The principle antagonist of the novel, the handsome, libertine son of the wealthy d'Urberville-Stokes. He is fickle and impetuous by nature, but his infatuation with Tess seems more lasting than his feelings for other girls. His rape of Tess is the beginning of her misfortunes and the tragic undercurrent of the entire novel. Alec briefly takes up religion and becomes a preacher, but he discards his faith when he sees Tess again.
Alec d'Urberville Quotes in Tess of the d'Urbervilles
The Tess of the d'Urbervilles quotes below are all either spoken by Alec d'Urberville or refer to Alec d'Urberville. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 5
Quotes
He watched her pretty and unconscious munching through the skeins of smoke that pervaded the tent, and Tess Durbeyfield did not divine, as she innocently looked down at the roses in her bosom, that there behind the blue narcotic haze was potentially the “tragic mischief” of her drama – one who stood to be the blood-red ray in the spectrum of her young life.
Related Characters:
Tess Durbeyfield, Alec d'Urberville
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Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8
Quotes
He was inexorable, and she sat still, and d'Urberville gave her the kiss of mastery.
Related Characters:
Tess Durbeyfield, Alec d'Urberville
Related Themes:
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Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 45
Quotes
This was once a Holy Cross. Relics are not in my creed; but I fear you at moments – far more than you need fear me at present; and to lessen my fear, put your hand upon that stone hand, and swear that you will never tempt me – by your charms or ways.
Related Characters:
Alec d'Urberville (speaker), Tess Durbeyfield
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Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 47
Quotes
What a grand revenge you have taken! I saw you innocent, and I deceived you. Four years after, you find me a Christian enthusiast; you then work upon me, perhaps to my complete perdition!
Related Characters:
Alec d'Urberville (speaker), Tess Durbeyfield
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Explanation and Analysis:
Whip me, crush me; you need not mind those people under the rick! I shall not cry out. Once victim, always victim – that's the law!
Related Characters:
Tess Durbeyfield (speaker), Alec d'Urberville
Related Themes:
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Explanation and Analysis:
Remember, my lady, I was your master once! I will be your master again. If you are any man's wife you are mine!
Related Characters:
Alec d'Urberville (speaker), Tess Durbeyfield
Related Themes:
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Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 52
Quotes
The old order changeth. The little finger of the sham d'Urbervilles can do more for you than the whole dynasty of the real underneath…
Related Characters:
Alec d'Urberville (speaker), Tess Durbeyfield
Related Themes:
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Explanation and Analysis:
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Alec d'Urberville Character Timeline in Tess of the d'Urbervilles
The timeline below shows where the character Alec d'Urberville appears in Tess of the d'Urbervilles. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 5
Tess is approached by the bold, handsome Alec d'Urberville. He tries to flirt with Tess but she rebuffs him shyly. She wants to...
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Alec convinces Tess to linger with him until her ride home returns. He shows her the...
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Tess turns to go and Alec considers kissing her, but refrains. The narrator laments the cruel chance of these two meeting...
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Chapter 6
A week later Tess returns home from job searching to find the family rejoicing again. Alec d'Urberville has ridden by and asked in person if Tess would come manage the fowls....
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Chapter 7
...Joan is delighted with her appearance and the effect she imagines it will have on Alec. Tess says goodbye to her father, who takes a break from his nap to say...
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...hill. Joan watches the cart approach and sees with delight that it is driven by Alec d'Urberville. Tess hesitates to go with him, but then strengthens her resolve and leaves. The...
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...voices her misgivings to her husband. She says she wishes she had found out if Alec was a good man or not before letting Tess go with him. But then Joan...
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Chapter 8
Tess and Alec ride away from the green Vale and into the gray unknown. Alec drives recklessly and...
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They start to go down another hill but this time Tess won't hold onto Alec. Instead he asks if he can kiss her. When she refuses he makes the horse...
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Unconsciously Tess wipes her cheek with her handkerchief, which makes Alec angry. He insists that she has undone the kiss, and he must have another one....
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Tess yells an insult back at Alec and his anger suddenly dissolves. He tries to convince her to get back on the...
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Chapter 9
...d'Urberville asks her to whistle songs to the bullfinches every day. The maid mentions that Alec has been whistling to them lately, and Mrs. d'Urberville reacts negatively to his name. Tess...
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Tess feels better the next morning and starts to practice her whistling. Alec suddenly appears, complimenting her beauty and sarcastically calling her “Cousin.” He offers to help her,...
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Tess begins to adjust to her position and to Alec's presence. He teases her carefully and she gradually becomes less shy, but Alec is also...
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Chapter 10
...safety of a group. One night she starts out later than usual and then encounters Alec at a street corner. Tess tells him she is just waiting to leave. He says...
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...and then falling together into the dirt. Tess hears a laugh behind her and meets Alec again. She explains her situation and he offers to take her home, but she still...
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...the women is Car Darch, the “Queen of Spades,” who was recently a favorite of Alec's. They come to a gate and Car goes first with her heavy basket on her...
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...and Car hears her and becomes enraged, as she was already jealous of Tess for Alec's attentions. Tess apologizes while Car strips off her bodice and prepares to attack. Tess magnanimously...
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Tess feels so distressed that she accepts Alec's offer, although at almost any other moment she would have refused. The other women watch...
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Chapter 11
Alec and Tess ride away, and Tess starts to feel uncomfortable. Alec asks why she is...
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Alec gets angry at her constant distrust and invokes his superiority over her, calling Tess a...
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...grows angry again and pulls away. She demands that he let her walk home, but Alec says they are miles from Trantridge and the forest is foggy. Alec lets her dismount...
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Alec tries to comfort her and wraps her in his overcoat. Then he goes off into...
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Chapter 12
...but looking like her burden is an emotional one instead. She climbs the hill that Alec had ridden so recklessly down four months before, and sees the beautiful, familiar Vale of...
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...she starts to cry a little, and says she wishes she had never been born. Alec downplays her sorrow and asks why she came to Trantridge if she did not love...
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Alec laughs and admits he has done wrong, but he wants to make amends by giving...
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Alec laments that Tess will never love him, and Tess affirms it. Alec sighs and downplays...
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...they were not actually related to those d'Urbervilles. Joan gets angry that Tess didn't get Alec to marry her, and guilts her with the family's hardships. Tess had never even considered...
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Chapter 13
...and many of her old friends come by to visit her, as fascinating rumors about Alec's nature have reached even Blakemore. Joan is able to satisfy her pride by implying a...
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Chapter 15
...such a harsh situation. Tess spends the winter doing housework and making clothes out of Alec's old gifts.
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Chapter 27
...of the insulting young skeptic, and gives enough information that Tess can tell it is Alec. The reminder of her past hardens her in her refusal, but Angel does not notice...
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Chapter 33
By the time they reach home Tess is depressed, and wonders if she is rightfully Alec's wife instead of Angel's. When she is alone she prays to both God and her...
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Chapter 34
...press their heads together, her diamonds gleaming ominously, and Tess tells the whole story of Alec d'Urberville.
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Chapter 36
...her story is true, but Tess reaffirms it. Angel asks for the first time about Alec and the baby, and is distraught that Alec is alive and still in England. He...
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...Tess he cannot live with her without despising both of them. He cannot accept that Alec still lives as her “husband in nature,” and that nowhere on earth is far enough...
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Chapter 39
...only circumstance, not intention. She is still just as pure as before she ever met Alec.
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Chapter 44
...voice, and she nervously enters the barn to see that he is none other than Alec d'Urberville.
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Chapter 45
Tess cannot help being afraid when she sees Alec, and it feels grotesque to watch him speak the words of Scripture. His passion and...
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Tess decides to leave immediately, but when she moves again Alec notices her. The passion of his sermon is suddenly extinguished, and he hesitates. Tess keeps...
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She hears footsteps behind her and Alec approaches, agitated. Tess wishes he had not followed her, and speaks to him with scorn....
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...to both apologize and preach to Tess, who becomes enraged, pointing out the horror that Alec should be able to use her as he did and then just change his mind...
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Alec asks Tess to put down her veil, as she is tempting him, and she can't...
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...human hand, rumored to once have held a cross. The place seems ancient and sinister. Alec says he has to leave and asks Tess about her new way of speaking, and...
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Alec says they will meet again, but Tess warns him not to come near her. Alec...
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Chapter 46
...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,...
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Alec blames himself for corrupting Tess's innocent life, but also her parents for not warning her...
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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...
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Alec says he at least wants to help her financially, and is surprised to hear that...
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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...
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On the Candlemas holiday Alec shows up at her lodgings. He is agitated and admits that he can't stop thinking...
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Alec scorns her for parroting her husband's beliefs, and Tess defends Angel with a faithfulness he...
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Alec gets angry at Tess for tempting him and causing him to backslide, comparing her to...
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Chapter 47
Tess doesn't notice that Alec d'Urberville has arrived and is watching her. He is dressed fashionably now, no longer like...
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Tess asks why he keeps bothering her, but Alec accuses her of bothering him by haunting him with her eyes and ruining his faith....
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Alec admits that Angel's arguments have convinced him, and Tess asks that he keep the religion...
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Alec emphasizes how Angel has abandoned Tess, and again he propositions her, implying that he is...
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Alec does not retaliate, but he does threaten Tess that he will be her master again,...
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Chapter 48
Farmer Groby makes them keep working by moonlight, and Alec returns to watch Tess. The work seems endless and the threshing-machine insatiable. The machine shakes...
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Alec approaches Tess again and offers to help her. She tries to give him the benefit...
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Chapter 50
...her for a long time, but he approaches the fire and she sees it is Alec d'Urberville. He looks grotesque in the dim light and peasant's clothes, and he laughs at...
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Alec says he has come entirely for Tess, and offers to help her family out of...
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Chapter 51
...recently shamed her mother for “harboring” her. She is so absorbed that she doesn't notice Alec until he knocks at the window.
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Tess says she thought he was a carriage passing by, and Alec tells her the story of the d'Urberville coach. Some past d'Urberville supposedly kidnapped a beautiful...
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...that her family is being kicked out because she is not a “proper woman,” and Alec is enraged at the villagers. Tess says they are going to Kingsbere where the d'Urberville...
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...Tess's husband, but Tess says he will never return. She cannot help but feel that Alec is more truly her husband than Angel is.
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Chapter 52
...Tess sees Marian and Izz among them. They have fled Flintcomb-Ash, and warn her that Alec is looking for her. They also ask about Angel.
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...on the family's seal and spoon. Joan and Liza-Lu go looking for food and encounter Alec on horseback. They reluctantly tell him where Tess is.
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...Suddenly one of the effigies moves, and she almost faints before she realizes it is Alec d'Urberville.
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Alec apologizes for interrupting her reunion, and stamps ironically on the vaults. He says he, the...
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Meanwhile Izz and Marian ride on, talking of Tess, Angel, and Alec. They are worried that Tess will succumb to Alec if Angel does not return, and...
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Chapter 54
...find Tess. He passes by Cross-in-Hand, the sinister stone where Tess swore to never tempt Alec again, and continues on to Flintcomb-Ash. He finds that she is not there, and that...
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Chapter 55
...come near her. She says that she waited and suffered for so long, and then Alec appeared, and helped her family, and convinced her that Angel would never return, and at...
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Angel understands the terrible truth. Tess says Alec is upstairs, and that she hates him now, but Angel must leave and never return....
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Chapter 57
Tess says she has killed Alec, and she smiles. Angel thinks she is delirious. She says she feared it would happen...
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