Letter: No choice

I WONDER which edition of Tess of the D'Urbervilles Isabel Wolff has read ('Adultery: don't do it', 5 December).

I assumed that Tess was hanged for murder, not adultery. What's more, Ms Wolff's article is concerned with choice, as the title implies. It is disingenuous to include Tess as an example in this context. Her 'adultery' is forced on to her by circumstances, which include an insensitive and hypocritical husband, dire financial need and a deep sense of guilt and responsibility. There are double standards at work here, and I find it disappointing that Ms Wolff should deal with them so lightly.

Alison Clarke

Norwich