Thomas Hardy human condition, the

poetics of space
19th century-20th century

JUDE THE OBSCURE

HUMAN CONDITION

Hardy creates Jude as a Romantic idealist. But both objects of Jude's idealisation
(Christminster, which stands for Oxford, and his cousin and lover, Sue Bridehead) disappoint
him in their failure to live up to his unrealistic expectations.Jude Fawley dreams of studying at
the university in Christminster, but his background as an orphan raised by his working-class
aunt leads him instead into a career as a stonemason. Jude works for years teaching himself
classical languages, but he is never accepted simply because of his social class and poverty. In
Judes unjustified failures Hardy demonstrates the unfairness and classism of the educational
system. Jude the Obscure focuses on Judes life and his love for his cousin Sue, a
schoolteacher. From the beginning Jude knows that marriage is an ill-fated venture in his family,
and he believes that his love for Sue curses him doubly, because they are both members of a
cursed clan. The institution of marriage is the work's central focus. Jude and Sue are unhappily
married to other people, and then drawn by an inevitable bond that pulls them together. Both
protagonists immediately regret their decisions, and realize how a single impulsive decision can
affect their entire lives.Their relationship is beset by tragedy, not only because of the family
curse but also by society's reluctance to accept their marriage as legitimate. Jude learns that
his Romanticism is quite mistaken and that he is better off dead than trying to live in a world so
opposed to his ideals. In Jude, Hardy unequivocally shows that Jude's Romanticism is
destructive because it distorts his vision of reality, ensuring that he acts neither rationally nor
practically.
The horrifying murder-suicide of Jude's children is no doubt the climax of the book's action, and
the other events of the novel rise in a crescendo to meet that one act. Feeling she has been
punished by God for her relationship with Jude, Sue goes back to live with her husband, and

Jude is tricked into living with Arabella again. Jude dies soon after. They are drawn into an
endless cycle of self-erected oppression and cannot break free. They become depressed, and
start to believe that it is better never to be born than to live in such a cruel world. In a society
unwilling to accept their rejection of convention, they are ostracized. Jude's son senses
wrongdoing in his own conception and acts in a way that he thinks will help his parents and his
siblings so he kills himself and the other children. The children are the victims of society's
unwillingness to accept Jude and Sue as man and wife, and Sue's own feelings of shame from
her divorce.

Despite his love for Sue, Jude still retains some tenderness for Arabella and once even spends
the night with her rather than meeting Sue. Knowing that he cannot have Sue while she is
married, Arabella may represent the familiarity and accessibility of marriage to Jude. She is also
the solution to the repression of his sexuality enforced by his legal marriage and separation.

Jude and Arabella's son is different from most children in both his appearance and manner. He
seems to see beyond what is normal for his age, feeding Sue's belief that he is acting as an
agent sent by God to punish her for her sins.
Sue tells Jude she feels that in order to make amends for her sins against the institution of
marriage, she must return to the man she first married in the eyes of God. However, on another
level, she might feel that she needs to punish herself for the suffering of her children by forcing
herself into a life of unhappiness.

Sue is highly intelligent and very well-read, and she rejects the traditional Christianity of her
society. She also works alongside both Phillotson and Jude, first marrying Phillotson partly to
further her own teaching position (instead of acting as the traditional housewife).
Despite her intelligence and independence, Sue fails at her endeavors throughout the book, and
through her sufferings Hardy critiques the society that punishes his heroine. Sue, like other
women, is expected to be the property of the man she marries. Sue is never allowed to
advance in her work (despite her intelligence) because of her marital status. As an unmarried,
disgraced woman she has no power in society. Sue is emotionally fragile and often hysterical,
changing her mind at the slightest whim and breaking down in the face of tragedy. As an
opposite to Sue, Arabellais greedy, sensual, and vain the stereotype of everything Victorian
society found bad and sinful in women. Though Arabella is usually the antagonist, she is also

the character who ends up the most fortunate in the plot, showing just how unprepared society
was for a character like Sue.

The poetics of space (WESSEX)

TESS OF THE DURBERVILLES

Tess Durbervilles deals with issues of morality in two fundamental ways; one is the relativity of
moral values - their variation according to time and place - the other is the opposition between
man-made laws and Nature.Unfairness dominates the lives of Tess and her family to such an
extent that it begins to seem like a general aspect of human existence in Tess of the
dUrbervilles. Tess does not mean to kill Prince (the horse), but she is punished anyway, just as
she is unfairly punished for her own rape by Alec. Tess feels guilty about her liaison with Alec.
Hardy looks very closely at this feeling of guilt and suggests that it is unnecessary for a number
of reasons. Firstly, although she has broken an accepted social law, the villagers of Martlott do
not morally censure her. She has an illegitimate child, but they still accept her as an individual, a
member of the community, and do not look upon her as an outcast. Christianity teaches that
there is compensation in the afterlife for unhappiness suffered in this life, but the only devout
Christian encountered in the novel may be the reverend, Mr. Clare, who seems more or less
content in his life anyway. For others in their misery, Christianity offers little solace of heavenly
justice. The converted Alec preaches heavenly justice for earthly sinners, but his faith seems
shallow and insincere. The forces that rule human life are absolutely unpredictable and not
necessarily well-disposed to us.
One of the recurrent themes of the novel is the way in which men can dominate women,
exerting a power over them linked primarily to their maleness. Sometimes this command is
purposeful, in the mans full knowledge of his exploitation, as when Alec acknowledges how bad
he is for seducing Tess for his own momentary pleasure. Alecs act of abuse, the most lifealtering event that Tess experiences in the novel, is clearly the most serious instance of male
domination over a female.

Tess is a young woman who tends to find herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. She is a
victim, but she is also, at times, irresponsible. She falls asleep while taking the beehives to
market, which ends up killing the family horse, Prince. She wants to make good, but in trying to
help her family she loses sight of her own safety and her own wants and wishes. She becomes
Alecs victim in the forest. She probably should have known not to put herself in such a
situation, but she has few other options. Here, it seems as though she is destined to rely on
others, even when they are unreliable.
But Tess is also a strong woman throughout the novel. She stands up for herself and refuses to
crumble under pressure. She chastises herself for her weakness after her sexual escapade with
Alec. If we agree with her claim that this indiscretion is a moment of weakness, we probably
also feel that such weakness is not unlike that of most human beings. She is hard on herself for
letting herself become a victim. At the burial of her child, Sorrow, she weeps but collects herself
and moves on as a stronger woman.
Tesss story contains many features of Greek tragedy, as Hardys reference at the end of the
novel to Aeschyluss Prometheus Bound reminds us. The classical tragic hero, according to
Aristotle, is noble and dignified, and is punished on a far greater scale than his small sins
warrant, with death. Tess too is highborn and honorable, and her momentary submission to Alec
brings her a far greater suffering than she deserves, as even Alec comes to realize

Space (WESSEX)

The landscape always seems to inform us about the emotion and character of the event. When
the novel opens at the village dance, the sun is out and the day is beautiful. This celebration is
where Tess and Angel meet, even if only briefly. The weather turns as Tess returns home, where
the scene is less elegant. Throughout the novel, many of the bad events occur in a dark and
deep forest, and Alec and Tess interact numerous times in such a forest.
The seasons bring changes to the story as well. The summer is full of budding love between
Tess and Angel. When they profess their love for each other, it begins to rain, but neither one

cares: the weather cannot affect them. When they separate, Angel goes to Brazil and finds the
farming extremely difficult, while Tess goes to work at a farm, where the work in the rugged,
depressing stubble fields is harsh and grueling.