Biblical Archetypes Analysis Of Both Characters And Themes In Jude The Obscure

This thesis aims at analyzing the archetypal characters and themes in Jude the Obscure with Northrop Frye's archetypal critical theory.By reading literature and comparison analysis,the author reveals the death of the God at the time when characters cannot get rid of their tragic fate under the background of corrupted social system and religious beliefs.The author hopes to enrich the thoughts and explanation of biblical archetypes for Hardy's works and provide a more comprehensive perspective for the novel's research.This thesis falls into five chapters.The first chapter gives an introduction about Thomas Hardy and his novel Jude the Obscure,lists the literature review of both home and abroad and highlights the innovation of the thesis and then produces the objectives and organizations of the thesis.The second chapter narrates archetypal critical theory which consists of the origin,development and significance.Frazer and Jung make up the origin of this theory and it gains development from Frye and extends its forms and contents.The third chapter analyzes the archetypal characters mainly including Jude,Sue and Mr.Phillotson.Jude's archetype is Job in the Bible,because they share the similar characteristics,beliefs and experiences;Sue's archetype is Ishmael in the Bible for their parallel childhood,unfair treatment and rebellion against the society;Mr.Phillotson's archetype is Jesus in the Bible because of their common ideal,everlasting suffering and self-sacrifice.Although these three characters have much in common,they are confronted with different or even inverse endings.The fourth chapter deplores the archetypal themes such as quest,salvation and scapegoat.Moses's quest for the Promised Land succeeds through mountainous challenges while Jude's pursuit for career and love fails;people get salvation by Jesus's sacrifice but Sue cannot achieve redemption by embracing the God;Jude falls into a victim of the time.The last chapter comes to a conclusion which summarizes the main ideas,findings,and shortcomings of the thesis as well as pointing out what has to be improved.