Title of the novel 'Jude the Obscure' written by Thomas Hardy

Hello Everyone, I'm Aarti Sarvaiya,A Student of Department of English, M.K. Bhavnagar University. This blog is assigned by Dilip Barad Sir . In this blog I'm going to write on the above topic 'Title of the play 'Jude The Obscure' written by Thomas Hardy.

Table of Content :-

Introduction

About the Author

About the Novel

Meaning of the Word 'Obscure'

Title of the Novel

Conclusion

About The Author :-

Thomas Hardy was  Born on 2 June 1840,Stinsford, Dorset, England  and He Died on 11 January 1928,Dorchester, Dorset,England.

He is a writer of Victorian Era. 

Thomas Hardy was born in Higher Bockhampton, Dorset - and the fictitious Wessex where he sets most of his novels is clearly inspired by south-west England. Son of a stonemason, and trained as an architect, he wrote in his spare time until the success of Far From The Madding Crowd (1874). He could then give up architecture for writing, and marry Emma Gifford, whom he had met in Cornwall in 1870.

Between 1874 and 1895, he wrote over a dozen novels and collections of stories, including The Return of the Native (1878), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) and Tess of the d'Urbervilles   (1891). After the adverse reception of the savagely bleak Jude the Obscure  (1895) he turned to poetry, which he continued to write and publish throughout the rest of his life.

By the end of the 19th century, he had gained an international reputation and a wide circle of literary friends. His changed circumstances led his and Emma’s interests to diverge; in many of his novels, impulsive passion leads to disaster. Their rift was increased by Emma’s objection to the unremitting gloom of Jude the Obscure, and its pessimistic view of marriage. However, after her death in 1912, Hardy suffered deep remorse; a visit to the Cornish coast where he had met Emma produced a stream of magnificent poems in her memory, published as Poems of 1912-13. In 1914 he married his much younger secretary, Florence Dugdale. He died at Max Gate on 11 January, 1928, the house in Dorchester that he had designed himself over four decades previously.

About The Novel :-

Jude the Obscure (1895), which malicious critics nicknamed 'Jude the Obscene,' prompted more violent debate than did Tess of the d’Urbervilles. This novel marks the most bitter expression of Hardy’s view of human existence and Victorian society. Like in Tess, Hardy presents in Jude a conflict of a lonely individual with society. However, Hardy’s social criticism is much more outspoken in Jude than in his earlier novels. Jude the Obscure has often been interpreted as an indictment of the society that made it impossible for a working man to obtain higher education. In fact, Hardy openly blames the English educational system, which provided no opportunity for an ambitious but impoverished young man who wanted to study at a university. Besides, Hardy violently attacks the Victorian concepts of class division and marriage as a holy institution. Unlike the earlier novels, Jude is mostly set in a modern, urban environment; in small drab industrial towns, railway trains, workshops and streets.

The protagonist, Jude Fawley, is a working-class young man; he is 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.

Meaning of The Word 'Obscure' :-

Obscure means something that is very hard to understand.

Title of the play 'Jude The Obscure' :-

Jude ,who is male protagonist of the play and Sue ,who is the female protagonist of the play. Jude's behaviour is like Obscure in this novel that's why it's title is "Jude the Obscure". Not only Jude is Obscure but we also behave like Obscure when we read this Novel. 

The novel is divided into six parts; each is centred on a particular town or village. At the beginning of each of the six parts is an epigraph or quotation, which is meant to throw light on the events that follow.

The novel is divided into six parts . Like

1. Marygreen (small town)

2. Christminster.

3. Melchester

4. Shaston

5. Aldbrickham

6. Christminster (University Place)

The novel focuses on  Jude's Obscurity in his life. Not only Jude but in the other characters we also find the Obscurity. 

For e.g. :-

Arabella :-  Who is a wife of Jude and mother of Little Father Time. Arabella lives Jude two or three times in the novel. She blames Jude that she got pregnant through Jude and that's why she married with Jude and then after she leaves him and goes outside of the Country. And another time we can see her Obscurity, when she leaves their son at Jude's house and she leaves from there, even though she is a mother she can  leave her son . 

Sue Bridehead :-  Who is the cousin sister of Jude. She is a free will spirited character. She also had the habit of Smoking and Drinking. She is an agnostic person of the Novel. At the first she introduced Jude as his Cousin and she helps him in his works. Even though she is married to Mr. Philotsan, who is a teacher of the school, made an internal relationship with Jude though he is his cousin. She also got pregnant from Jude even though she is not married with Jude and at first she doesn't allow Jude for physical relationship but when Arabella comes there she gets  jealous of Arabella and that's why she gives permission for internal relationship . She also gave birth to two childrens. We can see her Obscurity from her actions.

Little Father Time :- Through the name of the character we can get the idea he is also the character who is Obscure. Name also symbolises the Obscurity of the character. He is a little child and he is a son of Jude and Arabella. Even though he is a little child his actions and thoughts are like a younger one. At the end of the Novel, he hangs his elder siblings and himself because he believes that they are responsible for all of the suffering of their parents. 

Connection of Jude with The Title and Obscurity :-

Jude is the protagonist of the play and in this play Hardy describes Jude's life and how he is distracted from his dream. How society becomes a reason for changing the path of his dream. Through his life Hardy satiries the Victorian society. 

Jude is a son of Stonmasson and he has a dream for the education of University. He does the hard work for that but he can't get the admission in University just because he comes from the lower class. After his unsuccessful attempt to get admission inThe University  he lives life as a Stonemason. He marries Arabella but she leaves him and goes outside of the Country he had  a son from Arabella,whose name is Little Father Time. He is also in a relationship with Sue ,who is his cousin. From Sue ,he had three childrens. All his childs are hanged by his son Little Father Time . He was distracted from his goal  at the end of the novel. 

We can find Jude's Obscurity firstly when he falls in love with his Cousin though he is married and another time when he doesn't force Sue to make a physical relationship. And we can see his major Obscurity when he gives up his dream and he changed his path of his dream. 

Conclusion :-

According to the novel we can say that most of the characters are Obscure in the novel and mostly Jude is described as a obscurus person. That's why the Title of the novel 'Jude the Obscure' matches with the content of the novel. 

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