New Perspectives in English Philology and Teaching English. 3.3. Main Heroine Image Phenomenon in the Novel of T. Hardy “Tess of the D'Urbervilles”

English literature of the XIX century and, first of all, the Victorian novel is by right considered one of the most significant pages in the history of European literature, causing constant scientific interest: Victorian writers, while relying on the traditions of their predecessors and developing new themes, motifs and techniques, enriched the English realistic prose, their works became the foundation for the most important discoveries of the English-language literature of the XX century. There is no doubt that one of these roles in the development of the Victorian novel and more widely – realistic aesthetics – belongs to Thomas Hardy. His belief in the need to change ideological settings of the era, social structure, traditional family norms and arrangements, readiness to approve new socio-cultural institutions found quite natural and adequate expression in his artistic creativity.