An Interpretation Of The Tragic Consciousness In Hardy's Jude The Obscure

Thomas Hardy is regarded as an internationally eminent novelist. Jude the Obscure is his last novel, but is also the finest, being called"Swan song". The novel discusses many conflicts in human activities, such as love and marriage, and sexual relations, career and love. The most striking part it gives readers is the tragic fate of the main characters. The thesis attempts to analyze the tragic reasons for the novel. It aims to give a theoretical analysis of the novel from the perspective of the tragic theory and research the reasons why the protagonists end in tragic results to find out the meaning and value of the novel.Thomas Hardy is one of the famous English critical realists. Tess of The D'urberville and Jude the Obscure are his masterwork. Foreign Scholars study Hardy's novel from the angle of environment and character, feminism .A lot of scholars in domestic gave a complete description of the novel's theme, feature and writing skills. Critics give comments on the novel from feminism, character or environment, psychological point of view .This thesis tries to analyze the tragic reason of the fiction. Tragedy first originated from the performance of the sacrifices-offering to God and ancestors. Aristotle gave a complete definition of the tragedy."Tragedy, then, is a representation of an action that is worth serious attention, complete in itself, and of some amplitude; presented in the form of action, not narration; by means of pity and fear bringing about purgation of such emotions". Tragedy makes people feel the beauty of sublime and grandeur and can arouse people's solemn feelings According to the Aristotle's tragic theory and the definition of the tragedy, the thesis discusses the tragic conflict, plot and tragic character presented in the fiction. Tragic conflict exists in the relationship between environment and the character, and the relationship in the human beings. The conflict between spirit and flesh is also interpreted. The author interprets the protagonists'deadly war waged between flesh and spirit. A unity of plot is achieved by Jude the Obscure. The reversal and the discovery are employed to achieve the best tragic effects. The author of the thesis also analyses the Jude's and Sue's tragic character. Jude and Sue are both kind, but in the same time, they are pessimistic and do not have the enough courage to meet the cruel society. The defects in their character lead them live a tragic fate.It seems that there exists some unknown force controlling people's fate in Hardy's novels. Hardy adopted a series of accidents to create a strong sense of fate. Hardy's novels are greatly influenced by fatalism. The fatalism and Hardy's personal experience can explain the fiction's tragic reason. Hardy had expressed his feeling in his works. He has an unhappy marriage and his unhappy marriage was cast on Jude's two miserable ones.Finally, the author comes to a conclusion: According to the Aristotle's tragic theory, the character flaws of the protagonists mainly accounts for their tragic fates, which is the vent of Hardy's unhappy marriage and the artistic revelation of the belief of fatalism. Jude the Obscure has far-reaching influence in modern society, which not only can arouse fear and pity, but also can bring us lesson and enlightenment. The unyielding struggle spirits and the noble personality of the protagonists shown when they face the tragic fate are worth learning for us. The tragic fates Jude and Sue meet make readers learn to think over human being's predicament and let them meet the facts and find the way out.