chapter 46 Summary & Analysis

A few weeks later Tess is in the field with a male worker throwing turnips into a slicing machine, when Alec d'Urberville appears in the distance. Tess repeats her demand that he not come near her, but Alec says he wants to help her in her bad economic state. Tess keeps working, trying to stay detached.

Alec blames himself for corrupting Tess's innocent life, but also her parents for not warning her of men like him. He plans to sell his estate and become a missionary in Africa, and he asks Tess to come with him as his wife. When she refuses, his disappointment shows that his old desires have reawakened.

They step away from the other worker to talk. Alec is shocked when Tess says she loves someone else, and he calls her improper. Finally Tess reveals that she is married, but she won't say Angel's name. Alec is distressed and begins to return to his old ways, admitting he has fallen back in love with Tess.

Alec says he at least wants to help her financially, and is surprised to hear that Tess's husband is far away. She says it is because he found out about Alec. He calls her a “deserted wife” and tries to take her hand, but she cries out and begs him to leave her alone.

At that moment Farmer Groby rides up, mad that Tess isn't working. Alec defends her angrily but finally leaves. Tess is almost relieved at Groby's reprimands, as they have nothing to do with sexuality. She considers for a second how much her life would be improved by Alec's money, but she still finds him repulsive and frightening.

That night Tess writes another, more desperate letter to Angel, but again she remembers the episode with Izz and her uncertainty returns, so she doesn't send it.

On the Candlemas holiday Alec shows up at her lodgings. He is agitated and admits that he can't stop thinking about Tess since he saw her. He asks her to pray for him, but Tess says she cannot pray because her husband has taught her to disbelieve in an active God. They have a theological discussion where Tess says she believes in the spirit of Christianity, but nothing supernatural.

Alec scorns her for parroting her husband's beliefs, and Tess defends Angel with a faithfulness he doesn't deserve. She repeats some of his arguments to Alec. Alec says that he still believes, but he is slipping, and that at that moment he was supposed to be preaching. He loves Tess once more and could not stay away despite his commitments.

Alec gets angry at Tess for tempting him and causing him to backslide, comparing her to Eve or a “witch of Babylon,” but then he seems to wake up and apologizes again. He tries to embrace her, but she invokes Angel's reputation and again Alec is ashamed. He leaves, and Tess's recitation of Angel's logical arguments begin to wear at his emotion-based faith. His passions reawaken, and he scorns Angel for unwittingly making him return to Tess.