Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman

Angel Clare

Also known as Angel

Youngest son of Reverend James Clare and husband of Tess. He finds Tess at The Herons, but learns she has returned to Alec; after she kills Alec and catches up with Angel, they flee together and spend several days hiding in an empty mansion before being arrested at Stonehenge.

Tess Durbeyfield

Also known as Tess · d’Urberville

Daughter of Jack and Joan Durbeyfield and wife of Angel Clare. Having returned to Alec, she tells Angel she has killed Alec after he taunted her, then flees with Angel; they hide together until she is arrested at Stonehenge and later executed.

Alec d’Urberville

Also known as Mr d’Urberville · Alexander · Stoke d’Urberville · the handsome, horsey young buck · the present representative of the spurious house

Son of Simon Stoke and Mrs d’Urberville who pursued Tess and fathered her child. After persuading Tess to return to him, he is stabbed to death in bed by Tess.

Mrs Brooks

Also known as the landlady · householder at The Herons

Landlady and owner of the furniture at The Herons, where Tess and Alec lodge. She overhears Tess’s distress after Angel visits, then discovers Alec dead in his room and raises the alarm.

Unnamed postman at Sandbourne

Also known as intelligent postman

A postman Angel meets at Sandbourne’s main post office. He cannot identify Tess by the Durbeyfield name, but a comrade directs Angel to The Herons under the name d’Urberville.

Unnamed postman’s comrade

Also known as second postman

A postman who tells Angel that someone named d’Urberville is staying at The Herons.

Unnamed milkman

Also known as milkman

A milkman arriving at The Herons as Angel approaches; the passage gives no further identifying details.

Unnamed man employed at an adjoining villa

Also known as workman

A workman passing The Herons whom Mrs Brooks asks to accompany her upstairs. He finds Alec dead in bed.

Unnamed surgeon

Also known as surgeon

A surgeon among those summoned after Alec is found stabbed. He examines the wound and finds that the blade touched Alec’s heart.

Unnamed caretaker of Bramshurst Court

Also known as old woman · caretaker

An elderly woman who looks after the empty Bramshurst Court, opening and shutting its windows. She discovers Tess and Angel asleep there, then withdraws and consults her neighbours.

Unnamed boy at Bramshurst Court

Also known as boy

A boy who tells Angel that only an old woman caretaker visits the empty Bramshurst Court.

Unnamed shopkeeper

Also known as shopkeeper

A shopkeeper in a small place beyond Bramshurst Court from whom Angel buys tea, bread, butter, a kettle, and a spirit-lamp.

Unnamed officers who arrest Tess

Also known as sixteen men on the Plain · men

The men who surround Tess and Angel at Stonehenge and take Tess into custody. One tells Angel there are sixteen of them on the Plain.

’Liza-Lu

Also known as Eliza-Louisa Durbeyfield · ’Liza-Lu

Tess’s younger sister. After Tess’s execution, she leaves Wintoncester with Angel; the two walk away together in grief.

Cuthbert Clare

Also known as Cuthbert

The middle Clare brother, an undergraduate. Angel’s mother telegraphs that Cuthbert has proposed to and been accepted by Mercy Chant.

Miss Mercy Chant

Also known as Mercy

The devout daughter of Dr Chant and a woman Angel’s parents had hoped he would marry. She accepts Cuthbert Clare’s proposal.

Unnamed neighbours of the Bramshurst Court caretaker

Also known as neighbours

People the caretaker goes to consult after discovering Tess and Angel asleep in the empty mansion.

Unnamed former resident of Bramshurst Court

Also known as London agents

The London agents named on a sign offering Bramshurst Court furnished for rent; no individual is identified.

Unnamed wife of Reverend James Clare

Also known as Mrs Clare · Angel’s mother

Angel’s mother and wife of Reverend James Clare. She regrets that Angel was denied the academic advantages given his brothers and welcomes him home, though his illness and changed appearance shock her.

Reverend James Clare

Also known as Mr Clare the elder · the Vicar · Reverend Mr Clare · old Mr Clare · Parson Clare

Angel’s father, a devout clergyman at Emminster. He forwards Tess’s letter to Angel and welcomes his son home from Brazil.

Marian

A former Talbothays milkmaid who loves Angel and works with Tess and Izz at Flintcomb-Ash. She and Izz later leave the farm and send Angel a warning letter about Tess’s troubles and Alec’s presence.

Izz Huett

Also known as Izz

A former Talbothays milkmaid who works with Tess and Marian at Flintcomb-Ash. Angel recalls her saying Tess loved him deeply; she and Marian later send him a warning about Tess and Alec.

Amby Seedling

Also known as Amby

A man who followed Izz Huett from Talbothays to Flintcomb-Ash. Tess asks him which songs Angel liked at the dairy, and Amby recalls several of Angel’s favourites.

Joan Durbeyfield

Also known as Mrs Durbeyfield

Tess’s mother and Jack Durbeyfield’s widow. After recovering from a serious illness, she moves with her family from Marlott to Kingsbere and then elsewhere; she tells Angel that Tess is in Sandbourne.

Jack Durbeyfield

Also known as John Durbeyfield · Sir John · Sir John d’Urberville

Tess’s father, a poor haggler and claimed descendant of the old d’Urberville family. He dies after his heart condition worsens, ending the family’s right to remain in their Marlott home.

Abraham Durbeyfield

Also known as Abraham · Aby

Tess’s younger brother. He accompanies the family when they leave Marlott for Kingsbere.

Unnamed unnamed younger Durbeyfield children

Also known as the younger children · four smallest

Tess’s younger siblings, who leave Marlott with Joan, Tess, ’Liza-Lu, and Abraham after Jack’s death. They shelter in the family’s bedstead under the church aisle at Kingsbere.

Unnamed neighbour sitting up with Joan

Also known as neighbour

A neighbour who sits with Joan during her illness and tells Tess that her mother is no better, though she is sleeping.

Unnamed physician attending Joan and Jack

Also known as doctor

A doctor who attends Joan during her serious illness and is present when Jack collapses; he says Jack has no chance because of his heart condition.

Unnamed companion of Angel in Brazil

Also known as English stranger · stranger · Angel’s companion

An Englishman travelling with Angel through Brazil, from another part of England. He tells Angel he is wrong to have left Tess; after the man dies of fever, Angel is deeply affected by his advice.

Unnamed women who migrate from English farms

Also known as mothers from English farms

Agricultural labourers who emigrated to Brazil and whom Angel sees trudging through the country with their infants; some lose children to fever.

Unnamed infant of an English emigrant

Also known as child

An infant carried by an English farm mother migrating in Brazil; after dying of fever, the child is buried by its mother in the earth.

Unnamed neighbour who gives ’Liza-Lu tea

A member of the household lodging Tess at Flintcomb-Ash who receives ’Liza-Lu and gives her tea.

Unnamed Kingsbere lodging-house messenger

Also known as man sent to tell them

A man who meets the Durbeyfield family as they arrive at Kingsbere and tells them their requested rooms have already been let.

Unnamed Kingsbere waggon driver

Also known as driver

The driver hired to carry the Durbeyfields’ belongings to Kingsbere. When the family cannot find lodging, he unloads their goods by the churchyard and leaves.

Unnamed nearby household at the wayside inn

Also known as migrating family

A family travelling by waggon who stop at the same inn as the Durbeyfields. Marian and Izz are riding with them.

Unnamed ploughman

Also known as ploughman

A worker whose family takes Marian and Izz along in their waggon as they move to another farm.

Unnamed Kingsbere innkeeper

Also known as innkeeper

The keeper of an inn at Kingsbere, where Alec briefly goes after meeting the Durbeyfield family.

Unnamed Kingsbere mason

Also known as mason

The village mason who put up Jack Durbeyfield’s gravestone without being paid; Angel settles the bill.

Unnamed sexton-like man at Kingsbere churchyard

Also known as sexton

A man who notices Angel standing by Jack Durbeyfield’s grave and explains that Jack had wished to be buried at Kingsbere.

Unnamed residents of Tess’s former home

Also known as new residents

A family now living in the Marlott house where Tess grew up. They tell Angel that Jack is dead and that Joan and the children left for Kingsbere, then went elsewhere.

Unnamed listeners who receive Marian and Izz’s letter

Also known as two well-wishers

Angel Clare is the intended recipient of the warning letter Marian and Izz send to Emminster Vicarage about Tess’s distress and the enemy near her.

Unnamed people of scrupulous character in Marlott

Influential villagers who discover Tess living again in Marlott after seeing her tend her infant’s grave. They condemn Joan for housing Tess, helping bring about the family’s departure.

Unnamed person who owns the Kingsbere rooms

Also known as landlord

The person who had let the rooms the Durbeyfields had arranged to occupy, leaving them without lodging when they reached Kingsbere.

Unnamed man who rides to Marlott in a white mackintosh

Also known as man in a white mackintosh

Alec d’Urberville, who finds Tess at the family home on the eve of their departure and offers to house and support her family.

Unnamed farmer at Flintcomb-Ash

Also known as farmer · employer

The farmer who employs Tess, Marian, and Izz at Flintcomb-Ash. He recognizes Tess from Trantridge and harasses her; identified in this passage as Farmer Groby.

Unnamed Trantridge man who insults Tess

Also known as well-to-do boor · farmer

A well-to-do man who once insulted Tess at an inn, prompting Angel to knock him down. He later recognizes and taunts Tess at Flintcomb-Ash, where he is her employer, Farmer Groby.

Unnamed woman lodging Tess at Flintcomb-Ash

Also known as occupant of the cottage

The woman who rents Tess a room at Flintcomb-Ash. Tess stays in the cottage alone while the farm workers attend the Candlemas Fair.

Unnamed women working at Flintcomb-Ash

Also known as rest of the women

Women employed at Flintcomb-Ash who work with Tess, Marian, and Izz. They help with the exhausting threshing of the last wheat-rick.

Unnamed artisan preaching with painted texts

Also known as cheerful friend

A religious text painter Tess meets on her walk home; he paints Scripture warnings and directs her to a sermon by Mr Clare of Emminster. Alec says he and other evangelists employ this man to paint texts around the district.

Unnamed former wife of Reverend James Clare

Also known as his first wife

Reverend James Clare’s first wife, who died before he remarried late in life; she was the mother of his daughter.

Unnamed shepherd

Also known as solitary shepherd

A shepherd Tess meets near Flintcomb-Ash. He tells her that the Cross-in-Hand stone commemorates a man tortured and hanged there, whose bones supposedly lie beneath it.

Unnamed man tortured at Cross-in-Hand

Also known as malefactor

A man said by a shepherd to have been tortured by having his hand nailed to a post and then hanged at Cross-in-Hand. Local lore claims he sold his soul to the devil and sometimes walks there.

Unnamed girl walking with Amby Seedling

Also known as girl and her lover

A young woman Tess sees speaking with her lover near Flintcomb-Ash; she is identified as Izz Huett.

Unnamed man operating the turnip-slicing machine

Also known as man at the slicer · labourer

A farm worker who turns the handle of the turnip-slicing machine while Tess prepares roots. Alec speaks with Tess nearby, screened from the worker by the machine’s noise.

Unnamed two horses ploughing the field

Also known as two horses

The pair of horses drawing a plough across the cleared Flintcomb-Ash field.

Unnamed engine-man

Also known as engineer

A travelling worker who tends the steam engine powering the threshing machine. He calls himself an engineer and speaks with a northern accent.

Unnamed feeder at the threshing machine

Also known as man who fed it · feeder

The worker who feeds sheaves into the threshing machine while Tess unties them. The passage does not give his name.

Unnamed two men on the wheat-rick

Also known as two men on the summit

Two farm workers who strip thatch from the wheat-rick before threshing begins.

Unnamed old men on the straw-rick

Also known as old men

Older farm workers who talk about the days when grain was threshed by hand with flails.

Unnamed men on the corn-rick

Also known as men on the corn-rick

Farm workers who help with the threshing and have more opportunity to talk than those beside the machine.

Unnamed women-workers at the threshing

Also known as other women-workers · women on the corn-rick

The women farm workers who help thresh the wheat-rick alongside Tess, Marian, and Izz.

Unnamed listeners at the barn sermon

Also known as audience · villagers

Villagers who attend Alec’s sermon in a barn at Evershead. Tess recognizes among them the man who once carried a red paint-pot.

Unnamed old woman at Evershead

Also known as old woman

A woman at Evershead who gives Tess milk and tells her that villagers have gone to hear a preacher in a barn.

Unnamed man who once carried a red paint-pot

Also known as man carrying the red paint-pot

A villager attending Alec’s barn sermon whom Tess recognizes from a previous occasion when he carried a red paint-pot.

Unnamed young woman at Flintcomb-Ash threshing

Also known as young woman

A young woman Tess and Marian see with Amby Seedling near Flintcomb-Ash; she is Izz Huett.

Unnamed people at the Candlemas Fair

Also known as drunken boobies · brethren

People gathered at the county-town fair, where Alec had agreed to preach from a waggon. He calls them drunken, while his fellow evangelists are referred to as the brethren.

Unnamed rats in the wheat-rick

Also known as rats

Rats exposed when the wheat-rick is threshed; the workers and visitors hunt them at the end of the day.

Unnamed rat-catching dogs

Also known as dogs

Dogs brought to the threshing for the rat-catching that follows the removal of the rick’s last sheaves.

Unnamed sporting visitors at the threshing

Also known as sporting characters · gents with terriers · roughs

Men who sometimes visit threshing scenes for the rat-catching, bringing terriers, pipes, sticks, or stones.

Unnamed man who fed the threshing machine

Also known as man who fed

The exhausted worker feeding sheaves into the threshing machine while Tess unties them; his red nape is coated with dirt and husks.

Unnamed people who help Tess at the Clare Vicarage

Also known as old Mr and Mrs Clare

Reverend James Clare and his wife, who would have sympathized with Tess’s desperate circumstances had she found courage to meet them.

King Lemuel

Also known as Lemuel

The biblical king whose words about a virtuous wife are invoked in the reflection on Tess’s moral character.

Unnamed bankers handling Angel’s money

Also known as Angel’s bankers · local bank

The bank and its staff hold Angel’s jewels and money. Angel deposits thirty pounds there for later delivery to Tess.

Unnamed Wellbridge farmer

Also known as farmer

The owner of the Wellbridge farmhouse where Angel and Tess spent the first days of their marriage. Angel settles the rent and retrieves their remaining belongings before leaving.

Unnamed wife of the Wellbridge farmer

Also known as farmer’s wife

The Wellbridge farmer’s wife, who is away in the field when Angel visits to settle the lodging account.

Retty Priddle

Also known as Retty

A former Talbothays milkmaid who loves Angel. Izz reports that Retty is thin and unwell; Angel sends her a message through Izz urging her to live wisely.

Unnamed wife of the Flintcomb-Ash farmer

Also known as farmer’s wife

The Flintcomb-Ash farmer’s wife, who represents him when hiring Tess and agrees to employ her through Old Lady-Day.

Unnamed pheasants

Also known as wounded birds · wild creatures

Individual pheasants wounded by a shooting party and left suffering in the plantation where Tess shelters. She tenderly kills those still alive to end their pain.

Unnamed shooting-party

Also known as shooting-party

The party that drives pheasants into a plantation and wounds many of them; its members are not individually identified.

Unnamed game-keepers

Also known as game-keepers

People expected to return to the plantation to search for the wounded pheasants.

Unnamed young men at the Chalk-Newton inn

Also known as young men

Several men who make troublesome compliments to Tess while she breakfasts at an inn.

Unnamed man who calls Tess a ‘mommet’

Also known as next man

A man Tess passes after disguising her appearance; he calls her ugly to a companion.

Unnamed companion of the man who insults Tess’s appearance

Also known as companion

The person walking with the man who calls Tess a ‘mommet’; no further details are given.

Unnamed two women from a neighbouring village

Also known as two Amazonian sisters · Dark Car · Queen of Spades · Queen of Diamonds

Two strong sisters who work at Flintcomb-Ash as reed-drawers and other labourers. Tess recognizes them as Car and Nancy Darch, her former Trantridge antagonists, though they do not appear to recognize her.

Car Darch

Also known as Car · Dark Car · Queen of Spades · dark queen

A dark-haired Trantridge worker and former favourite of Alec’s who quarrelled with Tess. She later works at Flintcomb-Ash as a strong reed-drawer, apparently without recognizing Tess.

Nancy Darch

Also known as Queen of Diamonds

Car Darch’s sister and another former Trantridge worker connected with Alec. She later works at Flintcomb-Ash as a strong reed-drawer, apparently without recognizing Tess.

Felix Clare

Also known as Felix

The eldest Clare brother, dressed like a curate. He walks with Cuthbert after church and regrets Angel’s marriage to Tess, whom he dismissively calls a dairymaid.

Unnamed Emminster congregation

Also known as congregation · churchgoers

The people attending morning service at Emminster; they notice Tess as a stranger when leaving church.

Unnamed two clerical brothers’ companion

Also known as young lady

A ladylike young woman walking ahead of Felix and Cuthbert Clare after church. The brothers identify her as Mercy Chant.

Unnamed young woman who receives Tess’s boots

Also known as Miss Chant

Miss Mercy Chant, who mistakes Tess’s walking boots for discarded footwear and carries them away for a poor person.

Unnamed child of Tess and Alec

Also known as the baby

Tess’s son by Alec d’Urberville, whom she says died in infancy.

Unnamed cottager of Wellbridge

Also known as cottager

A Wellbridge resident who goes out late for a doctor and twice sees Tess and Angel walking slowly through the pastures after her confession. He later recalls the sight.

Unnamed doctor sought by the cottager

Also known as doctor

A doctor whom a Wellbridge cottager goes out to fetch during the night.

Unnamed cottager’s wife

Also known as neighbouring cottager’s wife · dame · old woman · assistant

The wife of the Wellbridge cottager, who is engaged to help the newlyweds during their stay. She brings milk and attends to household needs.

Unnamed Talbothays acquaintances

Also known as old acquaintance

People at Talbothays who greet Tess and Angel as newlyweds, unaware of their estrangement.

Unnamed miller

Also known as miller

The miller whose business Angel visits to study flour milling while staying at Wellbridge.

Unnamed driver of the hired vehicle

Also known as man

The driver of the vehicle Angel hires to take himself and Tess away from Wellbridge and later drive Tess toward home.

Richard Crick

Also known as Dairyman Crick · Dairyman Dick · Mr Crick

Master dairyman at Talbothays who hired Tess and taught Angel dairy work. He meets the couple when they return briefly to the dairy and recounts what has become of Marian and Retty.

Unnamed lady at the dairy

Also known as Mrs Crick

Richard Crick’s wife, who greets Tess at the dairy and shares news of Marian and Retty.

Unnamed stranger driving Tess toward home

Also known as stranger

A driver who takes Tess and Angel onward after they leave the inn, unaware of their relationship and circumstances.

Unnamed turnpike-keeper

Also known as turnpike-keeper

The new keeper of the gate on the road to Marlott. He tells Tess that her father has celebrated her marriage publicly and lets her leave her belongings at his house.

Unnamed school friend of Tess

Also known as girl who knew her

A young woman who was intimate with Tess at school and meets her near the Durbeyfield home after her separation from Angel.

Mrs Rolliver

Also known as the landlady

The landlady of Rolliver’s inn, where Jack Durbeyfield discusses Tess’s marriage and family status with local drinkers.

Unnamed local drinkers at Rolliver’s and The Pure Drop

Also known as fellers

Local people among whom Jack Durbeyfield has celebrated Tess’s marriage and discussed his supposed noble ancestry; he fears their mockery when Tess returns without Angel.

Unnamed younger Durbeyfield children

Also known as two younger children

Tess’s younger siblings, for whom her former bed at home has been rearranged.

Unnamed old turnpike-keeper

Also known as old man

The former keeper of the gate near Marlott, who had known Tess before leaving the post.

Unnamed daughter of John Durbeyfield

Also known as John Durbeyfield’s daughter

Tess, whom the turnpike-keeper describes as having married a gentleman-farmer away from her family home.

Unnamed two old servants at the Vicarage

Also known as old servants

Two servants who enter the drawing-room for evening prayers at the Clare household.

Unnamed man who insulted Tess

Also known as man who had insulted her

The man with whom Angel fought in his sleep shortly before his marriage, after the man insulted Tess.

M. Sully-Prudhomme

Also known as Sully-Prudhomme

A writer whose words about the burden of being born are invoked in a reflection on Tess’s fear of bringing children into a painful life.

Jonathan Kail

Also known as Jonathan

A milker at Talbothays who delivers the newlyweds’ luggage to Wellbridge after their wedding. He tells them that Retty tried to drown herself and Marian was found drunk.

Parson Tringham

Also known as Pa’son Tringham

An elderly parson and antiquary who discovered Jack Durbeyfield’s descent from the old d’Urbervilles. Angel plans to use his proofs of Tess’s descent to present her family background to his parents.

Mrs Pitney

Also known as Angel’s godmother · the Squire’s wife

Angel’s wealthy godmother, who left diamonds in trust for his future wife. She is deceased by the time Angel and Tess marry.

Unnamed woman who had an affair with Angel in London

Also known as stranger

A woman with whom Angel spent forty-eight hours in dissipation during his time in London; he says he ended the association and did not repeat the offence.

Unnamed companion of the man who insults Tess

Also known as second man

A man accompanying the person who insults Tess at the inn; afterward he challenges the other man’s claim that the recognition was a mistake.

Unnamed postilion

Also known as venerable boy

A sixty-year-old, gout-stricken man who drives the closed carriage taking Tess and Angel to their wedding.

Unnamed charwoman

Also known as woman from a neighbouring cottage

A woman from a neighbouring cottage left to attend to Tess and Angel at their Wellbridge lodgings. She shows Tess the way upstairs and identifies two ancestral portraits as d’Urberville women.

Unnamed farmer at Wellbridge

Also known as farmer

The farmer who owns the Wellbridge lodging house and leaves to visit friends, arranging for a neighbouring woman to attend to the newlyweds.

Unnamed special messenger

A messenger sent from Emminster Vicarage with a sealed parcel for Angel and Tess, under instructions to deliver it only to them.

Unnamed man who rescues Retty

Also known as waterman

A man on his way home who finds Retty’s bonnet and shawl by the Great Pool and brings her from the water with another man.

Unnamed man assisting Retty’s rescuer

Also known as another man

A man who helps the waterman bring Retty home after she is found in the Great Pool.

Unnamed white cock with a rose comb

Also known as white cock

A cock at Talbothays whose unusual afternoon crow is treated as an ill omen before Tess and Angel depart.

St John

Also known as John

The biblical figure whose vision of an angel in the sun is evoked to describe Tess’s exalted state after her wedding.

Paul of Tarsus

Also known as Paul

The apostle whose words about purity Angel cites while confessing his past to Tess.

William Shakespeare

Also known as Shakespeare

The writer whose King Lear is associated with the song about a robe that betrays a wife who has done wrong.

Queen Guinevere

The legendary queen whose robe, in the song Tess recalls, changes colour to reveal her wrongdoing.

Unnamed Roman poet

A Roman poet whose lines about the upright man needing no spear or bow are quoted by Angel during his confession.

Unnamed two d’Urberville women in portraits

Also known as ladies of the d’Urberville family

Two women of the old d’Urberville family depicted in life-size portraits at the Wellbridge house. Their severe features unsettle Tess and resemble hers.

Unnamed first d’Urberville in the coach legend

Also known as certain d’Urberville

A member of the d’Urberville family from the sixteenth or seventeenth century who, according to a local legend, committed a dreadful crime in the family coach.

Dumpling

A Talbothays cow who loves Tess’s hands and is among the cows Tess milks.

Old Pretty

A Talbothays cow who loves Tess’s hands and is being milked by Tess when Angel embraces her.

Unnamed girl awaiting Miss Chant

One of a group of girls aged twelve to sixteen standing by the vestry door, apparently waiting for Miss Mercy Chant.

Unnamed Clare daughter

Angel’s older sister, sixteen years his senior and the eldest of the Clare family. She married a missionary and went to Africa; her portrait hangs in the family home.

Walt Whitman

Also known as Whitman

A poet whose words Angel recalls while thinking about re-entering the wider world.

St James

Also known as James

The biblical figure whom Reverend James Clare dislikes.

Timothy

A New Testament figure whom Reverend James Clare regards with mixed feelings.

Titus

A New Testament figure whom Reverend James Clare regards with mixed feelings.

Philemon

A New Testament figure whom Reverend James Clare regards with mixed feelings.

Arthur Schopenhauer

Also known as Schopenhauer

A philosopher whose renunciative philosophy is compared with Reverend James Clare’s outlook.

Giacomo Leopardi

Also known as Leopardi

A writer whose renunciative philosophy is compared with Reverend James Clare’s outlook.

John Wycliffe

Also known as Wycliff

A religious reformer named as an intellectual forebear of Reverend James Clare.

Jan Hus

Also known as Huss

A religious reformer named as an intellectual forebear of Reverend James Clare.

Martin Luther

Also known as Luther

A religious reformer named as an intellectual forebear of Reverend James Clare.

John Calvin

Also known as Calvin

A religious reformer named as an intellectual forebear of Reverend James Clare.

Unnamed man with delirium tremens

Also known as man who can earn nothing just now

A man whose attacks of delirium tremens prevent him from working. Angel’s parents give his children Mrs Crick’s black puddings.

Unnamed children of the man with delirium tremens

Also known as the children

The children of a man incapacitated by delirium tremens; Angel’s parents give them the black puddings sent by Mrs Crick.

Dr Chant

Also known as Angel’s father’s neighbour

Reverend James Clare’s earnest-minded friend and neighbour, and the father of Miss Mercy Chant.

St Luke

Also known as Luke

The evangelist whose Gospel supplies the text Reverend James Clare uses when confronting Alec d’Urberville.

Unnamed deceased first husband of Jack Dollop’s wife

Also known as her first man

The deceased first husband of the widow who marries Jack Dollop; the possibility that his ghost would trouble her is mentioned.

William Wordsworth

Also known as Wordsworth

A poet whose work Angel’s brothers read when his poetry is in fashion.

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Also known as Shelley

A poet whose works Angel’s brothers neglect when he is out of fashion.

Antonio da Correggio

Also known as Correggio

A painter whose Holy Families Angel’s brothers admire when his work is fashionable.

Diego Velázquez

Also known as Velasquez

A painter whose work Angel’s brothers follow the fashion of admiring.

Unnamed farm worker with a milking pail

A Talbothays worker whose pail is left beside a cow when Angel hurries to embrace Tess.

Unnamed widow who marries Jack Dollop

Also known as widow-woman

A widow with an income of about fifty pounds a year who marries Jack Dollop without telling him that her marriage will end that income. Their marriage is unhappy, and she bears the worst of their quarrels.

Unnamed married helper from a cottage

A married dairy helper who says she would have married Jack Dollop and defended herself with a rolling pin if he had complained about her withholding information.

Unnamed milkers and dairy workers

Also known as supernumerary milkers

The dairy’s seasonal workers who help milk the cows and handle the milk sent to the railway station.

Unnamed horse drawing the spring-waggon

The horse that draws the spring-waggon carrying milk from Talbothays to the railway station.

Unnamed railway station worker

A worker who helps unload the milk cans from the spring-waggon and transfer them to a train.

Eve

The biblical first woman, used as a comparison for Tess’s look at Angel.

Adam

The biblical first man, used as a comparison for Angel as Tess looks at him.

Unnamed milker behind the dun cow

Also known as unnamed milker behind the cow

A Talbothays worker who questions Richard Crick’s story while milking. Tess recognizes him as Angel Clare, the stranger who danced at Marlott.

Unnamed indoor dairymaid who tells Tess about Angel

One of the indoor milkmaids at Talbothays who tells Tess that Angel is the dairyman’s pupil, a parson’s son, and the son of Reverend James Clare of Emminster.

Unnamed other indoor milkmaids

The three indoor milkmaids who share a bedroom with Tess at Talbothays; one of them tells Tess about Angel.

Unnamed milkmaid who says Tess is pretty

A Talbothays milkmaid who remarks to the others that Tess is pretty.

Unnamed bookseller

Also known as local bookseller

The bookseller who explains to Reverend James Clare that a book delivered to the vicarage had been ordered by Angel.

Unnamed woman older than Angel in London

A woman much older than Angel who nearly entraps him when he lives in London; he escapes without serious harm.

Unnamed acquaintance starting a colonial farm

An acquaintance of Angel’s whose successful start as a colonial farmer helps prompt Angel to train for farming.

Unnamed horse driving the churn

Also known as spiritless horse

A horse that walks in a circle to power the dairy’s churn.

Fancy

One of the Talbothays cows that readily gives milk to Tess.

Lofty

One of the Talbothays cows that readily gives milk to Tess.

Mist

One of the Talbothays cows that readily gives milk to Tess.

Young Pretty

One of the Talbothays cows that readily gives milk to Tess.

Tidy

One of the Talbothays cows that readily gives milk to Tess.

Loud

One of the Talbothays cows that readily gives milk to Tess.

Artemis

A fanciful name Angel uses teasingly for Tess during their early morning walks.

Demeter

A fanciful name Angel uses teasingly for Tess during their early morning walks.

Deborah Fyander

Also known as old Deborah · Deb

An older, non-resident milker at Talbothays whom Richard Crick rebukes for not washing her hands.

Unnamed boy driving the churn horse

Also known as boy who kept the horse going

A boy who drives the horse that powers the dairy churn.

Conjuror Trendle’s son

Also known as Conjuror Trendle’s son

A conjuror from Egdon whom Richard Crick consulted years earlier about a dairy problem; Crick says he was less capable than his father.

Conjuror Trendle

Also known as Conjuror Trendle

The father of Conjuror Trendle’s son, reputed to have been a more capable conjuror.

Conjuror Fall

Also known as Wide-O

A conjuror from beyond Casterbridge, once considered very good by Jonathan Kail; Kail says he is now dead.

Conjuror Mynterne

Also known as Conjuror Mynterne

A conjuror from Owlscombe whom Richard Crick’s grandfather reportedly consulted.

Jack Dollop

A former Talbothays milker who courted and deceived a young woman. Her mother confronted him at the dairy, where he hid inside the churn until he promised to make amends.

Unnamed young woman deceived by Jack Dollop

Also known as Jack Dollop’s young woman

A young woman whom Jack Dollop deceived and who came to the dairy crying while her mother searched for him.

Unnamed mother of Jack Dollop’s young woman

Also known as old woman

The mother of the young woman deceived by Jack Dollop. She confronted him at the dairy and forced him to promise to make amends.

Unnamed former Talbothays maid

Also known as maid they had years ago

A former dairymaid whose love affair was once blamed for butter failing to come, though Richard Crick says the real cause was damage to the churn.

Unnamed young woman of Emminster

Also known as Doctor of Divinity’s daughter

A young woman of Angel’s social rank, the daughter of a Doctor of Divinity near Emminster, whom Angel’s family is said to have chosen for him to marry.

Unnamed maid who once loved Jack Dollop

Also known as young woman over at Mellstock

A young woman whom Jack Dollop courted and deceived; she is mentioned in Richard Crick’s story of the churn incident.

Unnamed mother of the maid who once loved Jack Dollop

Also known as girl’s mother

The mother who came to Talbothays looking for Jack Dollop after he deceived her daughter.

Unnamed dairymaid whose shadow-kiss is witnessed

A Talbothays dairymaid who kisses Angel’s shadow on a wall while he is working; Izz Huett catches her doing so.

Unnamed dairyman at Stickleford

Also known as dairyman at Stickleford

A dairyman who has twice asked Marian to marry him; she no longer wants to accept after falling in love with Angel.

Bill Lewell

Also known as Bill

A Talbothays worker who joins the search for garlic in the pasture after the butter develops a garlic taste.

Beck Knibbs

Also known as Beck

A married dairywoman who lives in a cottage and joins the search for garlic in the pasture.

Frances

Also known as flaxen Frances

A married dairywoman who lives in a cottage and joins the search for garlic in the pasture; she is consumptive from the winter damp of the water-meads.

Unnamed customer complaining about the butter

A customer whose letter reports that Talbothays butter has an unpleasant twang.

Unnamed milker who courted a young woman years ago

A former Talbothays milker whose love affair was recalled as a possible cause of butter failing to come; Richard Crick says the churn was actually damaged.

Unnamed farmer who asked for a job

Also known as Matt

A young man who says he has no surname because his family has not been established long enough. Angel gives him half a crown and expresses hope in him.

Unnamed milkers and dairywomen

Also known as married ones from the cottages · outdoor milkers

The non-resident Talbothays workers who help with milking and join the household in searching the pasture for garlic.

Unnamed dairymaid in the earlier butter incident

A former Talbothays maid whose presence in a love affair was once thought to explain a failure of the butter to come.

Unnamed father of Angel’s older brothers

Also known as Angel’s father

Reverend James Clare, whose first wife died before he remarried late in life.

Unnamed first wife of Reverend James Clare

Reverend James Clare’s first wife and the mother of his daughter.

Unnamed Angel’s acquaintance in London

An acquaintance of Angel mentioned as he considers trying a profession or business in London.

Unnamed young children of the Durbeyfield family

Also known as the children · Tess’s young brothers and sisters

Tess’s younger siblings, who share a bedroom with her and help her perform an improvised baptism for her dying infant. They are present when she names him Sorrow.

Unnamed parish vicar

Also known as the Vicar · the parson of the parish

A new clergyman in the parish who tells Tess that her home baptism will count for her baby’s salvation, but refuses to conduct a Christian burial. He later reassures her that the burial’s irregularity will make no difference.

Unnamed former friend of Joan

A woman known to Joan who receives Tess’s inquiry and sends word that a dairy needs a skilled milkmaid.

Unnamed farmer in a spring cart

Also known as farmer

A stranger who gives Tess a ride toward Weatherbury on her journey to Talbothays.

Unnamed dairymaid infant

Also known as Sorrow · Sorrow the Undesired

Tess’s son, born after her time at Trantridge. She baptizes him Sorrow at home; he dies as an infant and is buried in the churchyard.

Unnamed eldest Durbeyfield daughter

Also known as big girl · Tess’s eldest sister

Tess’s eldest younger sister, who brings the baby to Tess during the harvesters’ lunch and takes him back afterward.

Unnamed girl carrying an infant

Also known as girl who wore a triangular shawl

One of a group of children who bring lunch to the harvest field; she carries Tess’s infant before Tess takes him to nurse.

Unnamed man in a rabbit-skin cap

A harvest worker who offers Tess a cup of ale during the lunch break.

Unnamed woman in a red petticoat

A harvest worker who comments on Tess’s affection for her baby.

Unnamed woman in buff

A harvest worker who remarks that Tess will become accustomed to her situation.

Jenny

A harvest worker whom another woman teases as plain.

Unnamed woman who tells the Chase rumor

A harvest worker who recounts that people heard sobbing in The Chase on the night Tess was harmed.

Unnamed ancient woman of ninety

A woman once living near Talbothays who told a dairyman that a family with a name like Tess’s came from that region and was an ancient race.

Unnamed carrier-van farmer

Also known as farmer who offers Tess a seat

A farmer traveling toward Weatherbury who gives Tess a lift on her way to Talbothays.

Unnamed Talbothays dairymaid

Also known as the milkmaid

A dairymaid who suggests that milk may rise into cows’ horns when they withhold it.

William Dewy

Also known as William

A deceased Mellstock man and former wedding fiddler, remembered by Richard Crick for calming a bull with music and escaping by playing a Christmas hymn.

Unnamed male milker who mentions the harp

A Talbothays worker who complains that singing while milking uses up a man’s breath and suggests the dairyman play his harp.

Unnamed middle-aged dairy worker

Also known as sturdy middle-aged man

The dairyman’s description identifies him as Richard Crick, who welcomes Tess to Talbothays and hires her.

Unnamed maid from the pink jacket

Also known as girl in the pink cotton jacket

Tess, recognized as the young woman in the pink jacket who works as a harvest binder in Marlott.

Thomas Hardy

Also known as T.H.

The author and narrator, who comments on the events and reflects on the cruel timing of love and fate.

Mrs d’Urberville

A wealthy, blind woman, widow of Simon Stoke, who owns The Slopes and employs Tess to tend her poultry and whistle to her bullfinches. She does not know of the Durbeyfields’ claimed kinship; her relationship with her son Alec is strained, though she loves him.

Simon Stoke

Also known as old Mr Simon Stoke

The recently deceased merchant who made a fortune in the North and adopted the name d’Urberville for himself and his heirs to establish a county identity. He was Alec’s father and Mrs d’Urberville’s husband.

Unnamed carrier

The carrier who brings Tess to Trantridge and is due to take her back toward Shaston.

Unnamed maid-servant

Also known as maid · servant in white cap and apron

A servant from the manor-house who guides Tess to Mrs d’Urberville and helps bring the poultry in for the blind woman to examine.

Elizabeth

A maid-servant at Mrs d’Urberville’s house who tells her that Alec whistled to the bullfinches.

Strut

One of Mrs d’Urberville’s pet fowls, a cock whom she recognizes by touch.

Phena

One of Mrs d’Urberville’s pet fowls, whom she recognizes by touch.

Unnamed former poultry lad

The lad who previously supervised Mrs d’Urberville’s birds; he proved untrustworthy and left.

Unnamed former bullfinch-whistler

Also known as the lad who did it very well

A lad who had formerly whistled tunes to Mrs d’Urberville’s bullfinches before leaving her service.

Tib

A mare owned by Alec d’Urberville, reputedly dangerous and difficult to handle.

Unnamed man killed by Tib

Also known as one chap

A man whom Alec says Tib killed; no further details are given.

Unnamed man nearly killed by Tib

Also known as chap

A man whom Alec says Tib nearly killed shortly after he bought her; Alec himself was nearly killed by the mare as well.

Unnamed cottage-woman in Shaston

A woman known to the Durbeyfields whose home Tess stays at overnight after reaching Shaston.

Unnamed farm worker who delivered the cob

Also known as somebody

The unnamed person who gave Jack Durbeyfield a new cob; Alec later reveals that he was the giver.

Unnamed Durbeyfield children’s toy recipients

Tess’s younger siblings, who receive toys sent by Alec.

Unnamed dancing companions

Also known as Trantridge cottagers · work-folk · pilgrims

Tess’s fellow workers and neighbours from Trantridge, who go to Chaseborough and dance at a hay-trusser’s outhouse. Several become drunk, and some women turn against Tess during their walk home.

Unnamed hay-trusser and peat-dealer

A Chaseborough resident whose outhouse hosts the private dance attended by the Trantridge workers.

Unnamed man explaining the dance

A man at the private dance who explains to Tess why the workers meet at the outhouse rather than dance at The Flower-de-Luce.

Unnamed young man with a wet face

A young, apparently drunken dancer who invites Tess to dance while she waits for her companions.

Unnamed young married woman

Also known as tippling bride · unhappy partner of the clumsy man

A recently married woman among the Trantridge workers who falls during the dance and is later among those walking home drunk with the party.

Unnamed husband of the young married woman

Also known as fond husband · clumsy man

The recently married woman’s husband, whose clumsiness causes them to fall during the dance.

Unnamed mother of Car Darch and Nancy Darch

Also known as Car’s mother · dark Car’s mother

The mother of Car and Nancy, who is among the returning workers and laughs when she sees Alec ride away with Tess.

Unnamed grandmother of Car Darch

Also known as Car’s poor old grandmother

Car’s grandmother, who loves treacle and is meant to receive some from Car.

Unnamed Trantridge man at the gate

One of the workers who notices treacle running down Car Darch’s back and draws attention to it.

Unnamed observant matron

A woman among the returning workers who identifies the syrup on Car Darch’s dress as treacle.

Unnamed husbands and lovers defending Tess

Some of the men in the returning group try to defend Tess when the women turn against her, escalating the quarrel.

Unnamed man who misses Alec’s departure

A worker who asks what the others are looking at after Alec has ridden away with Tess.

Unnamed parents of the old cottage’s former infants

Former residents of the poultry cottage whose infants once wailed there; their descendants resent the building’s conversion into a fowl-house.

Thomas de la Lynd

A man in a legend from the reign of Henry III who killed a white hart the king had spared, bringing a heavy fine upon the country.

King Henry III

The king in the old legend about the white hart killed by Thomas de la Lynd.

King John

The king whose reign is mentioned in the history of the d’Urberville family; one of their ancestors gave a manor to the Knights Hospitallers during his reign.

Brian d’Urberville

Also known as Brian

An ancestor of the d’Urbervilles who was summoned to Westminster to attend the great Council in the time of Edward II.

Oliver Cromwell

Also known as Oliver Grumble

A historical figure whose time marked a decline in the fortunes of the d’Urberville family.

Charles II

Also known as Charles the Second

The king during whose reign the d’Urbervilles were made Knights of the Royal Oak for their loyalty.

Sir Pagan d’Urberville

Also known as Pagan d’Urberville

A renowned knight said to have come from Normandy with William the Conqueror and to be the ancestor of the d’Urberville family.

William the Conqueror

The ruler who came from Normandy with Sir Pagan d’Urberville, according to the family history.

Ina

Also known as Glo’ster

King of Wessex, invoked in Hardy’s prefatory note through a saying attributed there to Shakespeare’s King Lear.

St. Jerome

A Christian writer whose saying about preferring offense caused by truth to concealing truth is cited in the author’s first-edition note.

Friedrich Schiller

Also known as Schiller

A writer whose letters to Goethe are cited in Hardy’s preface for their views on judging poetic representations.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Also known as Goethe

The recipient of Schiller’s letters cited in Hardy’s preface.

Fred

A local youth whom Jack Durbeyfield asks to carry messages to Marlott after learning of his ancestry.

Unnamed ostleress

Also known as ostler

A strong, frizzle-headed young woman who works as a general servant at The Pure Drop Inn and drives Jack Durbeyfield home in its chaise.

Unnamed club member

A woman in Marlott’s women’s club who points out that Tess’s father is riding home in a carriage.

Unnamed young woman dancing with Angel

A member of the Marlott club whom Angel Clare chooses as his dance partner; her name is not given.

Hope Durbeyfield

Also known as Hope

One of Tess’s younger sisters.

Modesty Durbeyfield

Also known as Modesty

One of Tess’s younger sisters.

Unnamed three-year-old Durbeyfield boy

Tess’s younger brother, aged three.

Unnamed Durbeyfield baby

The youngest Durbeyfield child, who has just turned one.

Prince

The Durbeyfields’ old, weak horse, which Tess drives with the family’s beehives and which is fatally struck by the morning mail-cart.

Unnamed doctor

A doctor in Shaston who tells Jack Durbeyfield that his heart is surrounded by fat and may fail within an uncertain time.

Unnamed mail-cart man

Also known as mail-cart driver

The driver whose cart strikes and kills Prince; he continues on with the mail and arranges for help to reach Tess.

Unnamed farmer’s man

A farm worker from near Stourcastle who brings a strong cob to replace Prince and help take the beehives to Casterbridge.

Unnamed local drinker

Also known as elderly boozer

An older man at Rolliver’s who remarks on Tess’s beauty and cautions Joan about her plans for her daughter.

Unnamed bailiff

The bailiff who tends the small fancy farm attached to Mrs d’Urberville’s country house.

Unnamed National School mistress

A London-trained teacher at the National School where Tess received her education.

Unnamed household children

Two Durbeyfield children who died in infancy, leaving a gap of more than four years between Tess and the next surviving child.

Unnamed village girls

Two girls who walked home from school beside Tess when they were children, each resting an arm around her waist.

Unnamed local men seeking dance partners

Young men and other male onlookers who join the Marlott club dance after the women begin dancing.

Unnamed Rolliver’s customers

Also known as conclave

Local men gathered in a bedroom at Rolliver’s inn to drink; they hear part of the Durbeyfields’ conversation about Tess and the supposed wealthy relative.