Jude the Obscure

The characters in Jude the Obscure embody the struggle against societal constraints, despite their inherent goodness and moral integrity. Jude Fawley, Richard Phillotson, and Sue Bridehead all demonstrate kindness, compassion, and a sense of justice. However, they find themselves ostracized and punished for defying conventions.

For Jude, that struggle first emerges as an attempt to rise out of his class status and pursue an education in Christminster. Although most of the wise people in his life tell him that the place is not for people like him, Jude sets his sights on the distant city and teaches himself the subjects that he knows he will need to master to gain entry. The tragedy of this struggle, particularly in the early chapters, is that Jude does not know the enormity of the constraints he is trying to fight. Believing obstinately in personal merit, he cannot imagine that where he learned Greek and Latin will matter more than the fact that he has learned them. Jude’s intellect means that he almost immediately becomes aware of his predicament when he gets to Christminster; even so, it takes the direct rejection from the Master of Biblioll College for him to internalize the message. Jude’s other struggles against social constraints—particularly those involving marriage—take a similar form. His problem tends to be that he gets himself into an irrevocable situation, such as the connection with Arabella, before he realizes what he has done, so he continuously underestimates the difficulties he will face.

Because of her gender, Sue’s struggle against constraint is more complex. Her personal ideals about attachment and morality make it impossible for her to agree to take actions for the sake of appearances or social respectability. She finds it difficult to even comprehend the thought: “I can’t bear that they, and everybody, should think people wicked because they may have chosen to live their own way! It is really these opinions that make the best intentioned people reckless, and actually become immoral” (246). Unfortunately, this is exactly what happens to Sue, and no amount of rectitude can make up for her refusal to go against her own principles, when those principles are themselves in conflict with social requirements.

Phillotson offers another example of a struggle against social constraints, though he engages in it more reluctantly. Unlike Jude and Sue, who are condemned for their unconventional lifestyle, Phillotson faces severe repercussions simply for allowing his wife to pursue her own happiness. Accepting that Sue cannot endure their marriage, he allows her to leave. However, this decision proves detrimental to his career as he is pressured to resign from his teaching position. Gillingham, Phillotson’s friend, tries to argue the school’s position, “they have to consider what you did as done by a teacher of youth—and its effects as such upon the morals of the town; and to ordinary opinion, your position is indefensible” (203). Phillotson counters, “I don’t care […]. I don’t go unless I am turned out. And for this reason; that by resigning I acknowledge that I have acted wrongly by her; when I am more convinced every day that in the sight of Heaven and by all natural, straightforward humanity, I have acted rightly” (203). Phillotson ends up losing the position and struggles to gain any new employment in the wake of the scandal. Years later, he tells Arabella, “I am convinced I did only what was right, and just, and moral. I have suffered for my act and opinions, but I hold to them; though her loss was a loss to me in more ways than one” (258). Despite defending his actions as morally just, Phillotson suffers professional setbacks and financial hardship, highlighting the harsh consequences of societal judgment.