Alec D'Urberville

Characterization of Alec D'Urberville
Hardy's methods of characterising Alec D'Urberville are far less varied compared to those he uses with either Angel and Tess:

• Hardy does signal his life as being extroverted, but Hardy described Alec's superficial personality through clothes and such symbols as his cigars.
• Hardy associates Alec with animals like horses, to demonstrate Alec's mastery.
• Alec is a two dimensional character, remaining much the same. with predictable actions and words.

Alec is a contrast to Angel. Although Alec and Angel are kept physically separate but Hardy compares and contrasts them regarding:

• Physical appearance
• Sensuality
• Coarseness/ Delicacy
• Religious jargon- Alec's register as a Christian convert is similar to the way in which Angel speaks when trying to defend himself or to be clever with Tess.
• Their identities as outsiders who are rootless, living on the margins of society .
• Their modernity- with Alec, modernism is reduced to fashion, the ostentatious use of money to seem ''with it".

Ironically, Hardy used Alec to point out Angel's dereliction of duty as a husband and his failure to appreciate Tess as a lover.

Alec as the villian of popular melodrama. Alec is obviously a sexual predator who is heartless, egocentric and vain. As such, he fits the stereotype made popular by Victorian melodrama, of the villainous outsider who seek the ruin of an innocent for his own pleasure. His stylish clothes, the driving of a fast carriage and the smoking of a cigar are typical melodramatic signifiers.

There are also moments when he seems to really love Tess, and his offers to help are as genuine as his selfish nature is capable of. With Hardy's revisions, he became more stereotypically the sexual predator, a counterpoint to Tess's purity.

This is shown through Alec's:

• Dandyism, that is to say his consious self-image as an idle and dissolute young man.
• Use of money to buy influence over Tess and her family, under the guise of helping them
• Use of disguised and tricks
• Name, which harks back to a false part- Mr Stokes has exploited it for his own prestige and pride (in contrast to Angel's father, who humbly honours the past for its wisdom). Alec himself sees this fake name as a joke and will not pretend anything with Tess.
• 'Honesty in dishonesty', typical of a 'villian' and contrasting with Tess's inherent sense of honesty and pride.