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Tess Durbeyfield
fictional character
Tess Durbeyfield, fictional character, the protagonist of Thomas Hardy’s novel Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891). Tess is an innocent young girl whose life is changed dramatically when her family discovers its noble lineage and she becomes involved with a neighbour who bears the family’s aristocratic name.
This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.
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