An Interpretation Of Jude’s Anxiety From Neurosis Theory

Thomas Hardy is regarded as one of the most renowned British novelist and poet as famous as Dickens and Shakespeare.He is a writer who spans two centuries and inherits and promotes the literary tradition of the Victorian era.It also combines modern consciousness and modern sentiment with its own unique creative mode,and becomes a bridge in British literature.Jude the Obscure was published in 1896 and was the last novel of Hardy.Jude the Obscure is one of Hardy most meaningful and recognized works,and is also one of the most controversial works.The work has a distinct sense of the times.It mainly displays and criticizes the shortcomings of the society in the middle and late Victorian era.It is rich in content and covers all aspects of the life of the people.It profoundly and vividly describes the state of society and people’s life at that time,especially family,marriage and education system.This thesis adopts Karen Horney’s theory of neurosis to interpret the performance and causes of the protagonist’s anxiety in Jude the Obscure and his methods of eliminating anxiety.In addition to the introduction and conclusion,this thesis is divided into four chapters.The introduction presents the life of Thomas Hardy and the main content of the novel Jude the Obscure,it also summarizes the literature review both at home and aboard for the research results and current status of Thomas Hardy and Jude the Obscure,as well as the arguments of this thesis.The chapter one is the theoretical foundation,mainly discussing Horney and her theory of neurosis.Outline her main theoretical perspectives,namely basic anxiety,culture and neurosis,and the defensive strategies.The chapter two analyzes the performance of the anxiety dilemma of Jude neurosis.They are manifested in the pursuit of education and career,and the anxiety that Jude showed in two marriages.The chapter three expounds the root of the anxiety of Jude’s neurosis.One is that the social and cultural factors and the other is individual factors emphasized by Horney have led to the formation of the basic anxiety of Jude.It is reflected in the helplessness of the Victorian background of marriage and the background of education,as well as the cowardly character created by Jude’s living environment.The chapter four explores the resistance of Jude to neurosis anxiety,which is the interpersonal defensive strategies and intrapsychic defensive strategies.In terms of interpersonal defense strategies,Jude is moving towards to others because of his sense of security;he is moving away from the crowd because of his fear of others.In the intrapsychic defensive strategies,Jude breaks away from the bondage in the pursuit of education and love,lives according to his own ideas,and eventually does not get anything.The longing for life that he is striving for is ending in tragedy.Driven by these measures,the state of anxiety has been broken.The conclusion is that the last part of this thesis is a summary and overview of this thesis.In some respects,Jude,the protagonist of Jude the Obscure,is a mapping of Hardy to society,and reflects Hardy’s attitudes,opinions and ideas.Hardy is through the confusion and dislocation of the protagonist Jude in Jude the Obscure,which further highlights the contradictions and conflicts of this life,thus giving Jude’s tragic fate more profound connotations.