In his novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy addresses issues of social and personal injustice through his use of poetic language and imagery. She portrays Tess as a poor innocent country girl, a victim of the injustice of Victorian social law, the hypocrisy of social prejudice, and the inequality of male dominance. Tess symbolizes a rural woman who is ruthlessly ravaged in a male-dominated world. Thomas Hardy's depiction of Tess's tragic fate evokes sympathy for her journey full of setbacks and mishaps. Throughout the book, the reader finds Tess in various situations that cause her misery. Tess is born into a family of an alcoholic and an incompetent mother, an injustice in itself. Injustice is also shown at the prince's death, and then again at his burial. Tess accidentally kills the family horse, the Prince. Hardy makes Tess's reaction to the accident ironic, as Tess holds herself responsible for an event over which she had no control, furthermore, it is her father's irresponsibility that led her to take the wagon to deliver the hives. Hardy makes this obvious...