The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word “obscure” as “not illustrious or famous humble.” Jude never departs from obscurity. Even the title of the book sets the foreboding tone and reveals the novel’s themes. While Jude attempts to pursue and accomplish his dreams and aspirations, the novel serves as a cautionary tale to prepare readers for the uncertainty that life provides.įrom the beginning of the novel, Hardy provides symbolism, foreshadowing the fate of Jude Fawley. Throughout the novel, Hardy makes several indications critiquing the institutions of marriage, class, and education. However, as the novel progresses, Jude’s hopes and aspirations for an education dwindle. At the beginning of the novel, Jude yearns for a university education. Thomas Hardy regarded the novel as a “tragedy of unfulfilled aims” (xiii). The doomed lovers find themselves incapable of living within society’s conventions, causing Jude and Sue to encounter ostracism and tragedy. Because society disapproves of their relationship, Jude, Sue, and their family suffer from poverty.

Eventually, Sue leaves her husband to be with Jude, bearing his children. When Sue learns Jude is separated yet still married to Arabella, Sue decides to marry Jude’s former schoolteacher Phillotson, and gradually becomes dissatisfied with her marriage. Although Jude is trapped in a loveless marriage, he meets and falls in love with his cousin, Sue Bridehead. Enthralled in his studies, Jude captures the attention of Arabella, a country girl who tricks him into marriage by feigning pregnancy. Inspired by his former schoolteacher, Richard Phillotson’s decision to pursue an education at Christminster, Jude dreams of studying in Christminster and becoming a scholar. Hardy’s Jude the Obscure follows Jude Fawley, a poor orphan living with his Aunt Drusilla. Although many people argued that Hardy depicted a harsh and cruel portrayal of society, Hardy presented a more realistic, albeit brutally, and honest depiction of Victorian society. His novels depicted characters struggling against their passions and social conventions: a “conflict between flesh and spirit” (King). Prior to the publication of Jude the Obscure, Hardy wrote several other novels including The Mayor of Casterbridge and Tess of the D’Urbervilles. The novel met with public outrage due to its dark themes, so Hardy never wrote another novel. Originally, the novel appeared serialized in Harper’s New Monthly as The Simpletons and Enduring Hearts.

Thomas Hardy published his last novel Jude the Obscure in 1895. Jude the Obscure: Infinite Sorrow and Incomplete Desires Sue (Kate Winslet) and Jude (Christopher Eccleston) in the 1996 film adaptation

Thomas hardy novel jude the obscure