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Some words and phrases to explore in 'Tess' about Tess.

Make notes on what they tell us.

 The sub-title: "A Pure Woman"  Section One: "The Maiden"
 "Phases of her childhood lurked in her aspect still". For more see P.52. " the self-reproach which she continued to heap upon herself for her negligence." P. 72
 "Nobody blamed Tess as she blamed herself" P. 73  'her mobile peony mouth and large innocent eyes added eloquence to colour and shape." P. 12
 "She looked upon herself as a figure of guilt intruding into the haunts of innocence." P. 135 "Every see-saw of her breath, every wave of her blood, every pulse singing in her ears, was a voice that joined with nature in revolt against her scrupulousness." P. 241.
 'The pouted-out deep red mouth..." P.13  "her bouncing handsome womanliness" P.13
 "her freshness" P.14  "She was so modest, so expressive, she had looked so soft in her thin white gown..." P.17
 It "was a sorry and mistaken creation of Tess's fancy - a cloud of moral hobgoblins by which she was terrified without reason." P.108  "Her figure looked singularly tall and imposing as she stood in her long white nightgown, a thick gable of twisted dark hair hanging straight down her back..." P.119
 her face " a thing of immaculate beauty, with a touch of dignity which was almost regal" P.119 (Also see context of quote)  At Talbothays "she felt akin to the landscape.." p.132
 "Tess was trying to lead a repressed life..." P.161 "her mouth he had seen nothing to equal on the face of the earth..." P 192 
 'she was such a sheaf of susceptibilities..." P.227  "There was hardly a touch of earth in her love for Clare." P.246