#11 Jude the Obscure and Christianity in the Victorian Era

Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy shows us the questions that plagued people at the end of the Victorian era and how the Church responded to those questions. In this paper you will learn about how the world shifted dramatically in the 19th century, about Thomas Hardy, and about Jude the Obscure. Then about why Hardy wrote his book, the reception of Jude the Obscure, and the poem God’s funeral. Furthermore, about the response to this sort of book from the Church and government, then about the comments about this book from Chesterton, and a fan, and a conclusion.

during the 19th century the religious outlook of the world shifted dramatically. This is especially true of Europe. The religious outlook of Europe in the 19th century was influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche, Søren Kierkegaard, Karl Barth, and many others. The common religious outlook was also challenged by Charles Darwin and his book On the Origin of Species helped make Christianity not necessary. Thomas Hardy has been branded an atheist. An important distinction is whether or not Hardy was an atheist before or after writing this book. The changing views of theology, philosophy, and science led to many questions being raised by people during the 19th century. Issues scientific such as issues with creation and evolution were raised. At the same time family dynamics were changing. The role of children and childhood were also changing. There were also questions of politics such as the ones raised by Karl Marx in Das Kapital. All of these questions and issues came to the Church all of a sudden in a whirlwind that left many people questioning their faith. Many of these questions are poignantly raised in the book Jude the Obscure. The way that the Church chose to address the questions raised in this book have had profound repercussions on the world in the 19th century on to today.

Jude the Obscure was written by Thomas Hardy. It was published serially in a magazine and then published as a book in 1895. Hardy wrote many other books before writing Jude the Obscure. Hardy’s other novels did raise some questions about culture. But Jude the Obscure was too bleak and raised to many questions which were already going unanswered by the Church. The reception of Hardy’s book was very negative.

Jude the Obscure contains many narrative points. Including issues of morality in marriage, sex, and divorce. The book also goes over issues of education in the Victorian era, and the flaws present in Christianity at the time. Jude the main character of the book seeks to study the classics at Christminster a fictional city modeled after Oxford. Jude is derailed and discouraged from pursuing his education by many things. While studying for a chance to go to Christminster Jude meets Arabella Donn who seduced Jude into marriage. She lied to Jude telling him that she was pregnant. Hardy uses this story to show how Christianity created a cultural bias towards marriage that was bad. Later Arabella Donn leaves Jude in order to enter into a bigamous marriage in Australia. After this Jude meets his cousin Sue Bridehead. Sue, married and later leaves Jude’s former teacher. Then Jude and Sue who are both married to other people start to live as a married couple and have several children together. But after some time, all of their children commit suicide. This causes Sue to have a miscarriage and return to her former husband Mr. Phillotson. Jude in his grief is again seduced to rejoin Arabella Donn in marriage. Eventually Jude ventures to Sue to see her one last time before dying. Then he dies. This raises issues of the legality of marriage according to the Church when one member lies to make it happen. During his marriage to Sue, Jude gives up his studies and even gives up religion. As it caused him nothing but grief. Furthermore, by holding to his Christian ideals his life was continually made worse. It is only when Jude chooses to act not as a Christian that any sort of happiness or peace is in his life. which raises questions of whether Christianity is disproved for its principles only offering suffering vs as Jesus said, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Comparatively Sue, became very religious and returned to her former husband thinking it the Christian thing to do.

Hardy saw many wrongs in the world around him. He wrote of many of the things he saw wrong with the world. As writers before and after him Hardy wrote in the tension of what he knew and what he did not understand. By doing this it gave the world around him to answer his fears and questions with God’s truth. Hardy was a reluctant Christian. He saw many wrongs in the world and in his quest to know God better he wrote his book Jude the Obscure. Hardy in his book through the story asks why do children commit suicide? And what is the state of their souls? Why are families encouraged to continually have children such that they starve? Why doesn’t the Church provide better for children. Why is it so hard to become a priest? Why is it so hard to get an education? The questions go on and on. Hardy never received a response from the Church to his questions. But society was also asking these questions. The questions were answered by society. To the issue of child labor the government intervened in England and in America. Governments around the world also made it possible for more people to get an education. The governments of the world also took the role of solving the food issues, the issue of so many children, and mental health. All of these things resulted in a smaller role for the Church around the world as well as fewer Christians.

The reception of “Jude the Obscure received a harsh reception from some scandalized critics. Among the critics was Walsham How, Bishop of Wakefield; Hardy later claimed that the bishop had burned a copy” of his book. The negative reception of Jude the Obscure caused Hardy to give up novel writing for the rest of his life opting to instead focus on poetry. Furthermore, Hardy’s accusations and questions of society and the Church at large seemingly went unanswered. Hardy stopped being a Christian and attending Church after the criticism of Jude the Obscure. In response to the burning of his book and his questions going unanswered Hardy wrote a poem called God’s Funeral; although it was written much later in life. In this poem Hardy imagines that Christianity through the ages, “framing him (God) jealous, fierce, at first, we gave him justice as the ages rolled, will to bless those by circumstance accurst, and longsuffering, and mercies manifold.” Hardy goes on to say “uncompromising rude reality mangled the Monarch of our fashioning, who quavered, sank; and now has ceased to be.” This is all to say that Hardy understood the world that was changing around him to be one without God, there was nothing that the theologians could say that would not be a mere twisting of words.

Hardy’s poem God’s Funeral has some similarities to Friedrich Nietzsche’s book The Gay Science. Nietzsche wrote that a madman went about and “cried incessantly: “I seek God! I seek God!”” he then went on to say ““Whither is God?” he cried; “I’ll tell you. We have killed him – you and I. We are all his murderers.” This is essentially the same thing that Hardy was saying in his poem. As Hardy said, “framing him (God) jealous, fierce, at first, we gave him justice as the ages rolled.” As Hardy’s poem and Nietzsche suggest the role of God was usurped and replaced by other things.

Jude the Obscure shows how Christian cultural morays have had flaws in the 19th century in England. The main contentions are that it was hard to pursue religious education, and culture encouraged bad marriages. As well as child labor and child suicide being an issue. Many of the issues took a long time to be resolved. But slowly they were resolved. In Russia and China these issues were attempted to be solved by Communism to differing degrees of success. Authors other than Hardy took a stab at writing about the issues of the times in order to change the culture. In America Upton Sinclair wrote the Jungle. The Jungle covered the issues a family had when they came to America. This book unlike Jude the Obscure got the attention of the powers that be. Theodore Roosevelt the 26th president of America read Sinclair’s book and enacted change. Another example would be Animal Farm by George Orwell. Orwell wrote about the economic disparity that western culture and capitalism practiced. Another example is the Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Steinbeck wrote about the issues that arose from grape farms in California in 1930s during the dustbowl.

One example of the comments that were made about Jude the Obscure are the ones made by G.K. Chesterton. Chesterton famously wrote that “Hardy became a sort of village atheist brooding and blaspheming over the village idiot.” Chesterton later tried to explain what he meant by saying, “this is the defense of Hardy. The whole case for him is that he had the sincerity and simplicity of the village atheist that is, that he valued atheism as a truth and not. A triumph.” The lives of Chesterton and Hardy overlap a lot in time. The automatic dismissal of Hardy is an example of how most people responded to Hardy at the end of the Victorian era. How we choose to answer the questions raised in Jude the Obscure determines the type of culture we are building today. In the Victorian era Christians built a culture where Hardy’s questions were burned by a bishop and derided by Christian authors. Christianity needs to become more nimble to better respond to the accusations of culture.

An admirer of Hardy from Australia wrote what Slack has called “a petulant little verse about it.” The verse she wrote is called “Anent The Simpletons-Hearts Insurgent-Jude the Obscure’ ” then she goes on to the verse which says, “the vex question of titles may now, I submit be settled at last, with small straining of wit, change two letters only [,] the u r I mean, and you better the sense, for Obscure, read Obscene.” Needless to say Hardy had one less fan in the world.

Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy shows us the questions that plagued people at the end of the Victorian era and how the Church responded to those questions. You have read about how the world shifted dramatically in the 19th century, about Thomas Hardy, and about Jude the Obscure. Then about why Hardy wrote his book, the reception of Jude the Obscure, and the poem God’s funeral. Furthermore, about the response to this sort of book from the Church and government, then about the comments about this book from Chesterton, and a fan, and a conclusion.