Throughout the novel, Hardy juxtaposes nature and society in order to argue that the natural world is generally benevolent and self-regulating, while human society is cruel, destructive, and full of falsehoods and hypocrisy. Because of Tess’s origins on a humble country farm and her work in various agricultural labors, those around her often perceive her (and the novel often frames her) as “a fresh and virginal daughter of Nature” (156). Metaphors comparing her physical attributes to natural phenomena heighten the connection, such as when Alec mentions her “holmberry lips” (61). Tess’s alignment with the natural world makes her an object of desire, especially to men who have largely lost their connection to the rhythms of nature through modernity and industrialization. At the same time that he is falling in love with Tess, Angel is benefiting greatly from immersing himself in nature and agricultural labor at the dairy: “[H]e became wonderfully free from the chronic melancholy” (134).

Since Tess is aligned with nature and the rhythms of an older, agrarian life, she finds refuge in the natural world after her traumatic encounter with Alec. After being shamed by other villagers, she will only leave her house to creep into the woods, where no one judges her since “she ha[s] been made to break an accepted social law, but no law known to the environment” (98).