The Tragedy Of Frustration: A Study Of Thomas Hardy’s Jude The Obscure

Jude the obscure is Thomas Hardy’s last long tragic novel,and the characters’ tragic fate is often attributed to the brutal Victorian social context,such as religion,superstition,marriage,educational inequality,and class prejudice.However,such an analysis is often done to the neglect of other elements,including the relationship of the characters,the psychology of personality and Hardy’s creative art.The two groups of characters presented in the novel are in the same social background.When they encounter difficulties and setbacks,they have different destinies because of their different attitudes and different responses to their plights.Whereas the painful tragedy finally befalls Jude and Sue,Arabella and Phillotson can readily find a way out and extricate themselves from their own predicament.The latter two behave calmly in front of each dilemma and resolutely choose the way to solve the problem.This shows that the fate of the characters depends largely on themselves,rather than the objective external environment.This paper utilizes Albert Ellis’ s ABC theory of frustration to argue that the tragedy of Jude the Obscure lies in the beliefs and choices of the characters,rather than the relevant stressing events or the societal norms;while Hardy faces up to the worst of the reality,he also implies the immense possibilities and hopes for his characters in their autonomous choices of their destiny.In this study,the investigation of the determined factors of the two groups of characters’ destinies centers on the individual’s psychological reaction and their views on the setback events,and the conclusion is drawn that the tragedy of the characters is not entirely caused by the society,but by the characters’ ideas and views which are vitally interrelated factors and play a decisive role in Jude’s and Sue’s disastrous endings.The findings of this study are as followings:1)Jude’s and Sue’s tragedy is caused by their own frustration;2)Phillotson and Arabella settle for the second-best,they are disappointed but not desperate,in which Hardy conveys an optimistic guidance for dealing with misfortunes;3)Sue’s irrational beliefs of distressing events cause both Jude’s death and a meaningless life that she later lives.