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Jude the Obscure
(1895)
Jude The Obscure, an almost unbearably sad story about love and sexual desire mapped into the peculiar English matrixes of class and destiny in the Victorian 19th century, has come to be recognized as one of Hardy's most important novels. It tells the tragic story of Jude Fawley, a kid from the country whose aspirations to university scholarship are thwarted; his socially unacceptable love affair is also a disaster.
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what do you think?
I'm thinking of reading jude the obscure by thomas hardy. please tell me what you think of it. Thanks. Bethy
Posted By beth01081 at Sat 7 Feb 2009, 12:40 PM in Jude the Obscure || 6 Replies
"story about love and sexual desire”?
I disagree with the introduction to Jude the Obscure on this page for the reasons mentioned here:saillingtheseasofcheese.blogspot.com/2008/01/online-literaturecom-on-hardys-jude.htm What do you reckon?
Posted By herrpozzo at Sat 5 Jan 2008, 12:32 PM in Jude the Obscure || 1 Reply
marriage
Please reflect on the theme of marriage...the novel had quite an impact on me precisely because of Hardy's treatment of marriage...you cannot but believe him.If you want to talk to me about that, pleasa write me on my e-mail adress.Thank you.
Posted By katalenik iulia at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:07 PM in Jude the Obscure || 0 Replies
No Subject
THROUGHOUT HARDY'S FRANK TREATMENT OF THE SEXUAL THEME
jude the obscure is one the book that we have to study this year.i am a BA student at cheikh anta diop university (senegal).the reception of the book was very negative because the narrative represent desire as a force whose violence succeeds in overcoming the human will and morality.it was considered as an assault to sexual morality.indeed the character of arabella ,described as a sexual animal who is out of any moral value goes from a man to another .that unreligious anti conformist fickle girl behaves as she likes absolutly dominated, harassed by her animal and sexual impulses.
jude and Sue takes some advances but in a very reserved way .fled from their former respective marriages ,they choose to live as husband and wife and go as far as giving birth to a child .that illegal union is actually offensive to sexual morality that's the reason why it shocked that community.
these were some lines i wanted to write about the vision that i have on this specific point. if you any kind of remark write to me.my mail is available. thanks...
Posted By ibou at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:07 PM in Jude the Obscure || 1 Reply
English / History
One must be alert to the word obscure when reading 'Jude'. What is obscure about him, what is there to be obscure about? Even the very word obscure seems, obsure.
The opening chapters give little away to the nature of obscurity. Jude is a simple boy living with his aging aunt. But Jude lives within 'accelerating' times. The world is radically changing, including one's passions. The lasting impression left to him by the departing Philloston casts an indelible stain upon the boy's consciousness. His kindness to animals soon reveal to Jude that the world is not what it is supposed to be; contradictions lie deeply embedded within society. His former teacher tells him to be kind to animals, yet his act of letting the birds briefly feed off Farmer Troutham's field soon brings the wrath of Troutham down hard upon the boy: "So it's "Eat, my dear birdies," is it, young man?... I'll tickle your breeches,".
The contradiction of life Jude has brutally become aware of at such an early age is that of humanity / profit. This is once again shown in the act of killing their only pig, Challow. Jude's conscience retains Phillostons words, and Hardy's language compounds the sentimentality of Jude's love of nature: 'A robin peered down at the preparations from the nearest tree, and, not liking the sinister look of the scene flew away, though hungry.' Hardy, never once allowing us to forget nature's need before our own. Jude has been made aware to killing the pig in such a quick manner, but the previous teaching prevents him from commiting such a bloodthirsty act of letting a pid slowly bleed to death, for the sole sake of profit. We are beginning to understand the nature of Jude's obscurity, that of him being obscure to the changing nature of the world.
But Hardy's attitude to his novel is obscure in itself. We ride upon a tide of utterly purgatorial scenes, affecting, it seems, Jude solely. Even though we are allowed to enter into the consciousness of the other characters, their motivation seems wholly selfish and contrived. Dr Vilbert soon considers Jude as his protege, yet we must consider what kind of protege Jude has become. It is of course a lie, as most of the characters seem to do, lie that is. There is no serenity in the book, no peace and no understanding. The world is moving at such a pace, that when Jude attempts to try and understand it he is left irrevocably behind, standing on a platform, just missing his connection, so to speak.
There is love in the book but -that is for my feminist reading- it so estranged that we imagine it to be a personal tragedy rather than a ficticious creation. The book created outrage upon its unabridged publication, and Hardy's wife left him soon after. But the consciousness of Hardy, through his masterly use of language, could not be appeased. This is a book which will send the reader into the bowls of hell, only to realise it was needed to see how far humanity had descended. The moral, spiritual, and emotional face of society passes the reader by, as the characters continually do in relation to Jude. There is no community, something quite obscure with regards to Hardy's previous novels, and the humour, which often delicately compliments previous Hardy novels is vacant; one would have to be brave or depraved to laugh at the degradation of a simple boy who tried to make good.
Posted By Barbara Shaw at Thu 6 Feb 2003, 12:00 AM in Jude the Obscure || 1 Reply
No Subject
Jude is Great but gosh is so romantic!!! Hardy steps a typical character we met on Rennaiscense manner. It is the pure, the perfect Heroe for the Round Table of Arthur's but this kind of persons has not a prototype in reality. I liked the way she turned him down from church to humanity and so on... this is a book you hardly can find in Hardy's library...
Posted By chris b at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:07 PM in Jude the Obscure || 0 Replies
Why the last novel?
The depressing nature of Jude is surely a reflection of Hardy's own attitude at the time of writing it. It expresses a negative view of marriage, ambition, the church and the education system, all of which are part of Jude's dream that eventually becomes Jude's nightmare. It is often said that Hardy gave up writing novels because of the poor reception given to the publication of Jude, but it seems equally likely that Hardy's decision to turn entirely to poetry writing was a result of his own feelings of failure at the time. The rejection of this ultimately black novel was no more than the last straw that forced him to accept what was already in his heart, if not in his mind.
Other Victorian novelists were as keen to address the deficiences of Victorian society, and attacked various institutions from slavery and child labour to the school system and the workhouse. However, they did not normally ensconce their ideas within such a dark and oppressive narrative, nor did they give up in the face of their failure to achieve instantaneous change within society.
Posted By david p at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:07 PM in Jude the Obscure || 2 Replies
No Subject
this book is an incredibly hard read, i find that it lacks any interesting strong points that the reader can truly appreciate and then become increasingly interested. While reading the first few chapters of the Obscure there is a desperate and intense need to throw the book across the room or send out fliers warning people of this old fashioned literature. The story and baseline is seen as descent but the unfolding and order of events is unstimulating and boring.
Posted By Unregistered at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:07 PM in Jude the Obscure || 0 Replies
No Subject
Ifeel that Hardy was making one of the oldeststatements available to man .We can plot and scheme, but, in the final analysis there is a higher being that takes care of things.That to me is the reason why we struggle so very hard to attain or for that matter do for ourselves and we can't seem to make a roadway . R Martin
Posted By Unregistered at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:07 PM in Jude the Obscure || 0 Replies
English- essay
Sue Bridehead: Consequences of Victorian Society
The beliefs of Thomas Hardy, author of Jude the Obscure, like those of his characters, were ostracized and then completely disregarded because his audience could not fathom any radical deviance from their structured lives. Hardy utilizes Sue Bridehead's contradictory character in order to support his perverse, negative view of a society that victimizes the people who choose to ignore socially acceptable standards and then forces them to conform. He contrasts the intentions and results of Sue’s actions -her hopes for self-actualization and her initial and final marriage to Phillotson- ultimately saying that death is the only escape from the confines of Victorian society.
Hardy demonstrates the controlling society of nineteenth century England when Sue inevitably fails in her dream to become her own person. Jude calls Sue a “product of civilization” because she can never successfully achieve her desire to be an independent, modern woman (139). In essence, her fear of challenging traditional values overcomes her desire for mental and physical freedom. Hardy recapitulates Sue’s intellect many times in order to emphasize the evils of Victorian society where even a girl as smart as she cannot escape its chains. Basically, Sue cannot follow her own standards because she does not have the courage to completely defy society.
Sue, like Hardy himself, disputes the necessity of marriage, even telling Jude, in response to learning of his marriage to Arabella, that “. . . I at least don’t regard marriage as a Sacrament” (166). She believes that marriage is only a contract of society that enslaves and binds a couple to endless unhappiness. When Sue admits to her engagement to Phillotson she becomes defensive knowing full well that she is denying the beliefs that she has preached of for so long. “I shall tell you!’ said she with the perverseness that was part of her. . . I have promised -that I will marry him”(134) The dictionary meanings of perverse -showing a deliberate and obstinate desire to behave unacceptably; contrary to that which is accepted or expected; sexually perverted- perfect for this statement, can define the entire novel. Sue is marrying Phillotson in order to release herself from the immense pressure to become married and to make amends for her lapse of character in regards to Jude. Hardy depicts the enormous power society holds over its subjects with the drastic actions of Sue who so unexpectedly becomes engaged to be married.
Hardy believes that fulfillment of a societal role is inevitable, and he supports his belief with the actions of Sue. Free of her marriage for several years, Sue suddenly regrets her leaving Phillotson and returns to her marriage with him of her own freewill, despite the fact that she condones the act of marriage. “I don’t love him; I must, must, own it, in deepest remorse! But I shall try to learn to love him by obeying him”(360). Sue, for the longest time, is defying society as she lives illegitimately with Jude; however, she can not withstand the guilt of her own actions forever and, when beset by tragedy, finds it easier to return to her old life even though she loathes it . When she makes the decision to return to civilization, as it were, Jude sees that “It to be the one thing on earth which she was firm, and that her firmness in this had left her tottering in every other impulse and wish she possessed”(361). Essentially, Hardy is saying that because Sue returns to social standards she can finally follow through on a decision, something she had been unable to do previously.
Finally, Hardy drives his point home when his last words synthesize his belief that society will ultimately force the individual to conform, despite the unhappiness caused by such an action.
In conforming to society -leaving her unacceptable relationship with Jude and returning to Phillotson- Sue loses all chances of ever being happy. Arabella, Jude’s former wife, omnisciently states, as she stands over Jude’s body, that “She’s never found peace since she left his arms, and never will again till she is as he is now”(408). Sue selfishly leaves Jude in order to obtain freedom from the burden of being socially unacceptable, but even with this burden lifted she will never be happy with her decision. Hardy effectively ends his novel with the suggestion that, not only will society bend a person to its will, but the power of it is so strong that a person can only escape it in death.
Hardy rejects Victorian society’s treatment of those who do not wish to follow its customs because he realizes from personal experience the pain that conformity can cause. In the age of Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure, “It was necessary to act under an acquired and artificial sense of the same, if you wished to enjoy an average share of comfort and honour; and to let loving-kindness take care of itself”(359). Victorian society was defined by its strict principle of conservative thoughts and actions; any deviants from the norm were unacceptable.
Posted By Emily Rose at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:07 PM in Jude the Obscure || 0 Replies