Abstract:

Tess of The D’Urbervilles is the masterpiece of Thomas Hardy, who uses abundant color terms to describe the tragic fate of Tess. This paper gives an analysis on “red”, “white”, “black” and “green” colors and explores their deep meanings in the novel from the perspective of metaphor. It also analyzes the important role which the metaphorical meanings of colors played on the fate of the character, thus deepening the theme of the novel and making the readers interpret more about it.

Key words: color; metaphor; the fate of the character

摘要：

《德伯家的苔丝》是托马斯•哈代的代表作，作者在小说中运用了大量的颜色来描写苔丝的悲惨命运。本文将从隐喻的角度对“红”，“白”，“黑”，“绿”这四种颜色进行具体细致的文本分析，探究其在小说中的深刻含义，分析这些颜色的隐喻意义对人物命运所起的重要作用，从而深化小说的主题，让读者更了解这部小说。

关键词：颜色；隐喻；人物命运

1. Introduction
1.1 Introduction to Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) is a famous English poet and novelist. Hardy earns reputation as a writer of novels and he has published nearly 20 novels in his lifetime. The best-known among them are Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Jude the Obscure, The Return of the Native and The Mayor of Casterbridge. In addition, Hardy has been known as a major poet at the beginning of the 1950s; he has an important influence on the Movement Poets of the 1950s and 1960s.
Tess of the D’Urbervilles, which marks Thomas Hardy’s beginning of a new stage as a successful novelist in his literary career, is one of the last two important novels of Hardy and a masterpiece that is well-known for his “Wessex series”. This novel is loved for a long time by readers who are not only in Hardy’s home, but also around the world. What’s more, it is also focused by professional researchers and is respected by artists of the film and theatre.