Jude the Obscure Thomas Hardy - Mary Jacobus (essay date 1975)

Mary Jacobus (essay date 1975)

SOURCE: "Sue the Obscure," in Essays in Criticism, Vol. X X V , No. 3, July, 1975, pp. 304-28.

[In the following essay, Jacobus accepts Hardy's contention that Jude the Obscure is a novel of contrasting ideas, and thus analyzes the work by focusing on the character of Sue Bridehead, rather than that of Jude.]

Hardy's account of Jude the Obscure raises the problem at once:

Of course the book is all contrasts—or was meant to be in its original conception. Alas, what a miserable accomplishment it is, when I compare it with what I meant to make it!—e.g. Sue and her heathen gods set against Jude's reading the Greek testament; Christminster academical, Christminster in the slums; Jude the saint, Jude the sinner; Sue the Pagan, Sue the saint; marriage, no marriage; &c, &c.

The degree of Hardy's success in executing these strongly-marked...

[The entire page is 8613 words long]

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