Existentialism in the Jude the Obscure
by Thomas Hardy🙌
Name - Jignesh K. Panchasara
Paper - Literature of the Victorians
Roll No- 9
Enrollment no-3069206420200013
Email id-jigneshpanchasara5758@gmail.com
Batch- MA 2020-2022
Submitted to - S.B Gardi Department of English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji
Bhavnagar University.
Introduction👀
Jude the Obscure is a novel by Thomas Hardy, which began as a magazine serial in December 1894 and was first published in book form in 1895. It is Hardy's last completed novel. Its protagonist, Jude Fawley, is a working-class young man, 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.
Hardy was the eldest of the four children of Thomas Hardy, a stonemason and jobbing builder, and his wife, Jemima (née Hand). He grew up in an isolated cottage on the edge of open heathland. 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. He spent a year at the village school at age eight and then moved on to schools in Dorchester, the nearby county town, where he received a good grounding in mathematics and Latin. In 1856 he was apprenticed to John Hicks, a local architect, and in 1862, shortly before his 22nd birthday, he moved to London and became a draftsman in the busy office of Arthur Blomfield, a leading ecclesiastical architect. Driven back to Dorset by ill health in 1867, he worked for Hicks again and then for the Weymouth architect G.R. Crickmay.
Existentialism in Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure👌
Thomas Hardy was an English poet and novelist, He criticised the Victorian society greatly
in his works and focused on rural communities, as seen in his Tess of the
D’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure.
The novel is a coming-of-age novel which centers on the life
of the protagonist, Jude and his complicated love life. The novel is also
tragic as we see the downfall of the protagonist (Jude’s deaths ). Hardy is
known to depict suffering in his works and this has caused many negative views
about these works. Little do they know that Hardy is merely giving us a clear
picture of how many people, especially those in the rural areas, live.
Also, the negative comments could be as a result of the
conscience of the readers. They probably are scared of their own lives or feel
that their unlucky fate is being exposed. Meanwhile, Hardy was merely adapting
the work from his own life. Just like Jude, Thomas Hardy first married
Emma who is the inspiration of the character of
Arabella Don. Also, his love interest, like Jude is his cousin who is the
inspiration for the character of Sue Bridehead.
In this essay, we shall examine the theory of existentialism
as seen in Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure. The novel reflects Hardy's concern
about the existence of human beings. He also discusses man's existence,
freedom, choice, responsibility and life value, foreseeing social
contradictions of western society.
Existentialism has as its main key phrase: existence over
essence. Also, among the themes seen in existentialism, Jude the Obscure
comprises isolation, existence precedes essence, moral individualism,
subjectivity, angst, freedom, authenticity and inauthenticity and the absurd.
Examples will be drawn from individual decisions and actions of characters, and
also the writer’s composition of the work. Since critics have derived that the
writer draws most of the events in the novel from his personal experiences,
then one can say that the writer expresses himself within the text.
We see Jude grow from an eleven year old boy to a man. His
actions in the novel are an initiation of his subjectivity- his individual
intuition. His aunt warns him not to get married, as their family is unlucky
with marriages. Jude however ignores this warning and confronts what he
encounters, getting married to Arabella. When he discovers Arabella is pregnant
with his child, he takes responsibility immediately by getting married to her,
not just because he refuses to obey his aunt’s warning, but to take responsibility
for his actions; although his plans to study are disrupted. His knowledge of
Arabella’s dishonesty causes him to leave the marriage and focus on his initial
plans.
This revelation of the fake pregnancy portrays
inauthenticity in human existence because Jude assumes a baby exists, and he
acts in accordance with the deception, until he has found out the truth.
Though, he does not mope around and give up on his previous goals, he accepts
the inauthentic and moves on with his life.
Angst is revealed when Jude suffers tremendously. He is very
hardworking and dedicated, but the novelist does not give him a successful or
‘happy ending’. He does not conform to the conventional idea that the good and
bad get rewarded according to their actions or personality. The novelist simply
reflects that human existence does not favour the good and condemn the bad;
rather, whatever a person goes through is an inevitable part of human
existence. Hence, existence precedes essence. Jude does not allow his
sufferings to put him down; hence, Albert Camus’s description of the absurd
man: the absurd man struggles with others to survive.
"Existence precedes essence" means that man
firstly exists, and then creates himself by action. When brought into the small
village, Jude appears as a "nothingness" that has many possibilities
in the future. As a little boy, Jude embaces big dreams. In the process of
pursuing them, Jude gains rich knowledge, and creates himself as an upright,
brave and responsible man. Moreover, he is concerned about the future of human
beings. Jude also wins Sue's love in a certain extent. Thus Jude has already
realized his life value and existential significance in the process of action.
It explores the predicament of human existence: the
meaninglessness and purposelessness of life, the alienation and anxiety of
human beings in the absurd world. Meanwhile, it attaches importance to the
quest for authenticity being in the absurd world.
Thomas Hardy presents the predicament of human existence in his last novel, Jude
the Obscure. It is a story of a lonely individual's futile struggles in the
absurd world. Jude, a poor orphan, strives to seek self and meaningful life in
the absurd world. He is determined to go to the University and keeps fighting
for it for a whole life but is rejected in the end; he persistently pursues
true love only to get endless suffering.
In the love between Jude and Arabella as well as Sue, Jude
tastes fully disappointment, loneliness and misery
Being unsatisfied with his present condition, Jude studies
hard in order to become a member of university; he acts bravely in order to
stay with his lover. With far-sight, Jude even tries to change social abuses.
Facing various difficulties, Jude may feel miserable, but he never loses hope.
Sue Bridehead, Jude's lover, is seen as a foil to Jude
because she initially is rebellious and is the typical existential character,
but she is not consistent. After all her suffering, primarily after her
children's deaths and miscarriage of her pregnancy, she automatically believes
the supernatural has a lot to do with whatever goes on in life. She believes
that God is punishing her for all the things she has done, probably for what
society condemns Her for. Then she tries to fix it all by going back to
Philotson, her ex-husband. This is because the Christian religion only permits
divorce on the grounds of unchastity; rather, Arabella has earlier divorced her
husband on the grounds of unpleasant sex.
In the novel, Hardy reveals that marriage has its troubles,
despite the way people go about it. Also, there is no perfect partner. We see
Jude married to Arabella and we are unhappy that he is married to someone who
has deceived him; also, his Aunt warns him that their family is not lucky with
marriage. Seeing that it is a hereditary luck, then Jude is expected to abide
by her warning. Although, after divorcing Arabella and now living with Sue, we
are happy that his love life seems normal. But when the situation of the murder
suicide and miscarriage come into play, Sue leaves Jude for her ex-husband.
This shows us the readers that humans would definitely flee from one another as
far as they do not find what they are looking for. Also, a friend, partner or
even family member would flee in times of trouble. It is only better for one to
be true to one's self as Jude has been. Seeing that Jude's supposed true love
has gone back to her ex-lover, this shows that there is no perfect partner. It
only takes effort and dedication to build a relationship.
In the Victorian society, it is said that the class you were
born into is the class you remain. Hardy criticises this class struggle in the
Victorian era because it greatly affected many people and disrupted their plans
on life. Jude is laughed at because he believes he can attend Christminster and
have a better life. Christminster is modeled based on Oxford University in
England. This shows how valuable Christminster is. Jude is determined to move
from an extremely low class to an extremely high class, but societal
forces try as much as possible not to let him. This is why he tries to study
Latin and Greek, but his Greek is not strong enough for him to be admitted.
Also, for other people to say that he is too low class to be admitted into that
kind of University, it is possible the admission officers think this boy is
trying to joke with them by trying to gain admission into that high brow
school.
Finally, existence precedes essence, in that Arabella is
watching a game when Jude is at the point of death. As soon as she discovers
his body, she does not abandon her game, as Jude's life is over and there is
nothing she can do about it. Meanwhile, her game is still on and alive, did she
believes she needs to finish it before dealing with Jude's corpse.
"Oh, I say--how jolly! I'm glad I've come," said Arabella.
"And--it can't hurt my husband--my being away."
This shows the choice that many people make- they consider what's more
important, what has more value, depending on its essence, but Arabella here
knows that Jude, a human being is more important than a mere man-made game on
television, but she does not ignore that existence precedes essence. Hence,
what it available and worth living for should be given more attention,
especially at the moment.
Conclusion👇
we have seen the Existentialism in the Jude the Obscure. The All Characters are representing the situation of Human being. The Theme of the Jude the Obscure is Marriage, fate, Social Criticism, Religion and women in Society.
Reference
"Jude The Obscure: Study Guide | Sparknotes". Sparknotes.Com, 2021, https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/jude/#bn-purchase-module.
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