Angel in love with an illusion
Posted by Linda K. on September 22, 1998 at 22:21:19:
In response to The woman pays - somewhat puzzled, written by Constanza on September 21, 1998 at 11:11:17
] I am a little puzzled as to what is Angel's real objection to Tess. He admits she is not guilty, he forgives her, he says she is respectable but he cannot stay with her out of principle...I grant he is disappointed in that she is not as innocent as he supposed, but really, I think his reaction is exaggerated. And what does he mean by Alec's being Tess husband by Nature? In that case he himself should be that stranger husband's by nature.
When I think about the scene/chapter where Tess reveals her past to Angel, I think there is a little more going on here than just Angel rejecting Tess because she has had sex with another man. That really would not make much sense because, as you have pointed out, Angel did the very same thing, only willingly.
I think that Angel's pride was very gravely wounded and that he was actually in love with an "illusion" of how he viewed Tess. Angel fell in love with this beautiful, energetic young farm girl with a pure heart, fresh ideas, and a deep soul. He built her up in his mind to be the most perfect girl on earth but she was not perfect; and who is? What he found instead was a woman who was a little more worldly than he had ever anticipated.
I think this devestated Angel, he felt duped, and could not tolerated the fact that his "ideal woman" was just an illusion. And it infuriated him to know that her lover/rapist, with whom she had produced a child, was still alive on the face of the earth.
I think in the end, Angel learned to swallow his pride and love Tess for the right reasons. The tragedy is that he was too late.
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