Thomas Hardy‘s Tess of the d’Urbervilles is acknowledged as one of his greatest novels. It is admired for having various layers and diverse viewpoints, which offer the opportunity for an almost endless process of interpretation. Among others, the novel can be read as ―a love story,‖ as ―a pastoral romance‖ (Butler 96), as ―a tragedy‖ (Boumelha 54), or as a narrative of a ―fallen woman‖ (Lovesey 913). The figure of the main character, Tess is presented in a dubious way, which serves a perfect ground for an abundance of readings. In his film adaptation entitled Tess from 1979, Roman Polanski managed to achieve a truly faithful portrayal of the novel‘s world, even if he did not succeed in condensing all the characteristics – concerning the ―element of the supernatural‖ (Strong), ―Hardy‘s artful handling of time‖ (Veidemanis 54), the ―superb emphasis on landscape and the rhythms of rural life,‖ the ―brutality of poverty‖ (Widdowson 102) – provided by the novel, for which he is often criticised. From the manifold aspects depicted by both the novel and the film, I will focus on the duality that Tess herself incorporates and her subsequent inferior position she is enforced into with respect to the other characters.