Amidst all the tragedy and sadness of 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles', there is a (sometimes overlooked) friendship theme.
The friendship theme, of course, comes into play when Tess goes to work for the (good-natured) Cricks as a milkmaid at Talbothays Farm. Here, she befriends three other milkmaids (Izz, Retty, and Marian), and she enters a temporary state of happiness. Moreover, it is here that Tess meets Angel Clare for the first time since their initial, mystical-type, May Dance encounter near the beginning of the novel.
At Talbothays, all of the milkmaids are in love with Angel Clare, who is studying dairy management there as an apprentice farmer, but it is Angel and Tess who naturally gravitate towards each other. This causes Tess' milkmaid friends some considerable emotional pain (and some degree of self-hate, even leading to self-harm in Retty's case), but a profound bond and strength of friendship doesn't allow them to descend into jealousy and nastiness towards Tess.
After Tess has been deserted by Angel Clare shortly after their wedding, Angel asks Izz to go with him to Brazil as his mistress, to which she initially accepts, but when he asks her about how much she loves him (in contrast to Tess' love for him), she selflessly replies:
"Nobody could love 'ee more than Tess did! She would have laid down her life for 'ee. I could do no more!".
For me, this makes Izz an unsung hero of the novel, as she negates her own potential future benefits to be true and honest to her friend, Tess. Of course, the tragedy of all this is that Angel Clare still goes to Brazil alone.
And thus, Tess ends up working through the harsh, cold winter months at Flintcomb-Ash, digging up root crops and doing other kinds of hard labour, (almost) as a punishment to herself:
Here, she quite naturally starts to sink into a depression, but at least she's supported by two of her true friends, Marian and Izz.
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