Jude The Obscure

Jude The Obscure

When discussing the extent to which a sense of crisis permeated every aspect of Victorian society as it struggled to reconcile past ideas and beliefs with progress and modernity, it is firstly important to analyze the term ‘Victorian’ in more detail as it is a vague generalization, which is more a connotation of a time span than referring to this era as the Nineteenth Century. Scholars, writers and intellectuals of this time would be unaware that in the generation to follow they would be identified as ‘Victorians’, as suggested in the work of J.B Bullen (1997) – ‘Victorian’ much like other adjectives such as ‘Renaissance’ and ‘Romantic’ do not refer simply to chronological periods – instead it is a way of referring to “attitudes, manners, ideologies and values of a diverse group of individuals who lived in a period”(Bullen, 1997, page 1), There are, however, many novels, which surfaced in the Nineteenth Century, which are seen as ideal models of Victorian society. One, which will be looked at is Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure (1895), discussed will be the relationship between central character Jude Fawley and the society, which surrounds, and often contains and places an insurmountable burden upon him, which would also explain the tragic murder-suicide of Jude’s children.  
Interestingly, two of the main anchors within Jude the Obscure is both Jude’s relationship with firstly his cousin Susannah Brideshead, and also Richard Phillotson the headmaster at his school who proves an influential figure towards Jude’s education, and especially his aspirations in regards to attending University. Both these relationships, however, have a similar parallel – in that both Sue and Richard represent attainable goals within Jude’s life – Sue represents love and desire – a stable life, a life which has evaded Jude after the death of his father. Richard represents a sustainable career, moving to Christminster to further his studies....