Jude The Obscure- Thomas Hardy

This blog is in response to the blog task given to us by Dilip Barad sir based on the topic from Jude The Obscure by Thomas Hardy. In this blog I am going to deal with reading of prominent female characters i.e. Sue Bridehead and Arabella Donn.

 Female Characters of Jude The Obscure

Many female characters in Thomas Hardy’s novels clearly illustrate one of the Victorian stereotypes of women: the proper, submissive housewife or the rebellious, independent dreamer. Hardy does not demonstrate how women should be but rather how society pressures women to conform to the accepted image.Sue Bridehead, and Arabella Donn illustrate the stereotypical seductress, female characters of Jude The Obscure.

Thomas Hardy constructs a twisted web involving four characters in six marriages in his last novel Jude the Obscure. The controversial actions and philosophies of his female characters in this novel created such an outcry among readers that Hardy gave up novel writing forever. Both Arabella Donn and Sue Bridehead shun traditional views of marriage as a lifelong commitment, but Arabella follows her physical desires and lust for excitement, while Sue is led by her conscience and social pressures.

Arabella is Hardy’s stereotypical sexual adventurer, but she crudely masquerades as a woman attempting to appease society’s accepted view of women. She is driven by her sexual impulses, frequently aligns herself with men for her own enjoyment and fulfilment. Hardy inundates the meetings between Jude and Arabella with images of physical lust and desire in order to show the reader that their relationship is purely sexual. This highly sexualized encounter likewise slaps the reader in the face with the woman’s true intentions with Jude. Arabella repeatedly creates dimples in her cheeks and eagerly flirts with Jude as a means of enticing him. Because Jude has been ignorant of women and the world of love, he “is an easy victim” for Arabella’s temptations . He blindly falls into her sexual trap believing that she is pure and honourable, but really she is simply out to catch a husband to satisfy her physical lusts.

Once the courting begins, Arabella follows the advice of her friends, a clear sign of social pressures, and ensnares Jude in a sexual trap. She then claims that she is pregnant to compel him to marry her. Although Arabella claims she truly thought she was expecting a child, Because she knows Jude is “Honorable and serious-minded,” she feels confident he will adhere to social expectations and marry her. He does follow through with his responsibility and soon realizes that Arabella is shallow and purely sexual, but he attempts to focus on the hope of their union.

Hardy is also quick to demonstrate the lack of emotional intimacy between Jude and Arabella in their marriage, showing that sexual attraction is the primary motive. Jude is shocked when Arabella detaches a hairpiece and then explains that she bought it during her barmaid days in Aldbrickham, another unknown to the new husband.The couple’s opposing personalities again become evident in the pig-killing scene when Jude chooses to kill the pig quickly and mercifully, but Arabella is concerned only with profit and making her black-pot from the pig’s slow-draining blood. When Jude exclaims, “It is a hateful business!” at the bleeding of the pig, Arabella simply states, “Pigs must be killed.” Jude focuses on the animal’s pain, while Arabella sees only profit. Arabella have different views on the value and purpose of life, and their marriage suffers the consequences.

Arabella also shows a lack of sensitivity in her treatment of her son. She reveals Jude’s paternity via letter and announces that he must take their son because her parents no longer want him; leaving Jude little choice in the matter, the boy arrives the very next day. Her selfish motives are clear in her letter.When Arabella and Jude remarry, the same purpose and emotionless interactions exist. Arabella is lonely after the death of her second husband and is still physically attracted to Jude. She begins to play with Jude’s emotions in relation to Sue’s recent departure and remarriage.

The second female character in Jude the Obscure, Sue Bridehead, likewise goes against the morality of the time regarding marriage, but unlike Arabella, Sue struggles with her role as a woman. She first attempts to conform to the accepted role of housewife in her marriage to Richard Phillotson but realizes her charlatan ways and decides to live with her heart’s love, Jude. When the pressure from society becomes too much and her children are dead, Sue succumbs to her feelings of guilt and returns to her original marital arrangement. Hardy’s strongest comment on the impracticability of marriage lies within this one character. Sue shows her lack of desire to fulfil the angelic stereotype from the very beginning. Jude first sees her as fairly independent, working at a small shop engraving signs. Unlike Arabella, Sue does not possess a strong sense of passion. She is extremely sensitive to others’ emotions but lacks a strong romantic longing for men. Intellectually, Sue is the stereotypical dreamer. She treasures learning and purchases two naked statues of Greek gods that she then must hide to avoid embarrassment and chastisement, and she questions the traditional doctrines of the church and calls her statues her “patron-saints”. She is certainly unconventional in terms of the Victorian woman, but the ambiguity and innocence within her character draws readers closer to her than to Arabella.

Sue’s marriage to Phillotson also reveals much about her character and her struggle against following her heart and conforming to tradition. Sue decides to marry Phillotson shortly after Jude confesses his previous marriage to Arabella, leading the reader to believe she chooses Phillotson as a second choice or simply out of jealously for Jude’s secret past. Unlike Jude’s marriage to Arabella, this marriage is not based on physical attraction or lust but instead on personal gain and convenience. Neither she nor Phillotson ever mention love or physical attraction in their motives for marrying, perhaps displaying the Greek word phileo meaning brotherly love, as evident in Phillotson’s name. She sees only the mutual companionship and social advancement the relationship offers and disregards the physical consummation of the marriage. Clearly, the pair has no emotional ties to one another but simply enters into the marriage for comfort and social advancement.

Sue begins to demonstrate her repugnance so blatantly that Phillotson can be oblivious no longer. At one point, Sue sleeps in the small closet under the staircase in order to avoid sleeping in the same bed with him. When considering his wife’s circumstances, Phillotson seems hurt, yet amazingly compassionate. He seeks counsel from his friend Gillingham and decides to release Sue from the bond of marriage. When Sue returns to Phillotson after years of living with Jude, the second marriage carries on the same characteristics as the first. Sue is still repulsed by her husband, but she now feels she must force herself to adapt.

The bond between Jude and Sue rests primarily on their remarkable similarities. They are also both sensitive to the suffering of animals as they both awaken one night to the sound of a rabbit’s cry and both desire to put the animal out of its pain. Sue again echoes Jude’s sympathy for the birds in the farmer’s field when she frees her pet doves from the butcher’s cage. Phillotson also realizes the similarities between the two. Their compatibility lends itself to deep passion, and the scenes of greatest 54 emotion in the novel always involve this couple and contrast with the crude sensuality of Arabella and the forced compassion between Sue and Phillotson. Hardy’s disapproval of Sue’s return is evident in her inability to adapt to traditional marriage, and her attempt to become a more acceptable woman in the eyes of society could be why Jude earns the sympathy in the closing chapters instead of the leading woman.

Love and marriage are naturally assumed to coincide in Victorian England, but Hardy teaches his readers that this is not always the case. A couple such as Jude and Sue may genuinely love each other but not marry, while some couples fall into the marriage contract on different terms, as the other combinations demonstrate. While the legal marriages of Jude to Arabella and Phillotson to Sue are legitimate in the eyes of the law and society, they are shallow and even torturous. On the other hand, Jude’s “natural” marriage to Sue is based on mutual attraction and intimacy yet shunned by the world around them. Although clearly speaking out against the traditional sanctions of marriage, Hardy also demonstrates the ludicrous nature of defining women by their appearances and the faults of society in shunning or accepting women on the basis of their matrimonial status. Whereas Arabella often appears as a conventional woman by attempting to marry well and remain honourable, she is actually heartless and crude, driven only by sexual instincts. Sue, on the other hand, remains honest to herself and her emotions until the pressures of society weigh too heavily on her. Because Hardy portrays Sue as both the independent woman struggling to fit into society’s mold and the victim of society’s harsh requirements of women, Jude the Obscure is Hardy’s strongest statement against the stereotyping of women and the illogical and impractical expectations placed upon them.

[words- 1549]

Pride and Prejudice

Hello readers! This blog is written as our Classroom task, based on the Novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Here answers are given to some allotted questions which can be helpful to you for better understanding.

I am placing this video here so that you can get an idea of the story and can understand the answers better.

Which version of the novel is more appealing? Novel or film (adaptation)? Why? Or Compare the narrative strategy of novels and movies.
This novel undoubtedly belongs to the category of the best literary works of all time. The story has been transformed by many screenwriters and directors into film adaptations to bring the people of cinematic eras closer to the atmosphere of the Regency Era in England. A film adaptation is a type of derivative work, describing the transposition of a play, novel, or other literary source to film. A cinematic transfer is the most common practice of literary adaptation.
                                        

The first adaptation of Pride and Prejudice dates back to 1938. The screenplay from 1980 by Fay Weldon Pride and Prejudice directed by Cyril Coke, BBC, is worth noting among traditional adaptations. In this adaptation according to the viewer reviews on The Internet Movie Database the characters ‘are truer to the way they were written by Jane Austen.‘ The most successful adaptation of the 20th century is considered to be Pride and Prejudice directed by Simon Langton, BBC, 1995. Deborah Cartmell (2010a, p. 8) says that this six-part mini-series is mainly focused on Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy showing a different approach to the story that has always been presented as female-centered. The 2005 adaptation Pride and Prejudice, directed by Joe Wright has wagered on the celebrity status – of Keira Knightley as Elizabeth and Judi Dench as Lady Catherine and on intelligently chosen locations.

Joe Wright's 2005 adaptation Pride & Prejudice had more differences from the Jane Austen novel than just changing the time period, making the film more realistic and romantic in the process. One of the biggest changes Joe Wright made to Pride & Prejudice was changing the time period from 1813 to the 1790s.Wright changed the time period because he hated the look of the empire silhouette that was popular in the Regency Era. Keira Knightley's portrayal of Elizabeth Bennet is her best role, and is significantly feistier and more impassioned in Pride & Prejudice than in the original novel. While Knightley's Elizabeth grows apart from Jane over the course of the movie, the two actually become much closer in the book. In the Austen novel, the Bennet family might be down on their luck, but they're still a member of the landed gentry and retain some wealth and status. The Bennet family in Pride & Prejudice is portrayed as much poorer than their novel depiction, partially due to Joe Wright's shifting away from the formal portrayal of the Regency Era by putting the family home in a more rural setting. The Bennet sisters wear worn-out dresses that don't quite match, and the family home is in a state of clear disrepair. Pride & Prejudice also changed the characterization of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet to make them more sympathetic, turning Mr. Bennet into a loving and attentive father, and presenting Mrs. Bennet's machinations with understanding instead of scorn. The Bennet family might be chaotic, but in the film they're still close-knit and loving. Contrasting the clear financial difficulties of the Bennet family with the closeness and love between the sisters and their parents makes them much more relatable to contemporary audiences in the Joe Wright adaptation than the novel.

Part of the challenge of adapting Pride & Prejudice is condensing the novel into a movie. The 1995 BBC miniseries had the luxury of six episodes, and was able to tell the full story — but Joe Wright's adaptation pared the novel down to 127 minutes. However, that meant cutting several minor characters and condensing subplots into a single scene. Part of Joe Wright's approach in his Pride & Prejudice adaptation was turning a decidedly non-visual novel into a stunningly-designed film. The director emphasized romanticism with his visuals, accomplished by moving away from the formality of the Regency Era; as a result, one of the major changes made in the film was to Mr. Darcy's famous proposals. In the novel, Mr. Darcy proposes on the street in the middle of the day. While Jane Austen fans may concede that the changes make for a beautiful film, the approach to these scenes is more stylistically appropriate for Wuthering Heights than Pride & Prejudice.

The single biggest controversy from Pride & Prejudice was Joe Wright's decision not to end the movie with a wedding. Instead, the film ends with a sentimental scene between the now-married Darcy's, enjoying an intimate moment at Pemberley. That decision caused a major backlash from the Jane Austen Society of North America before its release, and the scene was removed from the British release of the film after complaints from the preview audiences.

Looking at these differences we can see that the novel is explaining the storyline in more detail which helps better understanding and holding the interest of a reader. So, in my view novels are better than film adaptations.


Character of Elizabeth

The twenty year-old Elizabeth, sometimes Lizzie, sometimes Eliza, is a most attractive young woman. Not only is she beautiful, with eyes that made her irresistible to Mr. Darcy, but she has an exceptional personality. She is high spirited but self-controlled, always guided by her good sense, which few of the other female characters in the novel have. She is self-assured, outspoken, and assertive, but never rude or aggressive. Elizabeth’s assertiveness and outspokenness would have shocked the readers of the novel when it first came out. Elizabeth Bennet challenges the expected gender norms of her time, particularly when compared with the other females in Pride and Prejudice. Elizabeth is willing to express her opinions wherever she is, without fear, and has the confidence openly to challenge the views of those of superior social standing.

Elizabeth also behaves in an unorthodox fashion in her approach to marriage, and in a society where a woman’s security depends on a good marriage, and in a family where for at least one of the daughters finding a husband is a matter of social and economic survival, refuses two advantageous proposals. Her rejection of Darcy, one of the richest men in England’s, first proposal, because she doesn’t like his character and finds the language of his proposal distasteful, is further evidence of her departure from gender norms. Her rejection of marriage on the basis of economic gain and insisting on happiness in marriage, which could only happen by marrying for love, is something those around her – even her father – do not understand, so far away from societal expectations is that idea. Throughout the novel, Elizabeth is faced with many challenges pertaining to her sex and social rank, within a British patriarchy and perhaps, in creating Elizabeth Bennet, Jane Austen has given us English literature’s first feminist.

Her confidence in her own judgment is the thing that leads her to make some almost terminal mistakes and it’s only because of her ability to step back and honestly assess her own behavior that she finally wins through.

In Elizabeth Bennet, Jane Austen has given the world an immortal fictional character, one that we can almost mistake for a real person, in the same way as Shakespeare and Dickens did with some of their characters.


Character of Mr. Darcy

Fitzwilliam Darcy is a very arrogant man of England's upper crust. He is lord of Pemberley, an expensive estate located in the county of Derbyshire. He is fairly tall and handsome, but his demeanor is unfriendly, aloof, and unapproachable.

He has a sister, Georgiana, who adores him, and the feeling is mutual. It seems safe to assume that Darcy is a private man and that his upbringing has highly influenced his opinions of those around him. He is arrogant almost without knowing it, such has been the entitled world he has known.

His ideal of nobility makes Darcy truly change in the novel. When Elizabeth flatly turns down his marriage proposal and tells him that it was ungentlemanly, Darcy is startled into realizing just how arrogant and assuming he has been. In short, Jane Austen sketches Mr. Darcy as the second best character. We know the real Darcy when his tenant defends him or when we know that he saved the Bennet family from disgrace. Thus, Mr. Darcy may not be a perfect person but his character development reveals Jane Austen’s strong art of characterization.


Give illustrations of the society of that time.
The clothing styles reflect the time the illustration was engraved (the 1830s), not the time in which the novel was written or set. Pride and prejudice by Austen's is a detailed portrayal of the social atmosphere of late 18th and early 19th century England and it is principally concerned with all social aspects of English gentry. Marriage was then considered as the way of a woman's security and also it paved the way for a woman to gain property. Austen contains vivid and realistic pictures of the social life of her time -the conventions, the manners, and the mode of living of that time and which are depicted in the novel in a most graphic manner. In the novel we see that money, marriage and the security of a woman are very interrelated. In pride and prejudice, we see that money is essential to begin a marriage.

Here we see that Mrs. Bennet always thinks about their daughters' marriage. "The business of her life was to get her daughters married "and she thinks that could fetch her daughter's wealthy and high status husbands; so marriage becomes a straight and quick way to change their situation. Charlotte Lucas, whose pragmatic views on marrying are voiced several times in the novel: "Without thinking highly either of men or of matrimony, marriage had always been her object; it was the only honorable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want."

Prejudice is another picture in society. Elizabeth was disgusted at Darcy's behavior and formed a prejudice against him. Elizabeth concerns a dislike for Mr. Darcy when she overhears his remark that she is not beautiful enough to dance with him. Her prejudices were increased when Wick ham made a long take of his grievances against Mr. Darcy; she believed every word which Mr. Wickham had said. Her dislike of Mr. Darcy now hardens into hatred due to a prejudice which Mr. Wickham's account was created in her mind. Darcy's cold arrogance and snobbery prejudiced her from him from the beginning and it took Elizabeth a lot longer time to overcome her prejudice.

In the novel, Austen portrays the women's low status and the reasons for women's low status. But they in the novel didn't try to strive for their rights; they thought little of their status. No right of inheritance, such is particularly the case of the Bennet's, a family of five daughters whose father's estate is entailed to a distant relative because women do not have the right to possess his father's property. After Mr. After Bennett's death, they will lose home, land, and income, everything else. Money played in determining a woman's daily life, marriage and destiny.

The women in Austen's age lived in a patriarchal society ,a world in which men held all the advantage. Women could not entail their fathers estate, which has quite iniquitous affairs to the daughters in the Bennet's, as their property was entailed to a distant male heir. Since the law of the then England said that the property of a family should be entailed to a male heir and since the social power of a society was exercised by the male members of the society, marrying to a wealthy man was the only solution for a woman to gain property and, of course, shelter and security. So, when Mrs. Bennet knows Elizabeth's refusal to Mr. Collins , she threatens her –''If you go on refusing every marriage , you will never get a husband , and I am sure I don't know who is to maintain you when your father dies ''-illustrates the point that women have to depend on men throughout their lifetime.

Again in this connection is that assemblies, balls and gossip were the order of the lady . The ladies are the upper middle class, play in the hash ladies and gentlemen play cards or pass the time in held gossip. Listening to news, collecting news and communicating news were the chief interests of the girls and ladies. Thus we see in the novel Mrs. Philips gathers news then it imparts to her nieces.

If you were a director or screenplay writer, what sort of difference would you make in the making of a movie? Who would be your choice of actors to play the role of characters? Write a note on a scene you liked the most.
If I were a director of a movie I would like to change some scenes which I felt were exaggerated. One the scene is when Elizabeth went to the estate of Darcy and saw a statue of Darcy. She was looking at the statue as he is Darcy himself, her eyes showing love for him. But I feel it was too exaggerated. At that moment they didn't have a chemistry or relation between them and that showed one sided love of Elizabeth. No doubt Elizabeth loved Darcy but it is not shown anywhere that it was an intense one sided love.

Also I feel the romantic scene between Elizabeth and Darcy showed a sudden change in their character. They were in love with each other. We saw that but whenever they talked or shared their feelings they were never out of character. Darcy never left his pride aside and Elizabeth's prejudices for Darcy never let her understand him and she never kept aside her and her family self respect. Yes it's true that in the end their misunderstandings got cleared but if we see the character of Darcy he is an introvert he didn't smile throughout the movies but he smiles in the end this brings him out of his character. Throughout the movie Elizabeth is a strong headstrong girl but in the end she melts. If anyone sees only the last scene of a movie one can not determine their characters. So I would like to make a change and keep both characters the same throughout.

I am not fond of Hollywood movies a lot, so I would make a choice of characters from Bollywood movies. Looking at the strong character of Elizabeth, I feel Kananga Ranaut can play her role very well, and Kriti Sanon can too . The role of Jane can be played by Diana Penty. For Mr. Darcy, his introverted pride character Shahid Kapoor, Hritik Roshan and Ajay Devgan can be preferred. For the role of Mr. Bingley Ayushman Khurana and for Wickham Varun Dhawan.

Now moving to the scene I liked the most, the scene in the movie When Mr. Darcy proposed to Elizabeth. The just before scene when Elizabeth is staring at the statue of Darcy we can see her love towards him but when Darcy proposed to her in an insulting tone she chose her self respect and family above her love. I liked this scene from the feminist point of view. We have seen the love Elizabeth but she didn't melt with the proposal and stood at her own point.

Thank you for visiting. I hope this blog was useful to you. If you find any changes or suggestions do comment.