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Allusion
Explanation and Analysis—Tess's Guardian Angel:
At the end of Chapter 11, Alec physically assaults Tess, taking her to an isolated glade in the forest and drugging her. In an interesting example of narrative voice, the narrator takes this moment to make an abstract observation about God and the nature of fate, making an allusion to the Bible in the process:
But where was Tess's guardian angel? where was Providence? Perhaps, like that other god of whom the ironical Tishbite spoke, he was talking, or he was pursuing, or he was in a journey, or peradventure he was sleeping and not to be awakened.
The "ironical Tishbite" the narrator references in this passage is Elijah, a prophet from both Christian and Jewish tradition. Elijah frequently condemned the Israelites' idolization of Ba'al, who may be the "other god" Hardy references. This allusion implies that Providence is as fickle as a false god, absent in the situations when it is most needed. Paralleling the "guardian angel" whose absence he condemns, the narrator chooses the moment of Tess's violation to essentially zoom out of the scene, focusing on a rather abstract discussion of the forces at play instead of what literally happens to her.
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