Thomas Hardy
Birth:- 2 June 1840 Stinsford, Dorest, England.
Death:- 11 January 1928 (aged 87)
Dorchester, Dorset, England.
Occupation:- great Victorian poet and novelist.
Literary moment:- Naturalism, Victorian literature.
Thomas Hardy was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by romanticism including the poetry of William Wordsworth he was highly critical of much in Victorian society, especially on the cleaning status of rural people in Britain, such as those from his native South west England.
While Hardy brought poetry throughout his life and regarded himself primarily as the poet, his first collection was not published until 1898. Initially he gained fame as the author of novels such as Far from the Medding Crowd(1874), The Mayor of Caster bridge (1886), Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891), and Jude the Obscure (1895). During his lifetime Hardy's poetry was claimed by younger poets who viewed him as a mentor. After his death his poem was lauded by Ezra pound, W.H Auden and Philip Larkin.
Many of his novels concern tragic characters struggling against there patience and social circumstances and they are often set in the semifinal regin off Wessex; initially based on the medieval Anglo Saxon Kingdom, Hardy's Wessex eventually came to include the counties of Dorset, Wiltshire, much of Berkshire in Southwest and South Central England. Two of his novels, Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Far from the Medding Crowd, were listed in the top 50 on the BBC'S survey The Big Read.
His Realism, Prose style, characterization and social criticism in his novels are works of social commentary. He was a fierce critic of poverty with social stratification. His famous works include great expectations, Oliver twist wherein Oliver twist shows images of early Victorian England.
Thomas Hardy is best known for his novels, all of which were published in the mid to late 19th century. His last novels, Tees of the d'Urbervilles and Jude the obscure are generally considered his finest.
These works challenge societal mores with their sympathetic portrayals of the heart shapes of working class people.
Write essay on the themes of the novel Jude the Obscure
Marriage
It could be argued that the rejection of marriage is the central direct take point of this novel. Hardy repeatedly emphasises that marriage involves making commitment. Many people are emotionally unequipped to fulfill this sentiment comes from the narrator but it is also expressed by Sue, Jude, Phillotson and Window 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, have your feelings that marriage will poison the relationship. The narrator does not seem to favour either side, it is left up to readers to decide how problems with marriage might be solved.
Education
Hardy highlights many kinds of education Jude the Obscure. Most obviously we have to Jude's desire to get a University degree and become an academic. However hurt you also emphasize the importance of experiential education. Because Jude is inexperienced with women and with social situations more generally, he is especially susceptible to Arabella's seduction. In the novel, the level of traditional education one reaches is closely tied to the class system, and if someone from Jude's class wants to learn,they must teach themselves. Alto generator seems to admire Jude's willingness to teach himself; he also points out the limits of autodidacticism, noting that despite Jude's near constant studies, he cannot hope to compete on the university entrance exam against richer men who have hired tutors.
Itinerancy
Jude the Obscure features many kinds of nomads. Some of these are minor characters, like the traveling laborers in Shaston. However, Jude himself is a kind of nomad, and the novel's structure reflects this. It is not divided into arbitrary chapters or thematic groupings, but rather is divided into sections based on the characters' location. This geographical mobility speaks to the new freedom - but also rootlessness - that came with the advent of rail travel, which revolutionized the lives of working people like Jude, who could now travel long distances affordably.
Social class
In addition to his points about education Hardy also criticised 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. However,Jude and Sue also benefit from their low social class in that their respective devices are processed quickly and without enquiry and they can get away with living together unmarried for quite some time. Even this is a mixed blessing they are got eventually and the reason they were to rent court sooner is that they are unimportant to the people around them.
Disappointment
Disappointment crops up over and over again in this novel: Jude is disappointed by his career; he is disappointed in his marriage to Arabella and then his cohabitation with Sue; he is disappointed by Mr. Phillotson, who never achieved his dream of getting a university degree. Even Time's assertions that he never asked to be born suggest a certain disappointment with life. Since most of the novel's tragedies come as lost opportunities, the ways that the characters deal with disappointment contribute to their characterization. For example, Phillotson takes a relatively mature perspective when he is disappointed in his marriage to Sue, and allows her to be with Jude. Arabella, in contrast, deals with her disappointment in Cartlett by spying on Jude and scheming to get back together with him.
Religion
As Jude the Obscure can be interpreted as critical of the institution of marriage, Hardy is equally as possessed with the church. Throughout their relationship, Jude and Sue have many conversations concerning religion, the former being initially more devout than his intellectually curious cousin. At a diorama depicting Jerusalem, the major characters' feelings on religion crystalize. Sue wonders why Jerusalem rather than Rome or Athens is deemed important, Phillotson counters that the city is important to the English as a Christian people, and Jude is utterly absorbed by the work - though he also strains to agree with Sue. Later, Sue mentions a friend who was the most irreligious but also the most moral. Hardy points out that these concepts are not mutually exclusive.
Jude's faith is tested by Sue. He realizes his sexual attraction to her makes him a hypocrite. Rather than suppress his natural physical desire, he burns his books, marking his break with Christianity. This makes Sue's reversal later in the novel all the more shocking. Jude likens her conversion in the wake of her children's death to his partaking in alcohol during difficult times. Here Hardy calls into question the motivations behind faith. Through Sue's self-punishing adherence to her Christian duties despite her true nature, Hardy suggests those motivations are not always pure.
Women's rights
Sue Bridehead is a strikingly modern heroine in many ways - she 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. However, he also reinforces some of those social conventions unintentionally; by portraying Sue as anxious and hysterical, 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, Hardy upholds traditional values by offering this piece of information and (apparently) expecting it to color our judgment of the character.
Old versus new
The narrator of Jude the Obscure often laments the ways that old things are replaced by the new, especially when it comes to urban architecture. Likewise, the Widow Edlin suggests that older, more laid-back attitudes toward marriage are better than prudish Victorian norms. Nineteenth-century British society was, in many ways, more conservative than the historical periods that preceded it, so Hardy's admiration for the older aspects of English culture ties in to his social liberalism and his reverence for intellectual inquiry.
Conclusion
Jude the Obscure is one of Hardy's masterpieces. At the time of the novel's composition, Thomas Hardy was living between the turn off 20th century and eve of the 19th century. The Victorian age is an eventful period, during which great changes have taken place. It is widely accepted today that hard is pessimist and voluntarist.By way of the analysis of the use of symbols and images, Drawin' Theory of Evolution, the conflict between characters and environment, the expression of religious rebellion and the advanced female image, it can be concluded that Thomas Hardy is not a passimist and voluntarist at all and the novel conveys readers the kindness tendency, the courage to face the harsh reality and a sense of rationality.
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