Tess of the d'Urbervilles: Chapter 33 Summary & Analysis

Angel wants to spend a last romantic day with Tess before their wedding. On Christmas Eve they go out shopping as a couple, and Angel returns to the society he had been avoiding for so long.

They return to their inn and as two men are leaving the parlor, one recognizes Tess and makes an insulting remark about her past. Angel hears and strikes him in the face. The man apologizes and pretends it was a mistake. Angel gives him some money for his trouble.

As they ride away Tess asks again about postponing the wedding, as she is upset by the incident. She comforts herself with the thought of moving very far away.

That night Angel dreams he is fighting the insulting man and lashes out in his sleep. This is the last straw for Tess, and she decides to confess everything in a letter. She writes it all down and slips it under Angel's door. The next morning Tess is distraught but Angel acts normally. She wonders if he got the note, but feels comforted that he will forgive her either way.

On their wedding day they sleep late, and then find that Dairyman Crick has cleaned and decorated the kitchen in their honor. No guests from either family arrive, as Tess invited no one and Angel's family is displeased with his hasty decision. He would be more upset if he did not know the secret of Tess's ancestry, which he exaggeratedly assumes will win his family's hearts.

Tess is still unsure if Angel read her note, so she checks his room and finds it hidden under the carpet, still sealed. She destroys it. She knows there is still time to confess, but the house is busy with wedding preparations and they only have a minute alone.

Tess tries to bring up the subject lightly, but Angel dismisses it and says he will confess his sins as well, later when they are settled and need entertainment. The remaining hours are a whirlwind, and her excitement temporarily drowns out any apprehension.

They go to the church in an ancient carriage driven by an ancient man. It is just the couple and the Cricks. Angel wishes his brothers had come, but thinks they would have been out of place among the dairy workers. Tess experiences the ride in a bright haze, and feels like one of the divinities Angel used to compare her to.

The ceremony passes in a blur, and once Tess reaches out to assure herself of Angel's reality. He does not yet appreciate the depth and purity of her love for him. They come out of the church and when the bells die away Tess again returns from her sublime mental state.

Angel remarks on her expression, and Tess says she feels she has seen the old carriage before. Angel mentions the legend of the d'Urberville coach, but doesn't want to tell the story then as it is too morbid, involving a d'Urberville committing a crime in the family coach.

By the time they reach home Tess is depressed, and wonders if she is rightfully Alec's wife instead of Angel's. When she is alone she prays to both God and her husband, and laments that Angel does not love her, but the person she might once have been.

They leave for the flour-mill, and Tess asks Angel to kiss Marian, Retty, and Izz once for her, as they look so very sad. Angel obeys, and as they leave Tess looks back and sees the kiss has affected them all deeply.

Angel bids farewell to the Cricks, but at that moment a cock crows. They hear someone mutter about a bad omen, and the bird crows twice again. Tess wants to hurry away, and the dairyman and his wife reassure themselves that it only means a change of weather and “not what you think.”