Revamping the Reality of Marriage: Hardy’s Jude the Obscure (1895) delivers a Timely Road-map

Abstract

Abstract

ude the Obscure (1895) is the fictional swansong of Thomas Hardy. If on one hand it is a criticism of an elitist and exclusionary education system, on the other hand it is a critique of the society that clings to the outdated and often inhumane, demands of matrimonial proprieties and sanctities. It is not a fairy-tale; it is a scary tale recounting the miseries of those writhing inside derailed wed-locks. The novel becomes remarkable forits portrayal of dysfunctional and coercive marriages, pleading for free-love, and raking up of explosive issue like sexual incompatibility between married couple. Perched in the last decade of the nineteenth century, Hardy here gives a clarion call to take the institution of marriage out of its Victorian shell and make it progressive.