Analysis of the Theme Marriage in Jude the Obscure
Jude the Obscure Theme Analysis of Marriage
Thomas Hardy, the author of Jude the Obscure, focuses on multiple themes throughout his book including social order and higher learning which is mainly seen in the first part of the book. Jude, a working class boy aiming to educate himself, dreams of a high level education at a university, but is pushed away by the cruel and rigid social order. In the second part of the book, Jude abandons his idea of entering Christminster and the focus shifts to Sue. The themes of love, marriage, freedom replace the earlier theme of education and idealism. Hardy pushes each of these themes to his audience and challenges everyday ideology by his audacious story about Jude Hawley.
Hardy begins an argument against the institution of marriage, but he does not necessarily suggest that marriage is automatically bad; he just makes it clear that he believes people should be able to step away from a marriage if things do get dire. He also makes it clear that marriage is not necessarily linked to love in any way, so it's obvious that a decent, understanding society would accept Jude and Sue's relationship because they truly love each other, regardless of whether they are married or not.
Hardy tends to view marriage with cynicism, and there are many disapproving comments about the nature of marriage being based on contracts. Hardy was conscious that women were not treated equally in society, and that the laws of nature were often heavily weighed against women. He treats the subject with sympathy and understanding. He also illustrates that marriage could victimize both men and women.
There are no happy marriages or content couples seen in the book. Jude, when married to Arabella, feels trapped in a hopeless situation. Marriage is compared to being "caught in a gin, which would cripple him if not her also for the rest of a lifetime," (43). However, Jude is partly aware even before the marriage that Arabella is the wrong type of woman for him. He
Thomas Hardy, the author of Jude the Obscure, focuses on multiple themes throughout his book including social order and higher learning which is mainly seen in the first part of the book. Jude, a working class boy aiming to educate himself, dreams of a high level education at a university, but is pushed away by the cruel and rigid social order. In the second part of the book, Jude abandons his idea of entering Christminster and the focus shifts to Sue. The themes of love, marriage, freedom replace the earlier theme of education and idealism. Hardy pushes each of these themes to his audience and challenges everyday ideology by his audacious story about Jude Hawley.
Hardy begins an argument against the institution of marriage, but he does not necessarily suggest that marriage is automatically bad; he just makes it clear that he believes people should be able to step away from a marriage if things do get dire. He also makes it clear that marriage is not necessarily linked to love in any way, so it's obvious that a decent, understanding society would accept Jude and Sue's relationship because they truly love each other, regardless of whether they are married or not.
Hardy tends to view marriage with cynicism, and there are many disapproving comments about the nature of marriage being based on contracts. Hardy was conscious that women were not treated equally in society, and that the laws of nature were often heavily weighed against women. He treats the subject with sympathy and understanding. He also illustrates that marriage could victimize both men and women.
There are no happy marriages or content couples seen in the book. Jude, when married to Arabella, feels trapped in a hopeless situation. Marriage is compared to being "caught in a gin, which would cripple him if not her also for the rest of a lifetime," (43). However, Jude is partly aware even before the marriage that Arabella is the wrong type of woman for him. He