Radical Versus Conservative

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) is a prolific British novelist and poet. He is a giant connecting literature from Victorian era to modern age. Hardy’s works serve as important literary texts for scholars all over the world for their abundant connotation and animation. Jude the Obscure published in1895is the most controversial novel as well as his last novel.This thesis will interpret Jude the Obscure from the perspective of ecofeminism, analyzing Hardy’s double attentions to women and nature. In the novel, women are naturalized as Sue is compared to a bird and Arabella’s image is related to a pig. On the other hand, nature is feminized as nature is bestowed with women’s characteristic——exquisite thoughts. Nature seems to know man’s psychological change and can respond to the change timely. Besides, the novel subverts male’s dominant place in patriarchal society. In the novel, the hero Jude depends on Arabella physically and depends on Sue psychologically. Jude also depends on Nature. However, Hardy still cannot get rid of patriarchal ideology. No matter how learned and independent Sue is at first, she finally submits to the fate and traditional mores. She compels herself to return to Phillotson and becomes a victim of Victorian age. Thus Sue is not a complete new woman. Hardy loves nature. He cherishes the memory of rural past and resents the damage to nature by modern industrial civilization. But Hardy thinks human beings benefit from the development of modern industrial civilization. For example, in the novel, railway and train shorten the distance between the villages and it is more convenient for people to travel about. So Hardy emphasizes the instrumental value of nature and he just shows regret to the damage to nature. At last, the thesis draws the conclusion that Hardy is conservative as well as radical towards women and nature. Hardy is a vanguard writer with feminist and ecological consciousness.