In this section of the novel, Tess has returned to working near her house for her family since Mr. and Mrs. Durbeyfield have both fallen upon sickness of varying degrees. Before Tess's return home, she is reunited with Alec who has had a religious awakening since they have parted. Alec had prided himself with turning away from his past wickedness, but has since backslid from his religious practices due to the sight of Tess reigniting his temptations. A third person omniscient narrator describes Tess's realization that Alec has disguised himself as one of the labourers in order to be close to her. In this section of the scene, Alec compares this interaction between him and Tess to the temptation of Eve by the snake. This is not the first time Alec had compared Tess to Eve from the Biblical story of original sin. However, Alec had previously referred to himself as Adam in relation to Tess's Eve rather than the snake by saying, "the old Adam of my former years" (241). It is interesting that he changes the roles in this scene since Alec had expressed to Tess that she was tempting him, which we know from him saying it outright and from their history regarding his inappropriate actions toward her, including the rape. This view would make sense to compare them two to Adam and Eve, since in the Biblical story Eve gives the fruit to Adam. Now, with Alec assuming the role of the snake, it changes his portrayl of his side of their evolving story. Hardy is perhaps suggesting that Alec is trying to mask the fact the he is still the one being tempted through no longer referring to himself as Adam, a sinner. Since he feels that he was tempted by her in their past, he now aims to tempt her in return (though Tess, of course, did not aim to to tempt him). Hence, his referral to his own self as the snake and is referral to Tess as Eve. This is why he is now often seen looking upon her and inserting himself into her life since their reunion.

I think its interesting how West shows how Hardy has evolved Tess's comparison to birds in relation to her femininity when put in opposition to male figures and I think that it is very powerful within this discussion that we have been having about Tess's relation to nature throughout the novel.

The first and last sentence of this passage show irony since Tess actually isn't of the old D'Uberville's that Angel thinks she is, nor is she apart of the new D'Uberville that she think she is, even though she does believe she is of the old one. She has no relation to D'Uberville's, so everyone is misunderstanding her relations.