Saturday, May 2, 2009

A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented

I've been having random thoughts about Tess of the D'Urberville, mainly because of Masterpiece Theatre's extraordinarily brilliant, haunting, and beautiful mini series.




I'd also want to share with you a great Youtube video inspired by this series, <3 Coldplay (potential spoilers?):



/plug

9 comments:

  1. thank you - it was beautiful, and you are such a romantic. tess was not entirely pure; however, and did manage to get herself pregnant without ever disrobing!
    the girl and guy looked faniliar - who are the actors?

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  2. Richard - I have a copy of Hardy's novel next to me. Someday I will read it.

    Well, "A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented" was Hardy's subtitle to the novel. After watching the film, I believe that Hardy intended readers to see Tess in a "pure" light. She was pretty much destined for a life of destruction after being raped by Alec. Her life was entirely out of her own control and she was manipulated by the two most influential men in her life: Alec and Angel. I do think Tess is "pure," and what happened to her is rape (I read the text that Hardy used to describe the scene).

    The actress who played Tess is Gemma Arterton (from the latest Bond film) and the actors who played Angel and Alec are Eddie Redmayne and Hans Matherson, respectively.

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  3. i may have said this before, but anthony trollope is my favorite victorian novelist, he wrote about 45 novels, and most or all still in print. i have to have a trollope fix every so often.
    i am now reading a delightful and fascinating 1400 page novel about life in a small ohio city after the civil war. it is almost impossible to put it down, and i despair that it going to end - it will be almost like a death.
    are you planniong to review 'star trek'...hah,hah?

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  4. Richard - I don't have a lot of time for outside reading, but if I did, I would definitely read something for Trollope. Maybe in the summer...how about a recommendation? I like something with a lot of drama and romance, please...if that exists in the Trollope universe.

    My current favorite Victorian novelist is none other than Charles Dickens. David Copperfield continues to rock my world. It's one of the most influential pieces of literature I've ever encountered.

    I'm currently reading The Joy Luck Club for school. It's a very entertaining, light read. You might enjoy it...

    Ugh. I've never cared for Star Trek. The movie doesn't attract me at all. But it will attract many others and make tons of money...

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  5. for some reason my last comment disappeared - very annoying. re: trollope, i suggest a book called 'orley farm'. it's very readable and gives you a good feeling for his writing. it's ok if he is not to your liking, but if by chance you do enjoy him, there is so much to enjoy!.

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  6. i hope you will be back in the balcony this week!!

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  7. Very very nice video Marcy. I love Coldplay and thats one of the their best songs

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  8. Beautiful and poetic, although Coldplay is only a softer, less-good version of Radiohead.

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