• Dr. Megha Ramteke

Abstract: The present paper explores Elizabeth Gaskell’s Ruth (1853) with new feminist dimensions through its comparison with Thomas Hardy’s Tess of D’Urbervilles (1891). Both the novels centre on a common theme i.e. the life of fallen women in Victorian England. Elizabeth Gaskell’s Ruth though written around forty years before Hardy’s Tess of D’Urbervilles challenges the Victorian domestic ideology and exposes the double standard of the Victorian society. Gaskell proposes an alternative social system paving way for the redemption of a fallen woman. Unlike Gaskell, Hardy bears a pessimistic view towards the life of a fallen woman creating no space for her redemption in the unjust social setup bringing about her inevitable downfall through social exclusion.

Keywords- Fallen Woman, Victorian ideology, Redemption, Chastity, Ruth, Tess

"ELIZABETH GASKELL’S RUTH AND THOMAS HARDY’S TESS OF D’URBERVILLES: A COMPARATIVE STUDY TYPIFYING THE LIFE OF A FALLEN WOMAN", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.7, Issue 7, page no.196-202, July-2020, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2007024.pdf

"ELIZABETH GASKELL’S RUTH AND THOMAS HARDY’S TESS OF D’URBERVILLES: A COMPARATIVE STUDY TYPIFYING THE LIFE OF A FALLEN WOMAN", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.7, Issue 7, page no. pp196-202, July-2020, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2007024.pdf