Jude The Obscure Analysis

Thomas Hardy constructs a twisted web involving four characters in six marriages in his last novel Jude the Obscure. The controversial actions and philosophies of his female characters in this novel created such an outcry among readers that Hardy gave up novel writing forever. Both Arabella

Donn and Sue Bridehead shun traditional views of marriage as a lifelong commitment, but Arabella follows her physical desires and lust for excitement, while Sue is led by her conscience and social pressures.

Arabella is Hardy’s stereotypical sexual adventurer, but she crudely masquerades as a woman attempting to appease society’s accepted view of women. She is driven by her sexual impulses and, like

Eustacia Vye, frequently aligns herself with men for her own enjoyment and fulfillment. From her first introduction onward, she is “a complete and substantial female animal –no more, no less”s. Hardy inundates the meetings between Jude and Arabella with images of physical lust and desire

in order to show the reader that their relationship is purely sexual. In fact,

Arabella first attracts Jude’s attention by hitting him in the head with a pig’s penis Key words; Love, lust, selfishness, moral degradation.

This highly sexualized encounter likewise slaps the reader in the face with the woman’s true intentions with Jude. Arabella repeatedly creates dimples in her cheeks and eagerly flirts with Jude as a means of enticing him.

Heilman explains, “The ordinary coquette may tease and chill by plan,