The Analysis Of The Androgynous Phenomenon In Jude The Obscure

Thomas Hardy is a famous English writer in the history of English literature,and he creates a number of great works in his life.Jude the Obscure is Hardy’s last novel,which describes the tragedy of Jude and Sue in a kind of tragic tone.Among the previous researches of this work,researchers give most of attention to modernism factors,critical realism features or theme of tragedy.Although there have been researches from the perspective of feminism,researches from the perspective of androgyny are rare.The thesis aims to explore the androgynous phenomenon in Jude the Obscure and the limitations to the final realization of it.Two problems that androgyny aims to solve are “ how to be a woman” and “ the relationship between independence and antagonism”.The traditional feminists think that a woman should be an independent “free man” who does not have to be attached to men.They should clear the requirements that have been consciously succumbed to them by men,realizing that they are no longer “the other”.On the basis of this,Woolf advocates that women should not become the opposite of males against the oppression of male power,and should not be above men.She firmly believes that gender difference should be eradicated and the harmony between two genders can finally come true.In Jude the Obscure,Sue is a woman who tries to pursue women’s liberation and equality.She despises the systems of temporal religion and education and tries to withstand them.Another protagonist Arabella is a woman who dares to challenge the identity of “ the other”.Through the specific interpretation of the masculinity in these two female protagonists,it answers the first question of androgyny.The patriarchal society is an unequal society which restricts the proper rights of women and which regards women as “the other”.Sue and Arabella live in such a society,but they don’t succumb to the restrictions of the society and men.They obtain their liberation and equality through their arduous endeavor.In Jude the Obscure,the two male protagonists are different from the other men under the shade of patriarchy.Jude shows his kindness to women and animals.Another protagonist Philloston is also an androgynous man.He shows his respect and sympathy to Sue,giving her the right to pursue her marriage liberation.It answers the second question of androgyny.The independence of women does not mean the antagonism of two genders.Men and women can live harmoniously if their minds are androgynous.However,it is just a perfect dream that androgyny can come true one day in the patriarchal society because of the patriarchal bondage to the protagonists and Hardy.Jude and Sue’s tragic marriage is an example of the failure of the androgynous ideal in Jude the Obscure,but the influence of the androgynous phenomenon in Jude the Obscure still can be seen.First,there still exist such phenomena that women are discriminated and harmed,although women have obtained relatively higher status and rights in the temporal society.Women should recognize they have the equal status to men not “the other”,and they have the rights to pursue their economic independence,occupation,marriage liberation and be themselves.Second,women and men should live together harmoniously.On certain occasions,men and women are both sufferers of the patriarchal society,so they should eliminate the bondage of patriarchal limitations together.