What bothers me about Tess' story is that when she murders her antagonist, there is no consideration for mitigating circumstances whatsoever. She killed him so she must hang. Period. The closing scene of the bell tolling into the surrounding hills is haunting in its mournfulness. One suspects that the bell sounds for more than just Tess' passing.
It definitely shows how Victorian "justice," so rigid in its conformity, could be anything but "just."
And you're right. Hardy captures the supposedly bucolic countryside culture of England in much the same way Dickens painted the industrialized urban centers. And their respective visions were equally critical and bleak, even if underlaid with a peculiar romance.
Although in “Far from the Madding Crowd” the murderer in that novel avoids the death penalty and gets committed to a psychiatric facility by royal pardon.
In the new Poldark the countryside of Cornwall is considered a “character”
Its gorgeous in the 2015 season that just finished..8 episodes that are great..
I watched it on line...last Sunday was the final..
The first 2 books of Winston Grahams series were used..next year is suppose to be the 3rd and fourth books..