All literature has the quality of universality, which means the piece of literature has both truth and meaning that goes further than the time and place that the literature was written. This quality is present in both Tess of the D’urbervilles by Thomas Hardy and A Doll’s House by Henric Isben. Hardy’s novel is based on two people’s love and how they find it hard to be with each other. Isben’s novel is similar in that it tells of two people’s love. The story shows how you think your in love but your really not. In these two pieces the universal theme is how a relationship can exist without “real” communication.
Hardy’s novel tells the conflict of love between Tess Durbeyfield and Angel Clare. Their first miscommunication occurred when they were dancing in the field. Tess wanted to dance with Angel. Angel didn’t realize this and walked away from the dance. Tess didn’t see Angel for years. In the meantime, she met Alec D’urberville. He was a stunning yet deceitful man. They developed a relationship, though Tess wasn’t happy. Alec was in the woods with Tess, where he raped her. Later, Tess meets Angel once again. Tess wishes to tell Angel what happened with Alec, but she can’t. She fears his rejection. Once again a miscommunication.
Tess and Angel plan to marry. He sees Tess as a pure woman. They have their wedding and on the honeymoon Angle tells Tess of an affair. Tess also confesses. Angel is outraged and tells her he can’t be with her. To win Angel’s love Tess kills Alec. Angel accepts her now. They run off together in fear of Tess’s fate. The authorities catch up with them. Tess is captured and hung. Isben’s novel shows the love between a husband and a wife. Torvald, the husband, is a dominating man who sees Nora, the wife, inferior. He is always calling her degrading names. As a couple, they never really communicate.
In the end this ruins their relationship. Their not being able to communicate makes it hard for Nora to tell Torvald of her mistake. When Torvald finds out of her fraud he worries of his reputation. Nora leaves Torvald and tells him that it is because of the fact that they never had “real” communication. These two novels both have the universal theme of how a relationship can’t exist without “real” communication. Every piece of literature contains universality. Which means that the piece of literature has both truth and meaning that exists at any time and place. This quality exists in both Hardy’s and Isben’s novels.
