Jude the Obscure: Infinite Sorrow and Incomplete Desires

https://the-artifice.com/jude-the-obscure-study/




Thomas Hardy published his last novel Jude the Obscure in 1895. Originally, the novel appeared serialized in Harper’s New Monthly as The Simpletons and Enduring Hearts. The novel met with public outrage due to its dark themes, so Hardy never wrote another novel. Prior to the publication of Jude the Obscure, Hardy wrote several other novels including The Mayor of Casterbridge and Tess of the D’Urbervilles. His novels depicted characters struggling against their passions and social conventions: a “conflict between flesh and spirit” (King). Although many people argued that Hardy depicted a harsh and cruel portrayal of society, Hardy presented a more realistic, albeit brutally, and honest depiction of Victorian society.