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    Jude the Obscure
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    Jude the Obscure
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    Jude the Obscure
    Ebook570 pages8 hours

    Jude the Obscure

    By Thomas Hardy

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    About this ebook

    The novel tells the story of Jude Fawley, who lives in a village in the southern English region of Wessex who yearns to be a scholar. As a youth, Jude teaches himself Greek and Latin in his spare time while working first in his great-aunt's bakery. Before he can try to enter the university, the naïve Jude is manipulated, through a process he later calls erotolepsy, into marrying a rather coarse and superficial local girl, Arabella Donn, who deserts him within two years and relocates to Australia. By this time, he has abandoned the classics altogether.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSovereign
    Release dateAug 15, 2014
    ISBN9781910343906
    Author

    Thomas Hardy

    Thomas Hardy was born in Dorset in 1840, the eldest of four children. At the age of sixteen he became an apprentice architect. With remarkable self discipline he developed his classical education by studying between the hours of four and eight in the morning. With encouragement from Horace Moule of Queens' College Cambridge, he began to write fiction. His first published novel was Desperate Remedies in 1871. Thus began a series of increasingly dark novels all set within the rural landscape of his native Dorset, called Wessex in the novels. Such was the success of his early novels, including A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873) and Far From the Madding Crowd (1874), that he gave up his work as an architect to concentrate on his writing. However he had difficulty in getting Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1889) published and was forced to make changes in order for it to be judged suitable for family readers. This coupled with the stormy reaction to the negative tone of Jude the Obscure (1894) prompted Hardy to abandon novel writing altogether. He concentrated mainly on poetry in his latter years. He died in January 1928 and was buried in Westminster Abbey; but his heart, in a separate casket, was buried in Stinsford, Dorset.

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    Reviews for Jude the Obscure

    4/5

    1,742 ratings64 reviews

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    • 5/5
      So tragic. Beautifully written.
    • 4/5
      Excellent. One of the very best endings I have ever read. Loved it.
    • 3/5
      I liked this one, but I liked Tess of the d'Urbervilles better.
    • 5/5
      i am shattered every time i read this, but every few years i have to come back for more.
    • 5/5
      Well, that was depressing.Beautifully written, scathing commentary by the author on religion and marriage in Victorian England... hard to believe Hardy wrote something so forward-thinking in this time period, and easy to see why it was so badly received then. The novel feels unflinchingly honest, brutal, and sad. Poor Sue. Poor Jude. If you like fun stories with happy endings, this is not the book you’re looking for.
    • 4/5
      Hardy’s last novel was controversial in its time for reasons that are evident in the plot. Victorian morals are repeatedly transgressed, although life punishes the transgressors terribly. I confess finding Sue incredibly irksome even before the tragedy that strikes; her turn to religion just seems to put the final supreme touch of unpleasantness on her character. Jude’s passion for her is difficult to understand. Jude himself walks into trouble repeatedly. “Wait!” I kept thinking. “What are you doing now?” It’s hard to believe at the end that he is only about 30, as he seems to have lived several lifetimes of sorrow.
    • 3/5
      With all the hype surrounding “Jude the Obscure”, I had high hopes, though sadly my hopes weren’t realised.I prefer some of Hardy’s lesser-known tomes to this one. I enjoyed parts of this novel, but it didn’t appeal greatly to me overall. I like the humour, but the depressing stuff really did depress me.Arabella is my favourite character. She’s very believable and it confirms my belief that Hardy’s female characters are better crafted than his male ones.Can’t remember many specifics, unfortunately, as I’m reviewing this nearly six years after reading it, but as it’s Thomas Hardy, I’d like to give it a second read some time.
    • 3/5
      Thomas Hardy first gives readers an admirable Jude, his dreams set on becoming a Christminster scholar.Next follows a set of unusual marriages, a horrific tragedy, and the interminable resultant peculiarities of Sue Brideheadand Jude's unswerving love for her which lead the tale into a comedy of errors. Too Strange Indeed."She little thinks I have out-Sued Sue in this - all in the last twelve hours!"
    • 4/5
      Not just about 1895 social mores. Also applies to now. Sue Bridehead is an advanced woman .and the exploration of class issues is at ground level, as people experience them.
    • 4/5
      Like most books written in the period, Jude the Obscure does have several passages that can be difficult to wade through. However, unlike many such classics, Jude is worth the effort. This book is a bitter-sweet love story set in a time filled with conventions and behavioural expectations that could make life very difficult for those who did not conform. I highly recommend this book.
    • 3/5
      Sort of disappointing, depressing, and pointless, but I could see that it was written well at any rate.
    • 4/5
      Of all the classic European authors, Thomas Hardy is my favorite. I just love his themes of despair and bitter social commentary. "Jude the Obscure" was the last book that he ever wrote, and it was received with such controversy and scandal that he decided to write only poetry afterward.It is the story of Jude Fawley, a studious and intelligent young man who aspires to become a scholar, a writer, and a professor. Instead of running and playing with his peers, he spends his time reading, and he teaches himself Greek and Latin. (How could I not love him?) However, his organized plans are interrupted when his sweetheart, Arabella, announces that she is pregnant. Compelled to do the honorable thing, Jude marries her at once. But upon finding that Arabella has tricked him into wedlock, the two fall into disagreement and part ways. After this, Jude becomes aware of the existence of a cousin of his named Sue, and after seeking her out, falls deeply in love with her. But before he has a chance to reveal his feelings, she agrees to marry another man. She and Jude begin a long affair together, always mindful of the words that Jude's aunt so sternly warned him, that their families were not made for marriage, and their unions were fated to meet an unlucky end."Jude" is typical Hardy, and his writing is at its best here. It is the culmination of his success and progress as a writer, and if you have read other books of his, it makes it even easier to see how strong this last one is. His invented English region of Wessex is a very real place that Hardy brings to life seemingly effortlessly. By now, I would imagine that he knows his Wessex inside and out, and no longer has to think up new details about it, as he already knows them all. It seemed very natural, and I loved the focus on Christminster (based on Oxford) as a sort of dreamy paragon of aspiration to Jude, one that is always in reach but never attainable. Jude travels around the Wessex area quite a lot in the book, so we get to see quite a few different towns and cities. It made looking at the familiar map of Wessex on the first pages even more interesting.I loved our hero, Jude. From the beginning, he shows himself to be a thoughtful, bright, and good-hearted young boy. He is, perhaps, a bit too good, and ultimately it ruins him. A foreshadowing of this is in the first couple pages of the book, when as a child he is hired to scare birds off the grain fields by throwing stones at them. But Jude is so tender that he cannot bear to see a rock hit one of the birds, and imagines them hungry, so he lets them eat the grain. He is promptly fired, and his crusty aunt scolds him exasperatedly "If ye can't skeer birds, what can ye do?"His strong sense of honor and morality (perhaps developed due to reading so many books about dashing heroes?) also begin and set in motion the long series of events concerning women, love, and marriage that are to take up most of his disappointing life.He forces himself to marry Arabella after she tells him she is pregnant, even though he acknowledges that it ruins all his dreams, and he knows she is "not worth a great deal as a specimen of womankind."Later, his attention and concern for womanly sensitivity prevent him from telling Sue of his feelings for her, and once she announces that she is engaged, Jude politely congratulates her rather than speaking his mind.I liked Jude very much, and I loved his scholarly attitude toward things. I kept hoping that things would work out for him in the end - that he would have a true, happy marriage and fulfill his dream of being a learned professor. But the further the book goes, the more sharply we see how unlikely this is.Sue Bridehead, the most prominent and memorable of the female characters, was the only woman that Jude ever truly loved. From the first time he sees her, he is fascinated by her. Unlike many women of her time, Sue is worldly and well read, and she makes a living off teaching jobs. She and Jude have many discussions about scientific and philosophic matters. However, Sue was also quite immature and often quite silly. She occasionally does tiny things that may or may not mildly annoy Jude, and then bursts out in dramatic guilt, begging Jude to forgive her and saying that he must hate her now. She does this often, and it started to really irritate me, though Jude seemed to view it as almost charming. Sue was unpredictable and prone to sudden mood changes, and I didn't actually like her.Men want Sue, but cannot have her, and that is exactly how she wants it. She often mentions a young man who was her dearest friend at college, who was desperately in love with her. Sue did not return his feelings, but that didn't stop her from moving in with him (in an entirely separate bedroom, of course, she makes sure we know). The poor man, always having Sue so close, sleeping a few steps away from him, but never able to have her.When Sue first develops her friendship with Jude, she does not realize at first how much he cares for her. She flirts a bit, she likes the attention he pays her. But once she learns of his feelings, she taunts him even more drastically - but whether purposefully or without thought, I couldn't decide. She tells him one moment that she is going to be married to Phillotson forever, and in the next moment she is kissing Jude. Next, she asks Jude to come to her wedding. Though he knows how painful it will be, Jude, being honorable to a fault, agrees. And if this isn't far enough, Sue requests that Jude be the one to give her away as a bride.Upon living with Phillotson, Sue does much the same thing, letting her husband have her legally but making it clear that she does not love him. She even begins sleeping in a broom closet with spiders in it, rather than sleep in his bed.Sue is in love with attention, and underneath she is something of a cold-hearted woman. She wants to be desired but not had, loved but not in love herself.Even though I never warmed up to her, I was sympathetic with her. She is an interesting character, and I think that part of why Jude was so fascinated by her is that he can never quite figure her out, or predict what she will do next.Of course, marriage is a revolving theme here. In general, the public was shocked by the way it was treated by Hardy in these pages. We see a lot of married couples leaving each other - Arabella leaves Jude, Arabella refers to leaving her 2nd husband in Australia, Sue leaves Phillotsen... Interesting as well that it seems to always be the women who are leaving the poor men behind, even rarer in 1896 Europe.Sue and Jude almost marry many times, but for some reason, they are never quite able to bring themselves to do it. Why must they obey society's rules? they say. They tell themselves that their love for each other makes them as married as the next couple.In the end, Sue abandons this view she has pressed so insistently on Jude and becomes over-zealous about the restrictive bonds of marriage. I just loved reading this book, in which Hardy is at his most mature and detailed. His characters are so real and memorable, that I think I would remember them forever without ever having to pick up his book again. It has been over a month since I finished "Jude the Obscure," but it is still so fresh in my mind. It is a very impressive story.It's Thomas Hardy, so of course - highly recommended.
    • 2/5
      I finished this book on 13 Dec 1964 and after being so impressed by Tess, this book really turned me off. It is a dreary book and very disconcerting.
    • 4/5
      This book was published in 1895 to such adverse criticism that Hardy didn't write another novel. Clearly it wasn't the done thing to question the institution of marriage, the influence of the church on society and to speak up for the poor. Never mind the (extremely mild) references to sex, which by the standards of the day, were considered too much. The story focuses on a young man with ambitions to better himself by striving to make it to a college at the university town of Christminster. However, the mistakes he and (his cousin / lover) Sue, make in their youth are not forgiven in the eyes of the community - wherever they go. Unable to free themselves, things begin to spiral.

      Usually regarded as the most depressing of Hardy's novels but it would be wrong to dismiss it on those terms as there is a lot going on in this book and it keeps you turning the pages. But yes, it does contain probably the most shocking scene I have ever read.
    • 4/5
      A criticism of the institution of marriage, education and religion in England. Unflinching and brutal in places. Enjoyed this much more than expected.
    • 4/5
      I think Hardy was a man ahead of his times in regards to how he approached relationships in this book. I am not referring to the relationship of cousins, rather his outlook on marriage. I also believe he stated what many people probably felt or observed in the time period this book was written. True to his form, he stated it well and honestly if not always happily!
    • 5/5
      One of my favourite British Victorian classics. A compelling story on the so-much loved theme of a subject trying his utmost to overcome his humble roots (but failing in the process). Extremely well written and engaging - even for a 21st century mind.
    • 4/5
      This Hardy novel tells the tale of Jude, a rural stonemason whose ambition is to better himself through the higher education of Christminster (Oxford), and his tragic love affair with his cousin Sue. Their relationship made for an enthralling read, particularly as it was very modern, daring and unconventional for it's time. Sue is a fabulously complex heroine who derives both feelings of admiration and frustration in the reader as she stays resolute to her convictions however misplaced, whilst Jude is a typical Hardy protagonist who makes you root for him the whole way through the novel.Unlike the other two Hardy's I've read to date, this one felt like it took quite a while to get going, and I would say it was only about halfway in that I got properly hooked. For that reason I'm deducting a star, but nonetheless it was a great read and the second half was a definite page-turner. I enjoy that Hardy gives such a real sense of place in rural England through the eyes of the lower and middle classes especially, and he's the grand master of social tragedy.4 stars - not my favourite Hardy so far, but another wonderful Wessex tale.
    • 5/5
      What marks a great fiction writer, in my view, is this: you don't want to skip a single line. Not because it is an action packed thriller, but simply because it totally draws you in. Thomas Hardy's style and his phraseology are of an older pattern and might be a bit puzzling to a contemporary eye, not that easy to digest at first, but you persist, and after a few pages the old-fashioned turn of a phrase or an outdated word not only doesn't matter any more - it becomes essential to the writing. Lengthy, heart-rending, impassioned dialogues and soliloquies might seem a bit histrionic to a modern mind. But not unless you place yourself in that era; that's what I tried to do.In this novel, Hardy raises two essential questions: he points out that the desire to learn is classless, and, to an even greater detail, he questions the fairness and validity of the institution of marriage - in those days!...- which was totally unexpected, for me, at least: for, of course, there are prejudices about this even now (always will be) but to much smaller extent...Our Jude is torn between religious aspirations (which seem to be more equated to a desire for enlightenment and learning than actual longing for God) and love for a woman who is his soul-mate - his idealistic, whimsical, well-read, precocious Sue, whom he follows in mind and deed, himself being not as strong-willed as she, with whom he has such unique mutual understanding. And even here it's all unpredictable - the tragedy strikes and Sue's personality alters altogether. She erroneously decides that the tragedy is God's punishment for her hedonistic way of life (erroneous here as well - as her life was just driven by sober thinking, that's all). Jude, in resignation, calls himself "a paltry victim to the spirit of mental and social restlessness, that makes so many unhappy in these days". In frustration, in the end he is resigned to do carving on the stone walls of colleges he could never enter.Passionately written and at times very lyrical, Hardy captures his protagonist's mental agony to a most compelling extent. A very worthy read.
    • 4/5
      This was my second Hardy novel, following The Mayor of Casterbridge, which I believe contains more appealing characters and story lines. Nonetheless, Hardy's writing ability is superb, hence Jude the Obscure flows seamlessly throughout. Kudos also for Hardy's ending, which was superb.Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      Not Hardy's best, but even so, better than the works of many better known authors.
    • 4/5
      I read this book during my senior year in college, so it's been a "few" years! I do remember being hooked on Thomas Hardy, and not because it was required reading!
    • 5/5
      I read this out of curiosity during my freshman year in college. When I approached my English 1A professor about doing a paper on it, she -- and I'm not joking here -- said, "Why would you want to write about a dead white male?" Taken aback, I dutifully bowed my pimpled head and submitted a paper on Ernest Gaines's A Gathering of Old Men.

      Not to take anything away from Gaines, who I ended up admiring in his way, but Ms. F? You can suck it.
    • 4/5
      This is one of those books that takes you straight into another time and place. Hardy is such a vivid writer, you can feel and touch and smell and see across the places he describes.

      It is crushingly sad, but the truth of the situation is psychologically real and mature, born out of extreme frustration and despair at the social reality of the time, the limitations of class and poverty. He was angry, and his passion saturates the book. The dysfunctionality of the characters is all too familiar and believable, the self-deception, the misplaced loyalties, the character flaws they can't get past, the real experience of poverty and failure. How many people have you known who didn't or couldn't live up to their youthful dreams, never made use of their most obvious talents because of a lack of education, money, connections, resourcefulness, early parenthood?
    • 5/5
      When this book was first published there was such an outcry about the subject of the book that Hardy decided to stop writing fiction. What was the subject that created such opprobrium? A couple who could have married each other decided to forego the contract of marriage but live together and have children. It's hard to believe that an action that is almost commonplace now could excite such rage in 1896. Hardy was obviously ahead of his time.Jude Fawley was raised in the small village of Marygreen by his great-aunt after his parents died. His great-aunt was too poor to send him to school but he had gone to night school with Mr. Phillotson until that teacher decided to go off to try to get a degree at Christminster (a made up name for Oxford). Jude has a great passion for reading and conceives a notion to follow in the schoolmaster's footsteps. He manages to teach himself the rudiments of Latin and Greek but, realizing that he must have a way to earn money, also learns the trade of stone cutting. While he is still apprenticing he catches the attention of Arabella Donn, the daughter of a pig farmer. Arabella manages to entice Jude into her bed and then, claiming to be pregnant, into marriage. Both of them soon rue their marriage and Arabella goes off to Australia with her parents. Jude finally realizes his dream of going to Christminster. He also realizes his dream of meeting his cousin Susanna whose picture was in his great-aunt's house. When they meet they are drawn to each other but since Jude is still married he fights the attraction. When Susanna is dismissed from her employment Jude introduces her to schoolmaster Phillotson. Phillotson hires her as an assistant and soon is smitten by her.Phillotson and Susanna marry but Susanna is repulsed by the idea of physical love with him and asks him to let her go to live with Jude. Phillotson agrees, causing the local people to get him fired from the school. Susanna lives with Jude but does not share a bed with him. Finally the marriages between Phillotson and Susanna and between Jude and Arabella are dissolved but Susanna is reluctant to marry Jude for fear that the love they have will disappear with marriage. They pretend to get married and they do have children together. Then a tragedy occurs (as in most Hardy novels) and Jude and Susanna separate.Even though you know tragedy is coming it was still a shock when it occurs. No-one could read this book and not feel sorry for Jude and Susanna. Even Phillotson is a tragic figure and I felt badly for him. Arabella, on the other hand, is such a conniving, heartless woman that it seems strange that Jude would get caught by her. It is certainly not strange that the bloom goes off the rose of their marriage very quickly.Hardy shows his true feelings about marriage pretty clearly in this book. His wife, Emma, is said to have disapproved of Jude the Obscure. Hardy and Emma spent more and more time apart after its publication and Hardy started seeing other women. However, after Emma died Hardy apparently felt remorse and revisited places where they had been happy together.We have two more works by Hardy to read but they are short stories. I have a new appreciation for Hardy after reading all of his novels although it is hard to say that I have enjoyed them. Hardy, like the playwright Chekhov, isn't meant to be enjoyable. Instead they show us the human condition and let us draw our own conclusions.
    • 1/5
      Wherein I express my eternal hatred of Jude the Obscure:

      Thomas Hardy is a fascinating guy and excellent writer, though depressing as hell. He liked to eavesdrop on his neighbors and then put them as characters in his novels, which is why said neighbors all hated him. He also had a huge chip on his shoulder because he wasn't allowed to divorce his wife to marry another woman, which has major significance in Jude because the two lovers who should end up together instead die alone and saddled to despicable spouses because they couldn't divorce and thus marry. Though not worrying about the fact that they were cousins.

      That said, I HATE Jude with a passion greater than the force of a gabillion suns imploding. It is the only book that has ever left me feeling so impotent with depression and rage that all I could do was lie in bed and watch as it sucked all of the happiness from my soul like a colossal Hoover. I might be overstating a tad, but it really is my most-hated book of all time forever and ever amen.

      If it were possible, I'd give it negative stars, I hate it that much.
    • 5/5
      From my first reading of The Return of the Native when I was a sophomore in high school I have been in love with the novels of Thomas Hardy. While I have not read them all, I have read his last, Jude the Obscure, and find solace in the tragic sadness of the life of Jude Fawley. I guess the aspect of his life that I admired the most was his desire to be a scholar and to go up to a great university. His desire fuels his personal study in preparation for this life. However, his own tragic nature, faults that he cannot overcome and some that he blames on others intervene to lead him in other directions.The sadness and tragedy of his life do not mean that this is not a novel that can be enjoyed. If you find the countryside of Hardy's Wessex an interesting world all of his stories are filled with wonders for the intrepid reader.
    • 4/5
      Encompasses Hardy's flaws and strengths. The narrator is phlegmatic and almost stilted, but somehow enjoyable to "listen" to. The plot has Hardy's hallmarks--the past coming back incessantly to haunt you, incredible coincidences, and forgotten individuals returning to the main character's life at key points.One key problem I had was that I don't think Jude's love for his cousin was ever properly explained. I could not figure out his infatuation with her.I don't know what it is about Hardy, because his plots are absurd, the writing does not seem particularly impressive, but somehow I find him fun and readable. This is the second one I've read by him, and would not hesitate to try another.
    • 4/5
      Thomas Hardy really knows how to turn a character's flaws and a few bad decisions into huge mistakes with drastic tragic results. Jude and his cousin Sue are in love with each other, but each marry other people (bad decision for both). They both leave their marriages and live together but decide to go against social convention and not marry. Living together was not an option in 19th Century England and Jude and Sue (and their children) are ostracized. What has become a bleak life gets much much worse as the whole tragic plot unfolds. This was a dark and very well written story and really reflects some of the moral values of that time. When the book was written, it received a harsh reception and was even called Jude the Obscene. This is Hardy's last novel and supposedly, the tough criticism made Hardy stop writing fiction for the last 32 years of his life.
    • 5/5
      My favorite book in the whole world, with the most realistic moral to any book life is rubbish and then it's just going to get much moch worse!