Jude and Sue: the psychological problems of modern man and woman (III)

Abstract

In Jude the Obscure Hardy develops in a still more experimental way some of the central interests of Tess of the d’Urbervilles. The further exploration of psychological problems and unconscious motivation is concentrated mainly in the characterisation of Sue. With Jude, Hardy takes very much further some of the ideas about the nature of a balanced personality and its relation to society which had arisen in the course of the creation of Tess. The pattern of Jude the Obscure is similar to the previous novels; “all is contrast — or was meant to be”,¹ and the central contrast is between well-balanced, resilient Jude and neurotic, vulnerable Sue. One of Hardy’s earlier ideas for a title — “The Malcontents” perhaps, or even “Hearts Insurgent” — would have more adequately conveyed the central concerns of the novel than the actual title, which is related more closely to the original conception of “a story about a young man who could not go to Oxford”;² this is not surprising since the final title was “one of the earliest thought of ”.⁴ The theme of thwarted hopes of education, though vitally important, is not central to the novel as it finally developed: “Christminster is of course a tragic influence in one sense, but innocently so and merely as a cross-obstruction”.⁴