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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
An 8 page paper on Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure. The writer argues that Hardy found both the old paradigm regarding marriage and the new emerging paradigm were flawed. His naturalistic approach does not offer a solution, but rather finds both versions of marriage to be terribly flawed. In particular, the context of the novel argues that the new ideas concerning marriage, as well as the changing society of the time, left people adrift with no clear anchor on which to base their lives. Bibliography lists 6 sources.
Page Count:
8 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khthjude.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
were still in their formative stages. Hardys presentation of marriage in Jude the Obscure has often been pictured in criticism within the context of this time. However,
the majority of analysts have pictured it as a critique of marriage, a narrative that demonstrates the drastic need for reform of the Victorian convention of marriage. This perspective is
true; however, Hardys naturalistic approach to fiction also demanded that he show the whole picture, which meant that he dramatize the fact that the new ideas, the so-called "New Woman"
of the era and the changing paradigm in regards to marriage was also flawed. What emerges are male and female characters who have no grounding on which to base their
identities, no clear relationship to the past and, therefore, no clear idea of how to build their future. This is the orientation that produces their downfall. The protagonists of
this work, Sue and Jude, each attempt to discern new values with which to guide their lives. In presenting their search, Hardy demonstrates that the "modern" orientation being formulated in
his era did not successfully replace the values of the past. Although Sue and Jude try to establish a relationship outside of traditional marriage, they eventually return to their original
spouses, battered and emotionally wasted by the trauma of their loss of their children. While Sue, perhaps, takes on too much of the share of guilt over the actions of
Judes child by Arabella, whom they refer to as Little Father Time, it is also true that the boy reacted to the social situation in which he found himself. Had
the serious little boy been raised within a traditional family framework, he would undoubtedly have been more content. Therefore, it can be seen that Hardy is critical not only of
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