Fall from Grace: Hardy's Retelling of The Red Riding Hood Fable In Tess of Thed'urbervilles

In the Victorian era, women found themselves situated in the midst of a societal flux. Though feminist ideas were beginning to spread, the submissive and sacrificing woman was still regarded as ‘angelic’ and ‘pure’. Institutions such as ancestral moorings, family, marriage and religion were more straitjacketing than empowering. The paper endeavours to look at the predicament of women in 19^th century England by studying Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles as a realistic rendition of the fable of Red Riding Hood. It shall not only study the various parallels between the characters but also how the fantasy tale is morphed into the realistic mode of a novel that is dark and tragic in which Tess is a victim of evil forces within the society. The paper intends to contribute to the central theme of the conference by examining how the institutions that are props to protect women are ironically oppressing her by analyzing Hardy's text. It also incorporates contemporary narratives that address similar themes related to the victimisation of women and the several retellings of 19^th Century classic tale of Little Red Riding Hood.