As Tess, the protagonist in, Tess of the D'Ubervilles, by Thomas Hardy, is working she notices a man that is working in a close proximity to her. She pays no attention to him. However, once she realizes it is Alec, the man that once raped Tess and essentially ruined her life, she is completely thrown off. At a first glance, this is a dialouge between Tess and Alec and Alec is alluding to the Bible, specifically the story of Adam and Eve. Keeping in mind the history of Tess and Alec, it is clear Hardy chose this language purposely. Alec "jokingly" refers to the story in the Bible when Adam and Eve are tempted and commit sin and he compares Tess to Eve and himself to the tempter, rather than Adam, a fellow sinner. This is perhaps showing that Alec does not see himself as a sinner for his actions, but more of a temptation for Tess. It is sadly ironic because for Tess, Alec was never once a temptation, but more of an aggressor. The language of this text is also particularly upsetting for Tess because she struggles with faith so much because of her past and rather than being seen in a saintly or good light that the readers know she should be, she is instead compared to Eve, one of the sinners in the Bible.

Here you can see the literary critic is answering the question of what is literally shown "at first glance."

This dramatic irony because we, as the readers, know Tess is hiding an even larger secret from Angel. Angel is just so thrilled to know that this is the "only" secret Tess had. He reassures her it is not a big deal, but Tess knows it is.