For example, she took a chance to aid her parents by going to the market for them, but she ended up killing the family's horse. Her desire to atone for her mishap sends her to her fatal position at the d"Urbervilles. In her desire to escape from a group of vulgar women, she is thrown coincidentally into the clutches of Alec d"Urberville. Subsequently, she is raped, becomes pregnant, and her baby dies of cold and hunger, because she, for the sake of honor, refuses to take another "chance" with Alec, by refusing the aid he offers. Later, her marriage with Angel Clare is wrecked because by her code of honor she must take a "chance" and tell him of her affair or seduction with Alec. What a different story this would have been if Angel had not caught sight of the d"Urberville lady outside Tess's chamber. If Tess had not overheard the conversation of Angel's bro!.
thers and had instead followed through on her plans to visit her parents, she probably would not have met Alec again and her entire life would have been changed.
I believe that Tess senses her doomed state. This is evident in her identification with the d"Urberville family. Examples of this are her ability to see or hear the d"Urberville coach and her realization of her resemblance to the d"Urberville woman of the farmhouse at Wellbridge: "Tess's fine features were unquestionably traceable in these exaggerated forms." (277) These eerie events suggest that the fated d"Urberville blood undoubtedly flows through her veins. .
Another example of Tess's awareness of being ill fated is when she meets Alec. Tess laments about her fate: "Had she perceived this meeting's import she might have asked why she was doomed to be seen and converted that day by the wrong man, and not by some other man, the right and desired one in all respects." (75) She may not have known what to call it, but she definitely applies the doctrine of fatalism to herself, which according to author Leonard Doob is a sign of a person who feels fated: "When the principal is judging himself, in this case, herself, and believes that fate is affecting him, his perception is usually direct: he introspects, thinks, or meditates.
