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【Abstract】Hardy is distinguished for his deep understanding of human nature and his insight of human life and experience. This paper will make an exploration about the theme of Jude the Obscure, which conveys the strong sense of fatalism, to show Hardy’s life outlook and reveal his pessimistic views towards society and human nature.
【Key words】fatalism tragic destiny
Introduction
Thomas Hardy is one of the representatives of English critical realism at the turn of the 19th century. Novelist and poet, he is one of the most celebrated British writers in the history of English and world literature. Hardy has long been known for the fatalism and pessimism in his tragic novels, Jude the Obscure is the most famous one, which is infused and permeated with the atmosphere of fatalism.
Fatalism in Jude the Obscure
Jude the Obscure traces Jude Fawley’s life from his boyhood to his early death. An orphan adopted by his aunt, Jude cherishes the dream of going to Christian Temple University to be a priest in future. But he is seduced and entrapped to marry Arabella, who is nothing but “a female animal”,and soon deserted by her. Then he meets and falls in love with his cousin, Sue Bridehead, who married in a fit the decaying schoolmaster, Phillotson. Jude and Sue leave their own partners respectively and start to live together, but their life of cohabitation deteriorates under the pressure of poverty and social disapproval. The eldest son of Jude and Arabella, a grotesque boy nicknamed “Father Time”, kills the children of Jude and Sue, then commits suicide. This shatters Sue’s courage to go on living with Jude. She goes back to Phillotson, and Jude returns to Arabella. Soon after, Jude dies, and his last words are: “Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul?”[1]
Jude the Obscure is soaked in bleakness and hopelessness. The powerful external forces shatter all Jude’s dreams and desires and render him utterly helpless. He is encouraged by Phillotson to apply to Christminster, but as on other occasions in his life, he is rejected and tormented by his failure. Arabella seduces him into marriage by pretending to be pregnant and then leaves him at the point when he takes up residence in Christminster and is still trying to gain access to the university. Jude then falls for Sue and they have an illicit relationship by living together. The novel concerns itself with Jude’s ambition, which is “thwarted repeatedly by the squalid nature of a life ruined by poverty and the indecision of others”. The novel ends with the protagonist dying a miserable death that “represents only the indecency of fate that causes suffering even or perhaps especially in the pure innocence of heart”[2]. Conclusion
Hardy is an outstanding realist in English literature, the strong element of fatalism is reflected in his novel, Jude the Obscure. His pessimistic philosophy shows that mankind is subjected to the rule of some hostile and mysterious fate, which brings misfortune to human life. The novel conveys the view that in life human actions have been predetermined, either by the very nature of things, or by God, or by Fate. The underlying theme of the writing is the struggle of man against the mysterious force which rules the world, brings misfortune into his life and predetermines his fate.
As a realist, Hardy feels that art should describe and comment upon actual situations. In Jude the Obscure, Hardy sees man beaten down by forces within and without himself and seeks to record man’s eternal struggle with fate. His tragic heroes and heroines cry out defiantly against their fate, but accept their doom with an insight into and an awareness of the forces of evil which have effected their downfall; The protagonists in the novel are driven by a combined force of “nature”, both inside and outside of human beings, to go and search for some specific happiness or success. They go into conflict with the environment and finally beaten by it. They are specifically “tragic” because they elicit from the reader the requisite responses of pity and fear.
References：
[1]Hardy, Thomas. Jude the Obscure[M].London: St. Martin’s, 1981.
[2]Allingham, Philip V. “Comparison of Imagery in Conrad and Hardy’s Novels”. 6 Dec 2000.
【Key words】fatalism tragic destiny
Introduction
Thomas Hardy is one of the representatives of English critical realism at the turn of the 19th century. Novelist and poet, he is one of the most celebrated British writers in the history of English and world literature. Hardy has long been known for the fatalism and pessimism in his tragic novels, Jude the Obscure is the most famous one, which is infused and permeated with the atmosphere of fatalism.
Fatalism in Jude the Obscure
Jude the Obscure traces Jude Fawley’s life from his boyhood to his early death. An orphan adopted by his aunt, Jude cherishes the dream of going to Christian Temple University to be a priest in future. But he is seduced and entrapped to marry Arabella, who is nothing but “a female animal”,and soon deserted by her. Then he meets and falls in love with his cousin, Sue Bridehead, who married in a fit the decaying schoolmaster, Phillotson. Jude and Sue leave their own partners respectively and start to live together, but their life of cohabitation deteriorates under the pressure of poverty and social disapproval. The eldest son of Jude and Arabella, a grotesque boy nicknamed “Father Time”, kills the children of Jude and Sue, then commits suicide. This shatters Sue’s courage to go on living with Jude. She goes back to Phillotson, and Jude returns to Arabella. Soon after, Jude dies, and his last words are: “Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul?”[1]
Jude the Obscure is soaked in bleakness and hopelessness. The powerful external forces shatter all Jude’s dreams and desires and render him utterly helpless. He is encouraged by Phillotson to apply to Christminster, but as on other occasions in his life, he is rejected and tormented by his failure. Arabella seduces him into marriage by pretending to be pregnant and then leaves him at the point when he takes up residence in Christminster and is still trying to gain access to the university. Jude then falls for Sue and they have an illicit relationship by living together. The novel concerns itself with Jude’s ambition, which is “thwarted repeatedly by the squalid nature of a life ruined by poverty and the indecision of others”. The novel ends with the protagonist dying a miserable death that “represents only the indecency of fate that causes suffering even or perhaps especially in the pure innocence of heart”[2]. Conclusion
Hardy is an outstanding realist in English literature, the strong element of fatalism is reflected in his novel, Jude the Obscure. His pessimistic philosophy shows that mankind is subjected to the rule of some hostile and mysterious fate, which brings misfortune to human life. The novel conveys the view that in life human actions have been predetermined, either by the very nature of things, or by God, or by Fate. The underlying theme of the writing is the struggle of man against the mysterious force which rules the world, brings misfortune into his life and predetermines his fate.
As a realist, Hardy feels that art should describe and comment upon actual situations. In Jude the Obscure, Hardy sees man beaten down by forces within and without himself and seeks to record man’s eternal struggle with fate. His tragic heroes and heroines cry out defiantly against their fate, but accept their doom with an insight into and an awareness of the forces of evil which have effected their downfall; The protagonists in the novel are driven by a combined force of “nature”, both inside and outside of human beings, to go and search for some specific happiness or success. They go into conflict with the environment and finally beaten by it. They are specifically “tragic” because they elicit from the reader the requisite responses of pity and fear.
References：
[1]Hardy, Thomas. Jude the Obscure[M].London: St. Martin’s, 1981.
[2]Allingham, Philip V. “Comparison of Imagery in Conrad and Hardy’s Novels”. 6 Dec 2000.