Thinking Activity : Jude the Obscure

 Thinking Activity 

                             

                             ‘Jude The Obscure’ 

       

      The themes of the novel ‘Jude the Obscure’ 

          This blog spot  is in response to the thinking activity task which was given by Dr. Dilip Barad sir. In this particular blog I am going to discuss the thematic study of ‘Jude the Obscure’. 

•  About the Author: 

                                  

                 Thomas Hardy was born on June 2, 1840, Higher Bockhampton, Dorset, England and died  on January 11, 1928, Dorchester, Dorset. He was an  English novelist and poet who set much of his work in Wessex.  His name for the counties of southwestern England. 

                    Hardy was the eldest of the four children of Thomas Hardy, a stonemason and jobbing builder, and his wife, Jemima. Though he was often ill as a child, his early experience of rural life, with its seasonal rhythms and oral culture, was fundamental to much of his later writing. 

                 

           Hardy’s youth was influenced by the musicality of his father, a stonemason and fiddler, and his mother, Jemima Hand Hardy, often described as the real guiding star of Hardy’s early life. Hardy is considered as one of the greatest novelists in the History of English literature. He has created a large range of works. 

          His Outstanding Works : 

•     Tess of the D’Urbervilles (1891)

•     The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) 

•      The Poor Man and the Lady

•      The Return of the Native” 

•      Jude the Obscure (1895)

•  About the Novel 

                                       

               Jude the Obscure is a novel by Thomas Hardy, which began as a magazine serial in December 1894. He was first published in book form in 1895. It is Hardy's last completed novel. 

                    The protagonist, Jude Fawley. He was a working-class young man. He is a stonemason who dreams of becoming a scholar. The other main character is his cousin, Sue Bridehead, who is also his central love interest. The novel is concerned in particular with issues of class, education, religion, morality and marriage.

 Major Characters :

  

•  Jude Fawley : A young man of obscure , who was raised by her aunt , he was an orphan and poor. 

• Sue(Susanna) Bridehead :  Jude's cousin, an intelligent, unconventional young woman whom Jude loves and lives with but who is twice married to Phillotson.

• Drusilla Fawley : Jude's great-aunt, who raises Jude.

• Little Father Time :  Little Jude , son of Jude and Arabella.

•  Arabella Donn :  An attractive young woman , Jude marries twice , wife of Jude Fawley.

•  Richard Phillotson : Jude's former teacher.

• Mr. Donn : Arabella's father, a pig farmer and later owner of a pork shop.

• Cartlett : Arabella's "Australian husband."

 

     

             The novel tells the story of a poor orphan, Jude Fawley, who dreams of going to university and becoming a clergyman. Jude is trapped into marriage by Arabella, a barmaid, who then leaves him. He starts work as a stonemason and falls in love with his unconventional cousin, Sue Bridehead.

                   Sue eventually returns Jude’s feelings but, horrified to learn that he is married, she marries Phillotson, Jude’s old schoolmaster. By now, Jude has given up all his ambitions. Sue eventually leaves Phillotson and lives with Jude, unmarried; they take in Jude’s son by Arabella and have children of their own. But people gossip and it is hard to find work.

            Jude becomes ill and works as a cake maker. Then his unhappy eldest son hangs himself and his two half-brothers. Feeling that God is punishing her for her sins, Sue returns to Phillotson, despite loving Jude. Arabella once again traps Jude into returning to her, and he dies a broken man. 

•    Theme of the novel 

                             

                                   

• Marriage

      

      It could be argued that the rejection of marriage is the central didactic point of this novel. Hardy repeatedly emphasizes that marriage involves making a commitment that many people are emotionally unequipped to fulfil - this sentiment comes from the narrator, but it is also expressed by Sue, Jude, Phillotson, and Widow Edlin at various points in the novel. 

       Whether the institution of marriage can be saved is open to interpretation. Jude and Sue are clearly a good match for each other, so Jude wants to get married. Sue, however, feels that marriage will poison the relationship. The narrator does not seem to favour either side; it is left up to readers to decide how the problems with marriage might be solved.

•   Social class

        Thomas Hardy also criticizes the rigidity of social class more generally. Jude is limited in his career options because as a working-class man, he cannot hope to be promoted beyond a certain level, even in fields like the clergy that are supposed to be open to all.

•   Women's rights

               Sue Bridehead lives with men without marrying them;she has a rich intellectual life; she works alongside Jude. Hardy criticizes the social conventions that prevent her from fulfilling her potential as an intellectual and as a worker. Hardy perpetuates a common Victorian stereotype about women being especially emotional. Also, we are expected to accept Sue having lived with the Christminster undergraduate because they were not having sex; despite his professed liberalism.

Thank you.