The Causes of Jude’s Tragedy.docVIP

The Causes of Jude’s Tragedy Ⅰ. Introduction Thomas Hardy(1840－1928) occupies a promient position in the history of English literature. Hardy’s fiction writing started in 1860s and ended in 1890s, spanning the most splendid time for English novels in the latter half of the Victorian Age. (qtd. in Ren 64) Most of Hardys works inherit the tradition of the realistic trend of English novels, but at the same time, it’s not always justifiable to classify all his works into the traditional type. As a sentimental and romantic novelist Hardy sighs over the old and beautiful things that are eroded by the industrial society, but as a cool observer with a distinctively philosophic and intellectual turn of mind he knows that it is an inevitable trend of the social development. He feels the faint steps of time, so he conveys such messages in his writings. And among them, his last novel Jude the Obscure dramatizes unmistakably the perplexities and frustrations of modern man(qtd. in Fang 15). In Jude the Obscure, Hardy presents the characters Jude Fawley and Sue, who violate the conventions of the repressive Victorian society while attempting to follow their natural instincts. It details the failed life and ignoble death of Jude Fawley who is a bright and ambitious, but ultimately inconsequential, man. The central theme of the work is the powerlessness of individuals to the social and psychological forces that determine their lives. This theme also appears Hardys earlier novels, notably Tess of the DUrbervilles and The Return of the Native, which likewise dramatize his belief that individuals are powerless to affect their own lives in an attempt to achieve happiness. In Jude the Obscure, Hardy further explores this theme in relation to the constricting forces he observed around him in Victorian society: class, religion, and sexuality. Thus, the novel recounts Judes unrealized dream to enter the university at Christminster, and his powerlessness to remain happily with the woman he l