Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy

Jude the Obscure

Thomas Hardy

Published 1895

English Novel

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

NO SPOILERS, I PROMISE

Jude the Obscure featured Jude, a dreamer type, who aspired to get an education with the big boys; but his unfortunate socio-economic status prevented him from taking part in the elite academic world. Instead, Jude, a very determined and hopeful thinker, educated himself in Latin and the classics, at home.

Poor Jude was also a weak romantic, and the conniving Arabella manipulated him into a compromising situation. They hastily married for society's benefit, though in a short time Arabella abandoned her obligation and escaped far away from the complicated mess she helped create.

Nonetheless, Jude carried on, trying to pick up the pieces, when another woman, Sue, entered his life. She was much like him -- thirsty for knowledge. She was an intelligent woman ahead of her time, and Jude fell in love with her.  Jude introduced her to his old mentor, Phillotson, who conveniently fell in love with Sue, too.

When Sue found out later that Jude was still legally married to Arabella, she reluctantly agreed to marry Phillotson. This was not the end, as it should have been, of their "friendship," and their paths crossed often, which made for a more complicated, messier story.

Hence, the plot becomes tangled, as only Hardy can scheme. The reader may have a good laugh or cry over it, whichever way seems right. For now, let me uncover some of the themes Hardy takes issue with in Jude the Obscure, such as religion, sex, love, and marriage.

RELIGION, LOVE, SEX, AND MARRIAGE

Religion was a good idea to Jude, until he realized that it placed moral restrictions on human nature and behavior and interfered with what he wanted to do, as opposed to what he ought to do. Society ostracized him and Sue for their personal choices; therefore, he later shunned religion.

Meanwhile, Sue originally bucked organized religion and traditions. But after a terrible tragedy, of which she pronounced herself responsible, she further punished herself by submitting to religion as payment for her sinful behavior. To Sue, obeying religion was just that: a penalty.

All of Hardy's characters were confused about love, sex and marriage, which compounded their misunderstanding of religion. The truth is: marriage is an institution designed by God for the benefit of children, societies, and His future kingdom; and sex is the gift God gave to married couples. Unfortunately, man-made religion hijacked sex and marriage, and men and women abuse both acts, including Arabella, Jude, Sue, and Phillotson. They were all guilty.

To Arabella, sex was an amusement to tempt acquiescent men, and marriage was a game to play; to Sue, sex and marriage were unjust burdens placed on women by religion and society. Meanwhile, both male characters were completely passive and malleable individuals, fooled by these convoluted and demented women.

Love is not enough to be with whom you endear; marriage is what should keep people together. The characters wanted to be with whom they loved, but not in the way expected of them. Jude and Sue supposedly loved one another, but superstition kept them from legal marriage; and in the other case, Jude did not love Arabella and Sue did not love Phillotson, and neither did any of them honor the marriage covenant.

I do not believe that religion is entirely bad for society, but it must be based on truth, which Hardy does not present or know. Religion, in his stories, is the false and man-made kind. Institutions and traditions, such as marriage, are, to him, of the church and force people to marry or stay with someone they do not love. Hardy does not like what the church teaches about living with someone you are not married to or having sex outside of marriage. To him, this is unjust, and he wants you to feel that in Jude the Obscure. He wants you to feel the heavy hand of society and religion on feeble, innocent lives living in oppressive Victorian England. That's why he takes the poorest of characters and puts them in the worst possible circumstances. 

Nonetheless, marriage is still God's law, and the church and society only echoed what God's law was from the beginning. The marriage contract (paper or no paper) is a covenant, with God as a witness. Since all characters chose to practice love and sex and marriage in their own way, they made a mess. They made bad choices, and eventually it caught up with them. That's why Jude the Obscure ends on such a tragic note. 

ONE MORE THING

One other point: Hardy tried to make a good case for divorce. He wanted the reader to feel empathy for Jude and Sue, who were penalized socially for being separated from their original spouses (among other things). Jude and Sue married their spouses for all the wrong reasons; and in the 1890s, there was no way out of that contract, without ramifications. Hardy made society and the church responsible for such restrictive boundaries. But again, society and the church only echo what God had long ago established. He hates divorce...and for good reason. But I won't get into that now.

WHAT I REALLY THINK

Having said all that, I gave Jude the Obscure five stars because I think I must confess: I love reading tragedy. While I can experience all the expected emotional responses, I also see right through the fabricated, outlandish specifics, usually caused by the author's poor and incorrect worldview. So give me your worst-case circumstance and all the grief and pity with it, add superb writing, like Hardy's, and I am a sucker. 

IS THIS BOOK FOR YOU

If you can tolerate an author's argument against Victorian English society and Christian traditions, such as marriage, and you gravitate toward tragedy, suffering, misfortune, or hopelessness, but can come out on the other side unscathed, this may be for you. If you have not read Hardy, you may want to begin with a more positive experience, like Far From the Madding Crowd. If nothing else, you will not be disappointed with his writing style. It's the best.