Jude the obscure

             'Jude the Obscure' is novel by Thomas Hardy, which began as a magazine serial in December 1894 and was first published in book from in 1895. It is Hardy's last completed novel.

                     'Jude the obscure' , it is a very interesting story of working class young man, Jude Fawley . He is a stonemason, who dreams of becoming a scholar. The other main character is his cousin, Sue Bridehead, who is also his centeral love interest.

                   The novel is concerned in particular with issues of class , education, religion, morality and marriage.

                 Here I am going to present my little thinking activity on  'Jude the obscure'...

1. Do you think that Sue Bridehead is new woman? 

                 Sue Bridehead is the protagonist character of the novel . Thomas Hardy presented her character differently who take a place as a main character. Because she is a stronger,more complex and more significant. She is the first female feminist who has been described in novel. She is intelligent and free spirited.

                Sue is representative character as the new woman is to be found in her two great reservation around which the plot of the novel resolves- first, her denial of sex and- second, her strong misgivings sexual intercourse with him. She marries Phillotson but she refuses to have sexual intercourse with him.  She is a woman of nineteenth century who has given more freedom to herself than she knows how to handle. She wants to believe that she is free to establish a new sort of relationship with men.

               Above all qualities make her ' a new woman '  , the all qualities of Sue Bridehead's character described her as a new woman.

2.  According to you what is difference between Sue Bridehead and Arabella Donn?

                

                 Sue Bridehead and Arabella Donn ,  both the female characters of the Hardy's novel 'Jude the obscure' . They both female are connected with the same protagonist character of the novel, Jude Fawley.

                Sue is a pretty, liquideyed light footed young woman. And Arabella Donn was quite different.

               Let's look on the difference aspects of two woman of the novel.

- Sue Bridehead :

                                 Sue Bridehead is the other main character of the novel. She is Jude's cousin. She is very intellectual, well read, spoken and high minded woman. She is pretty, liquid eyes, light- footed young woman. Her mind, her education , her conventional beliefs and especially her insistence on these beliefs impress Jude.

                   Sue married with Phillotson, twenty year older than her. She is not happy in her married life and then she live with Jude without marriage. She does not like any sexual relations. She becomes mother of two children by Jude. After some time she shows death of his child and she thinks that God gives her punishment for her sing and she decided to go back to her ex-husband Phillotson with whom she remarries. In this way we find her strange beliefs towards the marriage.

- Arabella Donn : 

                               Arabella Donn is Jude's first wife. Who is the daughter of a Pig farmar. She is vain and sensual woman. She is also the least ambitious though what she wants she pursues with determination and enterprise. What she is after a simple enough, a man who will satisfy her and who will provide the comforts and same of the luxurious of life.

                She is attractive in overblown way, good humared , practical, uneducated of course but shrewd, cunning and tenacious . She is common in her tastes and interest. She is capable of understanding a good deal in emotional life of other people especially women, as shown on several occasions with Sue. She believes that a woman can not survive on her own because she needs a husband to take that responsibility.

                 Thus, Sue and Arabella are just not contrasting in their appearance but they have oppositional ideas, beliefs and attitudes towards life. There fore they lead their live under different circumstances and get different social recognition.

3. Did we find any difference between Indian marriage system and Victorian marriage system? 

                   India is the culture country. India follows the rules and regulations of society, customer, religion etc. Victorian age is the time in which reign of queen victoria, it's totally different from India and it's custom. It's tell about the Britain which is contrasting with Indian culture.

     

-- Indian marriages :

                                       Indian marriages are totally based on custom and religion. There are also some superstition relate with it. In ancient time we can see child marriage and dowry system in India. But nowadays that things not happen. Arrange marriage are comments in Indiana society from vedic Era and still it is viewd in maximum Indian family. Parents play an important role for their child's marriage.

                 The family expresses thier criteria for a good match to the matchmaker which is usually heavily influenced by the personal preference for the child but also includes family consideration. Which includes,, 1. Religion & cast , 2. Family status, 3. Education, 4. Age, 5. Profession, 6. Looks and physical attributes.

                Some people are against of these marriage system. According to them marriage is a system of completions of girl's and boy's mind fillings to each other. They provide value of love marriage and offer freedom of their child to choose their life partner.

-- Victorian marriages : 

                                         In Victorian age marriage was at the center of every day lives and its influence extended to all corners of life and was the basic on which victorian society was established. In the Victorian Era there were rules to follow about marriage. There was a " marriage season"  where many relationship had been put in place with a plan to the future in which was beginning a serious journey with marriage being the ultimate goal.

                  Until 1823 the legal age in England for marriage was 21 years for men and women although after 1823 male coupe marry as young as 14 without parental consent and a girl at 12. Marriage was also only between one class so they couldn't mary down at class or upper class.

             In place of lower classes, the upper class marriage, the wife often brought a generous dowry and enti cement for the marriage. Their marriage done in the stept courtship, engagement and wedding.

            In this way there are we find some differences and a little similarities between Indian marriage system and Victorian marriage system.

4. Make a comparison between this two character on the ground of new woman concept? Sue Bridehead V/S  Bathsaheba Everdene.

                   Hardy put female characters in this novel. The touchsone of a novelist's power is his handling of his female characters and Hardy is a specialist in the field. In the Hardy's novel woman characters are normal, everyday woman with ordinary and traditional goals. Here, we concern with Hardy's two female character Sue and Bathsheba.

-- Sue Bridehead : 

                                Sue Bridehead is a main character of the Hardy's novel'Jude the obscure' . Sue is a very intellectual, indipendent woman who takes all decisions by her ownself. She is also a woman of nineteenth century woman who has given herself more freedom than she knows how to handle. 

               Sue Bridehead is the character which can not be accepted simply. Sue is the most complex female character. She believes that she is a free to establish a new sort of relationship to men. So, she lives with Jude without having marriage. She has two children by Jude. At the time she shows her child's death and she believes that God gives her punishment for her sins. Sue's own liberty make her as a new woman.

-- Bathsheba Everden :

                                       Bathsheba Everden, beautiful young woman at the center of the Hardy's novel  'Far from the Madding Crowd'. Bathsheba is a rich, ripe character. She stands at the center of the novel as the object of three men's attention. She is somewhat a mixture and Sue Bridehead a country girl with a huge amount of spirit, indipendence and intelligent woman. Bathsheba Everden is a proudy and egoistic woman. She married three time. She first rejected the proposal of Gabriel Oak.

                The both woman character are shown the Victorian Era. The both characters has own beliefs about marriage. Hardy shown us Victorian times women are indipendent.

5. Watch this given video and share your views on it. At what extent you are agree or disagree ? Why ?

   

                       IPS section 497 says it is a punishment offerse for a man to have sexual intercourse with a marriage woman without the consent of her husband. In 2018 , the supreme court gave the judgement that section 497 of the Indian penal code is unconstitutional and hence.

                  I am totally disagree with this act. Because India is a cultural country. It believes that Indian marriages are based on trust and family welfare. Parents played a vital role and with all family members agreement marriage can be considered. But this act take a right of parents and also harm the custom of India. Marriage are considered as a holy things.

               It also increase crimes in India. It also affect social life of our country. Relationship of two persons lost the faith into each other. Because marriage are just not based on sexual relations, it should be expressed great faith into relationship from both side. But the act affected this trustworthy relationship.

              Looking from my thinking that act related to not right because without marriages one can not live with each other. It is a biggest crime in India. It spoils the holy marriage and traditions of marriage system in India.