Thinking Activity- Jude the Obscure

 This Blog is Written in response to the thinking activity given on the Thomas Hardy's Novel Jude The Obscure by Professor Dilip Barad  Sir at the department of English, MKBU.

Jude the Obscure’ as a Bildungsroman Novel

Thomas Hardy

One of the most renowned poets and novelists in English literary history, Thomas Hardy was born in 1840 in the English village of Higher Bockhampton in the county of Dorset. He died in 1928 at Max Gate, a house he built for himself and his first wife, Emma Lavinia Gifford, in Dorchester, a few miles from his birthplace. Hardy’s youth was influenced by the musicality of his father, a stonemason and fiddler, and his mother, Jemima Hand Hardy, often described as the real guiding star of Hardy’s early life.

Hardy’s long career spanned the Victorian and the modern eras. He described himself in “In Tenebris II” as a poet

       “who holds that if way to the Better there be, it exacts a full look at the Worst”

and during his nearly 88 years he lived through too many upheaval including 'World War I'to have become optimistic with age. Nor did he seem by nature to be cheerful: much of the criticism around his work concerns its existentially bleak outlook, and, especially during Hardy’s own time, sexual themes. Incredibly prolific, Hardy wrote fourteen novels, three volumes of short stories, and several poems between the years 1871 and 1897. Hardy’s great novels, including 'Tess of the D’Urbervilles' (1891) and 'Jude the Obscure' (1895), were all published during this period. They both received negative reviews, which may have led Hardy to abandoning fiction to write poetry.

What is Bildungsroman Novel?

A Bildungsroman is a literary term describing a formative novel about a protagonist’s psychological and moral growth from their youth into adulthood. Bildungsroman novels are generally written in the first-person and often feature the name of the protagonist directly in the title, just like the present novel Jude the Obscure.

The Bildungsroman literary genre originated in Germany. The German word “bildung” means education” and the German word “roman” means “novel.” Thus, “Bildungsroman” translates to “a novel of education” or “a novel of formation.”

A Bildungsroman centers on the main character’s transformation to reach maturity. Here’s how the plot generally unfolds:

• Loss: The protagonist experiences a profound emotional loss at the beginning of the story, typically during their childhood or adolescent formative years.
• Journey: Inspired by their loss, the protagonist sets out on a journey, either physical or metaphorical, to find the answer to a big question and gain life experience that will help them better understand the world.
• Conflict and personal growth: The protagonist’s path toward maturity is not an easy one. They make mistakes and are usually at odds with society. But as the story continues, the protagonist slowly accepts the ideals of society and society accepts them back.
• Maturity: The protagonist demonstrates immense psychological growth, change, and maturity by the end of the novel. The story sometimes ends with them giving back and helping someone else on the path to maturity.

For example,

  Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (1861): Tells the story of an orphan named Pip who comes into money, leaves his life of poverty, and starts over living the life of a gentleman. The novel follows his personal growth and development over the course of decades.

Jude the Obscure As Bildungsroman Novel.

Jude the Obscure follows the trajectory of a Bildungsroman in being a story about the growth, journey, and maturity of a central male character, starting in his youth, when he is on the brink of adult life. We see Jude learn and grow from a bad marriage, and we see this humble young man's yearning for a university education. When he is encouraged by his teacher, Phillotson, who gets to go to Christminster (based on Oxford) to study, and when Jude sees the glimmering lights of Christminster one evening, he thinks these are signs that he is fated to get the education he dreams of. So far, we are in the realm of the conventional Bildungsroman and, as readers, rooting for the sensitive and intelligent Jude to pursue his dreams and find success.

Jude does go to Christminster, but here is where Hardy turns the conventional Bildungsroman on its head. God is not watching over Jude, because in Hardy's naturalistic worldview, there is no god, only a relentless nature that doesn't care about the fate of individual humans. Jude does not follow the traditional success path of a typical Bildungsroman but deviates from common morality when he lives with Sue (as he is still married to Arabella) and meets with failure and tragedy.

Comparison of Jude the Obscure and The Great Expectetion as Bildungsroman Novels

Typically, Bildungsroman novels explore the developing maturity, and psychological and moral growth, of their protagonists, thus Jude the Obscure, and Great Expectations, novels that focus their narratives purely on the protagonist's development could be seen as conforming to this particular format. Whereas Dickens' protagonist, Pip does seem to improve morally, this doesn't seem to be the case with Hardy's character, Jude, who has the same beliefs and convictions for the entirety of the novel. Despite this, neither Pip nor Jude are able to socially advance regardless of their efforts due to the fixed class system in place during the Victorian era. Education opportunities, career development and social progress were restricted during this time, hence both Pip and Jude, despite their determination to become educated, face many difficulties. Jude s and Pip s struggle is worsened by their lack of familial stability both being orphaned children. With the emergence of social reform and Fabianism during this time, many writers including Dickens, explored the social hardship of the 19th century and constructed characters that resist the oppression they face in order to subvert the social hierarchy. However, on the contrary, Hardy's passive acceptance of the inevitability of the class system is portrayed through his fatalistic novels.

Both protagonists experience factors that encourage their aspirations-for example, the schoolmaster, Mr Philloston, whom Jude is especially fond of, leaves to go to Christminister and Pip wishes to become a part of the high society to which Estella belongs. 

Jude s initial move to overcome social restrictions is through educational pursuit rather than entrepreneurship which is arguably more challenging. Jude approaches the Physician Vilbert, a member of the bourgeoisie, who exploits the ignorance of peasants by selling them fake cures to diseases, to ask him for Latin and Greek grammar sheets.

Unlike Jude, Pip is taught basic skills in Mr Wopsle's School which impresses his naive uncle Joe, due to his own complete illiteracy. Pip however is not satisfied with his low standard of education due to his great expectations which can be seen as ironic these expectations are futile and unattainable ones. 

The female characters in the novels are also depicted as barriers to the protagonist's social elevation. An example is the profound effect that Estella has on Pip s character causing him to acquire elitist attitudes in comparison to his previous unprejudiced outlook when helping the convict, Magwitch.

On the other hand, Arabella, a local farm girl, ensnares Jude into marrying her, thus limiting him to his social class.

The moral decline that wealth and prosperity leads to is apparent in Great Expectations when Pip neglects his origins and disowns his humble family, thus Dickens is critical towards both the self-made man and the aristocracy. To have a good chance of being one of his country's worth a man should be as cold-blooded as a fish and as selfish as a pig. This implies that characters face a dilemma between being successful and heartless or grounded and humble.

In conclusion, Dickens and Hardy both arguably use their novels to display the futility of attempts at social progression during the conservative Victorian Era, in order to both satirise and critique the class system and show social advancement as both illusory and unattainable. However, Dickens stimulates hope for his protagonist, Pip who manages to climb the wall enough so that he could hold on long enough to have a look over it whereas Hardy presents Jude as less successful in accepting that he will not be able to climb the wall, thus embracing his fate and his working class status.

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