In both texts there is a strong sense of religion which emphasises the importance and imperative nature of marriage. Although two different religions, they both follow the strict rule of no sex before marriage, otherwise the women are seen as impure.
Despite having a “husband” in the novel, Tess is never actually married to him in the fullest sense of marriage that Hardy proposes. This is on a parallel to A Thousand Splendid Suns where both Mariam and Laila are married to Rasheed in a physical, lawful sense but are not emotionally and internally married and are in fact very distant from him.
Marriage causes the protagonists to be entrapped. In A Thousand Splendid suns, Mariam and Laila are trapped inside the house with Rasheed, due to the Taliban imposing the rule on women to “stay inside your homes at all times” unless “accompanied by a mahram, a male relative”. But not only are they physically trapped, they are also mentally trapped in a cycle of submissiveness to Rasheed and fear of his actions. Rasheed is just as guilty as the Taliban as even before the Taliban came into power and exercised these rules, living with Rasheed was like living in a prison for Mariam and Laila through the power he exerted over them “Rasheed didn't say anything. And, really, what could be said, what needed saying when you'd shoved the barrel of your gun into your wife's mouth?” Rasheed holds a frightening amount of power over the two protagonists which is often achieved through violence. They have no other option other than to obey to his demands. If they do not obey, they know the consequences and they are unable to escape because there simply is no other place for either of them to go. Violence is always used to oppress the defenceless. Arguably the burqa is also a symbol of entrapment in A Thousand Splendid Suns.
In comparison, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Angel exerts power over Tess through their marriage in a different way to Rasheed. Through the marriage of Angel and Tess, it gives Tess hope that she can overcome and move on from the painful ghost of her past. Alec’s rape of Tess changed her forever. However, after committing themselves to each other through marriage, Angel destroyed Tess in a far more deep rooted way than Alec did. If Angel had accepted Tess's painful past he could have literally saved her. However, he did not and to a larger degree ruined Tess more than Alec. "How can we live together while that man lives?" Alec physically damaged Tess, but Angel shattered her soul.