He is an intelligent, intellectual and philosopher and he has a great positive impact on Tess. Everything here is absolutely perfect so the relationship between them must be perfect too. And in fact it is. They are spending a lot of time together, they are getting closer to each other and the reader feels that a deep and real relationship will be created between them. But than the author brings a new dimension to the plot when Tess becomes scared of her past and she feels that she is not the right woman for so pure man as Angel is. This part, first welcomed becomes a bit boring for me. The author here seems to me more as a poet than as a novelist. There are large descriptions of the nature and of the mood of the protagonists. I have that kind of feeling that he got lost a he did not know how to develop the story. But maybe I am too critical and someone would like these idyllic passages. To me, they seem too long and besides Tess always repeats the same words that she is not the one for him and Angel that she certainly is. In this part Tess is hopeless and she does not know if she would tell him the truth and lost him or if she would not tell him it and live all her life in a lie. Finally she decides to tell him that she has a secret but not in concrete words and then they decide that they will tell each other their secrets after their marriage. When this happened in Wellbridge Angel is not able to accept Tess’s secret although he has the same one. This is the situation, which can be also found nowadays and that is that ”a man can” but “a woman cannot” – she always has to be “untouched”. Finally they split up and Angel becomes a man comparable with all other people who are full of prejudices and he is no more an ideal of a man. Angel leaves the country to South America where he is trying to find a land for his farm. Tess after a short staying at home leaves it to work in Flintcomb – Ash where she lives a troubled life with thoughts of Angel in her head. But Alec is back and enters to Tess’s life again. He is changed and he becomes a man who strongly believes in words of Bible. First reader’s feelings are that he really becomes a better man but through Tess’s words and behaviour he can clearly see that nothing has changed. Alec regrets what he has done but not honestly and he is trying to attract Tess again. As a weapon to achieve this he uses his strong words and by using them he is persuading her that her husband will never get back.
After long thinking, Tess leaves this place together with Alec. But soon Angel gets back and he meets his wife.