Jude the Obscure, by Thomas Hardy
I love Thomas Hardy. Whenever I read his novels, I am impressed by their ripping plotlines (always so much scandal, and guaranteed shocking twists), I relish his criticism of society (often with feminist leanings too - very ahead of his time), I enjoy his beautiful language (some of my favourite ever imagery, and an absolute cornucopia of interesting words), and I am always touched by how much he makes us care for the characters (which is why 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles' nearly made me cry, and 'Far From the Madding Crowd' was almost impossible to put down). And my verdict about 'Jude the Obscure' is that it was pretty damn good at all but one of the above.
As for a ripping plotline replete with scandal and shocking twists, 'Jude the Obscure' definitely ticked that box. Right from the off it was brimming with romance, deception and the ever-looming and entrapping presence of social convention. Within the first few chapters there had already been a reveal so surprising it made me gasp aloud (I was reading on public transport, and this earnt me a funny look from the passenger next to me). Hardy's characteristic outrageousness seemed to be magnified in this novel, which unfolded into a tangled and complicated love polygon (not a love triangle, there were too many parties involved), complete with cheating, seduction, bigamy, attempted suicide, a love potion, someone getting married whilst drunk out of their senses... It was quite the ride.
The criticism of society was second to none. One subplot to the romance (a subplot, but still pretty crucial) was that of protagonist Jude's desire to study at Christminster, which is Hardy's fictional representation of Oxford University. Jude's romanticisation of the city, and dream of being a scholar there, is a current running throughout the novel - but tragically it proves to be an impossibility. Jude is continually snubbed. In spite of his hard work and academic drive, he can't shake off his working class status. This was an outright criticism of the class system of Hardy's era, and the lack of social mobility which meant the lower classes were denied a proper education. Amazingly, I have since found out that this novel was the driving force behind the foundation of an Oxford college for working class students in 1899 - see how powerful literature can be for promoting social change!
But although the class and education system was challenged here, the main institution Hardy was attacking in this novel was the institution of marriage. This is a theme I have found to be prevalent in Hardy's poetry (see my post A Wife and Another) and I was fascinated to see how the same ideas from his poems were magnified and expanded into the scale of a novel. 'Jude the Obscure' features a number of failed marriages where the characters are largely bound to each other by duty and social propriety; the most loving and seemingly natural romantic relationship is between Jude and Sue who are not married to one another. The problem is that society endorses the loveless legal unions, and condemns Jude and Sue's partnership (condemns it to the extent that their lives are ruined) - and all the way through, Hardy is asking is this right?
I thought Hardy's best way of exposing the flaws in this system was through his presentation of the two main female characters, Sue and Arabella. They are constructed as diametric opposites of each other. Sue is intelligent, quiet, petite and slight in appearance, and begins the novel as a self-supporting woman who has no intention of committing to a relationship (she is actually repulsed by men). Arabella is a vivacious and earthy pub landlady with enormous bosoms in which she conceals a number of items throughout the book, and begins the novel flirting with Jude by throwing a pig's penis at his head (questionable method, but it worked)!! Both of these women end up being undone by a society that traps them in their terrible marriages. And if neither of these completely disparate characters can survive in Victorian society, well, what does that suggest about Victorian society?
Hardy's use of language was, of course, fantastic. So the only thing from my checklist of Thomas-Hardy-book-features where 'Jude the Obscure' just missed the mark... was making us care for the characters. You see, the relationship that we as readers were supposed to be completely in favour of was the one between Jude and Sue. This was the love we were meant to be rooting for, and their struggles were supposed to be painful for us to read. But. Jude and Sue were cousins. And in this day and age, that's completely off-limits. It was unconventional in Hardy's time too, but not quite taboo enough to stop them from getting together. And unfortunately, I could never quite look past the fact that Jude and Sue were close family, and could never fully get behind their romance. Unlike in 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles', where I was so invested in Tess and Angel that I found their break-up extremely moving, Jude and Sue didn't quite have the same resonance.
So overall, this was a great book, and Hardy lived up to the high standard he set in his other novels. But it didn't move me as much as some of his others, so I can conclude it wasn't my favourite Hardy.