on Hardy or men because of it. Often feminist critics bear the burden that they are out to “get” men, yet when there is an apt argument for doing so in Tess, Rooney refrains and simply addresses the issues. Overall, her article was quite helpful in addressing the most resonate conflict in the whole story. Hardy doesn’t give us a reason, nor does he give us even the actual event at The Chase. The reader is left to deduce from the rest of the text whether or not it was rape that took place, and Hardy gives us mixed messages. Rooney broke down these messages, presented text from prior versions, and offers a fairly deep analysis of the evidence for both sides. While at times it could be long and very academic, the criticism did help in the overall understanding of the story. ...
