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The purpose of this article is to compare the fates of heroins in Ruth and Tess of the D'Urbervilles in order to show how ideology affected the lives of fallen women. Ruth and Tess have similar fates that they are raped by men before their marriages and that their loss of charity is found during their happiest time in their lives. And the two heroins are killed with the result of the appearance of their former lovers. In spite of the similarity between two characters, however, there is one distinctive difference: Ruth is considered as a fallen woman by Gaskell and Tess is called pure by Hardy. The reason why they are called fallen or pure is that Ruth has knowledge of sexuality and Tess not. Although two heroins have sex with men before their marriages, their attitudes toward sex decide the reputation of the two girls. In the Victorian Era, the most important fact related with women is that women should not know of sexuality. For this reason, Ruth is labeled the unforgiven and Tess a pure woman.