1] Hardy and Marriage .
This period reflected Christian values such as moral responsibility and proper sexual behaviour.There were double standards regarding sex. The Victorian view of sexuality was based on two types of women, the Madonna and the whore (Morgan xii), where one is fit for sex and the other for life.Any sexual relationship outside wedlock was forbidden and women had to remain pure for their future husbands-to-be because,their reputation was dependent on their sexual status and virginity.Many women entered matrimony at a young age either to ascend the social class system or to seek financial security in a wealthy husband. Generally, the Victorian concept of marriage was a means of financial union between families or a “financial transaction” In Jude the Obscure, women are not more secure or protected in marriage than outside of wedlock. Both Sue and Arabella are representatives of the growing intellectual and sexual freedom, which several reformers like Mill tried to advance through literature of that time. Their modern views on love and ironical statements about traditional marriage are symbolic of their rejection of the cruelty of this institution against women in particular.
2] Hardy’s View on Divorce and
Cohabitation
Jude the Obscure shows Hardy’s distinct view of the social institutions, particularly regarding “cohabiting/Free union” and divorce. Due to the strictness of the English divorce law,which recognized only adultery as grounds for divorce (Frost 16, 96), many couples cohabited or parted to seek happiness outside of wedlock because they could not end their union legally and thus lived apart (Frost 7, 40, 72). The only way to obtain a divorce other than by ecclesiastical annulment was through a private Act of Parliament, a process that was complex and expensive for the poor classes , Eventually, people were desperate and searched for alternative ways to join their lovers and leave unhappy marriages, such as cohabiting. In general, the term “cohabiting” is as old as marriage itself but was becoming more common as large numbers of people were joining this “liberated” group. The definition means couples living “as husband and wife” and having a sexual relation. Cohabitees presented themselves as married to society and shared domestic duties, the same last name and reared children The notion of “cohabiting” also problematized the values of “family”, “marriage” and the state’s role in these institutions (Frost 1). This free union threatened and undermined the whole concept of marriage because it provided an alternative solution for couples to be together, replaced the “sacred” institution of marriage and weakened the state’s authority over people (Frost 1, 3, 9). This union (cohabiting) challenged the Victorian marital expectations .When Hardy wrote Jude the Obscure in 1895, British marriage laws had recently been liberalized and there was a continuous debate about women’s rights to divorce for reasons other than adultery. In his novel, Hardy brings the notion of cohabiting into the social discussion. He draws his characters into disastrous unions to show the failure of this institution in adopting new ideologies and progressing change into the lives
of unhappy couples. Hardy tried to address the complexity of marriage and divorce in Jude the Obscure in order to reflect the difficulties in the legal laws.
3] Hardy and the New Woman
They are representatives of the model of the “New Woman”. The term “The New Woman” was “a generalized phrase describing an economically independent woman who stood socially, politically, and educationally equal among men. It was a topic of much concern and debate in both England and the United States in the late nineteenth century.Her “newness” is clear in the way she views the social institutions. After entering marriage, Sue shows her disappointment in the institution of marriage that deprives women of their sovereignty. She expresses her disappointment in the social institution of marriage, which attracts people to marry. She says: “how hopelessly vulgar an institution legal marriage is – a sort of a trap to catch a man- I can’t to think of it”
Sue cannot bear to think of is her legal state to be bounded to her man and not having an individual entity. In this, Sue becomes the spokeswoman against the suppression of the institution of marriage. In the preface to his novel, Hardy realized the new prospects of the decade’s “new sensation” . Sue Bridehead “the woman of the feminist movement-the slight, pale ‘bachelor’ girl-the intellectualised, emancipated bundle of nerves that modern conditions were producing”.If Sue is equal to men in education, Arabella is equal to men in her “certain maleness that allows the reader to see the way in which she breaks social expectations” (Young4). She does the work that men do. She slaughters an animal and works in a bar. Arabella’s ironical view of marriage and traditions is characteristic of the New Woman. She does not consider traditions like marriage seriously (Young 5). Marriage matters only for the financial security it provides.
4] The Case Against Marriage
4.1. Hardy’s cynicism about marriage and his advocacy of the Free Union (Jude and Sue)
There were no options such as not to marry because society regarded marriage the only means for women to survive through reliance on men.Moreover, marriage acknowledged no legal rights for women in contrast to men and only emphasized women’s devotional wifehood. As soon as a woman entered matrimony, she lost her property and entity to her husband. Hardy reminds his readers of women’s insecurity in marriage and the complexity of their situation in this institution. After entering marriage with Phillotson, Sue expresses her disappointment in the institution of marriage. An institution that suppressed, subordinated and enslaved women to men. She expresses her distaste at performing the marital rituals and tells Jude: “How should I like to go in and see what the spot is like where I am so soon to kneel and do it”Sue has to kneel to this institution, which betrayed her and her race. The once independent, active, free-thinking Sue who
not afraid to mix with men, is uncomfortable in her new position in marriage. Later, while planning for her wedding ceremony with Phillotson, Sue is confronted with the unequal terms in the marriage ceremony. The marital terms deprive women of their individual rights as human beings equal to men and they put them under the suppression and control of men. In fact, the Victorian marriage had one obvious feature in common with slavery; in marriage, as in slavery the bounded party was required to take the master’s name upon bondage, making the wife a slave of her society, husband and conventions. (Morgan 120). This is evident when Sue is obliged to take Phillotson’s name. Sue feels that she is not the same liberated person she was before her marriage with Phillotson. When Sue meets Jude after her marriage with Phillotson, Jude realizesher loss of identity. After marriage she became “labelled ‘Phillotson’” (162). In taking up Phillotson’s name, Sue becomes enslaved to her husband, conventions and society. She loses her entity to her husband and becomes his personal possession When Sue obtains divorce, she refuses to enter matrimony because she fears that marriage kills love as she questions the meaning of marriage. Sue feels afraid of traditional marriage and the oppression it imposes on women. She would rather continue living in sin than remarry. She tells Jude that she dreads that, Her distinctive views of the social institutions such as marriage and divorce reflect the growing intellect and awareness of women’s role in social and private lives at the end of the nineteenth century. Sue has modern ideas about the ideal relationship between two people.Her divorce gives her the individuality and independence she enjoyed before her marriage. She says: “Are weyou and I – just as free now as if we had never married at all?” (225). Later, Sue tells Jude that the next generations will pursue their path and will refuse the traditional and cruel terms of this institution and couples will live as they like However, being unmarried and living in sin is only part of the problem because children born to these cohabiting couples were illegitimate and had no legal rights. Little Father Time is aware of the economic and social burden children have on their parents. He feels the shame and society’s rejection of illegitimate births when his family is denied a lodging in Christminister. In an attempt to stop the suffering of his parents, he kills himself with the other children. It is not only parents who suffer the cruel terms of social institutions. This cruelty extends to their children and damages them. Little Father Time is a symbolic character who draws the reader’s attention that the law and the cruel terms of the institution of marriage have mistreated children as much as women Sue argues that the mutual harmony between them is lost after the death of their children. Sue says: “O my comrade, our perfect union-our two-in-oneness is now stained with blood!” (300). Sue, once independent and fearless, breaks down, but not due to her weakness, but she falls under the weight of her calamity and tragedy.Sue feels guilty and responsible for the death of her children and considers her tragedy as a kind of punishment for her illegal relationship with Jude.Marriage is only a means to control the lives of people. Though Jude and Sue are victims of the cruel terms of marital laws, marriage was much more unfair to Sue than Jude. Hardy chooses this tragic end to show the cruelty of the social institution of marriage against any declaration of love and sexuality outside of wedlock.
4.2] Legal Union (Sue & Phillotson / Jude & Arabella)
Sue & Phillotson
She thinks that she is going to be happy in her new role in marriage, but when she discovers the cruel terms and marital obligations she becomes reluctant to perform her duties. Her view of Phillotson changes after her marriage. He is not only old enough to be her father, but he is also sexually repulsive to her and a traditional man in his view of life and matrimony. It seems that Phillotson is the problem because his age and intellect does not match with Sue’s. This contradiction brings their downfall. Jude realizes that Sue is uncapable of playing the role of the virtuous wife with a man she dislikes physically and emotionally. He tells her For Phillotson, the wife is morally obliged to perform her sexual duties towards him in marriage because he has the right to exercise his conjugal rights over her. He does not realize the sexual incompatibility in his marriage with Sue. For Sue, sexuality is not the ultimate goal of marriage, while for Phillotson it is the ultimate reason for marriage. For Phillotson, marriage is all about sexual obligation. He is blind to the fact that this obligation harms Sue. He says: “What then was the meaning of marrying at all?” (192). He reminds Sue that it is a serious crime if she denies him his sexual right and he says: “But you are committing a sin in not liking me.” (193). However, Sue realizes that there is no legal way to free herself from this obligation. She pledges to Phillotson to let her go. He is totally conscious of the consequences of his action that would dissatisfy his society. Because of his sympathy with Sue, Phillotson loses his job at the school where he was teaching, his money and his social standing.
Jude & Arabella
However, Arabella acts the way she has to because she is a powerless person. She is aware that a woman cannot survive on her own because she needs a husband to take that responsibility Arabella is Hardy’s critique against the traditions of the institution of marriage and the wedding ceremonies. Hardy is ironical in the way he describes the exchange of the marital oath between Jude and Arabella. Both promise to continue their lives on the basis of a temporary sexual attraction. Hardy questions the validity and trustworthiness of marital vows, which are based on temporary affections and not mutual love and understanding. During their wedding On the other hand, Arabella, who is unmarried and pregnant, cannot survive society’s ruthless conviction. She becomes also a victim of her time because she has no other option. Even Jude is aware that his marriage and Arabella’s is a“mistake” (50). He protests against the legal terms that destroy the life of men and women. He says to Arabella that marriage is like “to be caught in a gin which would cripple him, if not her also, for the rest of a life time” (50) Though Sue and Arabella contradict each other in their conception of marriage, both are victims of the same rigid marital laws. While Arabella cares for marriage only for the social and financial advantages it provides, Sue enters matrimony and discovers the difficult situation of women in marriage. Both women feel the suppression of this institution on women and the weak legal state of women in marriage. Sue becomes reluctant to perform her sexual obligations. She loses her carrier of becoming a teacher, her children are killed due to the weight of society’s convictions on illegitimate children. She returns to her first husband to punish herself and converts her conventions and changes her mind. Arabella, on the other hand, survives, but not due to her respect for marriage but because she knows how things are done in society and she succeeds in finding a husband after the death of the previous.
This period reflected Christian values such as moral responsibility and proper sexual behaviour.There were double standards regarding sex. The Victorian view of sexuality was based on two types of women, the Madonna and the whore (Morgan xii), where one is fit for sex and the other for life.Any sexual relationship outside wedlock was forbidden and women had to remain pure for their future husbands-to-be because,their reputation was dependent on their sexual status and virginity.Many women entered matrimony at a young age either to ascend the social class system or to seek financial security in a wealthy husband. Generally, the Victorian concept of marriage was a means of financial union between families or a “financial transaction” In Jude the Obscure, women are not more secure or protected in marriage than outside of wedlock. Both Sue and Arabella are representatives of the growing intellectual and sexual freedom, which several reformers like Mill tried to advance through literature of that time. Their modern views on love and ironical statements about traditional marriage are symbolic of their rejection of the cruelty of this institution against women in particular.
2] Hardy’s View on Divorce and
Cohabitation
Jude the Obscure shows Hardy’s distinct view of the social institutions, particularly regarding “cohabiting/Free union” and divorce. Due to the strictness of the English divorce law,which recognized only adultery as grounds for divorce (Frost 16, 96), many couples cohabited or parted to seek happiness outside of wedlock because they could not end their union legally and thus lived apart (Frost 7, 40, 72). The only way to obtain a divorce other than by ecclesiastical annulment was through a private Act of Parliament, a process that was complex and expensive for the poor classes , Eventually, people were desperate and searched for alternative ways to join their lovers and leave unhappy marriages, such as cohabiting. In general, the term “cohabiting” is as old as marriage itself but was becoming more common as large numbers of people were joining this “liberated” group. The definition means couples living “as husband and wife” and having a sexual relation. Cohabitees presented themselves as married to society and shared domestic duties, the same last name and reared children The notion of “cohabiting” also problematized the values of “family”, “marriage” and the state’s role in these institutions (Frost 1). This free union threatened and undermined the whole concept of marriage because it provided an alternative solution for couples to be together, replaced the “sacred” institution of marriage and weakened the state’s authority over people (Frost 1, 3, 9). This union (cohabiting) challenged the Victorian marital expectations .When Hardy wrote Jude the Obscure in 1895, British marriage laws had recently been liberalized and there was a continuous debate about women’s rights to divorce for reasons other than adultery. In his novel, Hardy brings the notion of cohabiting into the social discussion. He draws his characters into disastrous unions to show the failure of this institution in adopting new ideologies and progressing change into the lives
of unhappy couples. Hardy tried to address the complexity of marriage and divorce in Jude the Obscure in order to reflect the difficulties in the legal laws.
3] Hardy and the New Woman
They are representatives of the model of the “New Woman”. The term “The New Woman” was “a generalized phrase describing an economically independent woman who stood socially, politically, and educationally equal among men. It was a topic of much concern and debate in both England and the United States in the late nineteenth century.Her “newness” is clear in the way she views the social institutions. After entering marriage, Sue shows her disappointment in the institution of marriage that deprives women of their sovereignty. She expresses her disappointment in the social institution of marriage, which attracts people to marry. She says: “how hopelessly vulgar an institution legal marriage is – a sort of a trap to catch a man- I can’t to think of it”
Sue cannot bear to think of is her legal state to be bounded to her man and not having an individual entity. In this, Sue becomes the spokeswoman against the suppression of the institution of marriage. In the preface to his novel, Hardy realized the new prospects of the decade’s “new sensation” . Sue Bridehead “the woman of the feminist movement-the slight, pale ‘bachelor’ girl-the intellectualised, emancipated bundle of nerves that modern conditions were producing”.If Sue is equal to men in education, Arabella is equal to men in her “certain maleness that allows the reader to see the way in which she breaks social expectations” (Young4). She does the work that men do. She slaughters an animal and works in a bar. Arabella’s ironical view of marriage and traditions is characteristic of the New Woman. She does not consider traditions like marriage seriously (Young 5). Marriage matters only for the financial security it provides.
4] The Case Against Marriage
4.1. Hardy’s cynicism about marriage and his advocacy of the Free Union (Jude and Sue)
There were no options such as not to marry because society regarded marriage the only means for women to survive through reliance on men.Moreover, marriage acknowledged no legal rights for women in contrast to men and only emphasized women’s devotional wifehood. As soon as a woman entered matrimony, she lost her property and entity to her husband. Hardy reminds his readers of women’s insecurity in marriage and the complexity of their situation in this institution. After entering marriage with Phillotson, Sue expresses her disappointment in the institution of marriage. An institution that suppressed, subordinated and enslaved women to men. She expresses her distaste at performing the marital rituals and tells Jude: “How should I like to go in and see what the spot is like where I am so soon to kneel and do it”Sue has to kneel to this institution, which betrayed her and her race. The once independent, active, free-thinking Sue who
not afraid to mix with men, is uncomfortable in her new position in marriage. Later, while planning for her wedding ceremony with Phillotson, Sue is confronted with the unequal terms in the marriage ceremony. The marital terms deprive women of their individual rights as human beings equal to men and they put them under the suppression and control of men. In fact, the Victorian marriage had one obvious feature in common with slavery; in marriage, as in slavery the bounded party was required to take the master’s name upon bondage, making the wife a slave of her society, husband and conventions. (Morgan 120). This is evident when Sue is obliged to take Phillotson’s name. Sue feels that she is not the same liberated person she was before her marriage with Phillotson. When Sue meets Jude after her marriage with Phillotson, Jude realizesher loss of identity. After marriage she became “labelled ‘Phillotson’” (162). In taking up Phillotson’s name, Sue becomes enslaved to her husband, conventions and society. She loses her entity to her husband and becomes his personal possession When Sue obtains divorce, she refuses to enter matrimony because she fears that marriage kills love as she questions the meaning of marriage. Sue feels afraid of traditional marriage and the oppression it imposes on women. She would rather continue living in sin than remarry. She tells Jude that she dreads that, Her distinctive views of the social institutions such as marriage and divorce reflect the growing intellect and awareness of women’s role in social and private lives at the end of the nineteenth century. Sue has modern ideas about the ideal relationship between two people.Her divorce gives her the individuality and independence she enjoyed before her marriage. She says: “Are weyou and I – just as free now as if we had never married at all?” (225). Later, Sue tells Jude that the next generations will pursue their path and will refuse the traditional and cruel terms of this institution and couples will live as they like However, being unmarried and living in sin is only part of the problem because children born to these cohabiting couples were illegitimate and had no legal rights. Little Father Time is aware of the economic and social burden children have on their parents. He feels the shame and society’s rejection of illegitimate births when his family is denied a lodging in Christminister. In an attempt to stop the suffering of his parents, he kills himself with the other children. It is not only parents who suffer the cruel terms of social institutions. This cruelty extends to their children and damages them. Little Father Time is a symbolic character who draws the reader’s attention that the law and the cruel terms of the institution of marriage have mistreated children as much as women Sue argues that the mutual harmony between them is lost after the death of their children. Sue says: “O my comrade, our perfect union-our two-in-oneness is now stained with blood!” (300). Sue, once independent and fearless, breaks down, but not due to her weakness, but she falls under the weight of her calamity and tragedy.Sue feels guilty and responsible for the death of her children and considers her tragedy as a kind of punishment for her illegal relationship with Jude.Marriage is only a means to control the lives of people. Though Jude and Sue are victims of the cruel terms of marital laws, marriage was much more unfair to Sue than Jude. Hardy chooses this tragic end to show the cruelty of the social institution of marriage against any declaration of love and sexuality outside of wedlock.
4.2] Legal Union (Sue & Phillotson / Jude & Arabella)
Sue & Phillotson
She thinks that she is going to be happy in her new role in marriage, but when she discovers the cruel terms and marital obligations she becomes reluctant to perform her duties. Her view of Phillotson changes after her marriage. He is not only old enough to be her father, but he is also sexually repulsive to her and a traditional man in his view of life and matrimony. It seems that Phillotson is the problem because his age and intellect does not match with Sue’s. This contradiction brings their downfall. Jude realizes that Sue is uncapable of playing the role of the virtuous wife with a man she dislikes physically and emotionally. He tells her For Phillotson, the wife is morally obliged to perform her sexual duties towards him in marriage because he has the right to exercise his conjugal rights over her. He does not realize the sexual incompatibility in his marriage with Sue. For Sue, sexuality is not the ultimate goal of marriage, while for Phillotson it is the ultimate reason for marriage. For Phillotson, marriage is all about sexual obligation. He is blind to the fact that this obligation harms Sue. He says: “What then was the meaning of marrying at all?” (192). He reminds Sue that it is a serious crime if she denies him his sexual right and he says: “But you are committing a sin in not liking me.” (193). However, Sue realizes that there is no legal way to free herself from this obligation. She pledges to Phillotson to let her go. He is totally conscious of the consequences of his action that would dissatisfy his society. Because of his sympathy with Sue, Phillotson loses his job at the school where he was teaching, his money and his social standing.
Jude & Arabella
However, Arabella acts the way she has to because she is a powerless person. She is aware that a woman cannot survive on her own because she needs a husband to take that responsibility Arabella is Hardy’s critique against the traditions of the institution of marriage and the wedding ceremonies. Hardy is ironical in the way he describes the exchange of the marital oath between Jude and Arabella. Both promise to continue their lives on the basis of a temporary sexual attraction. Hardy questions the validity and trustworthiness of marital vows, which are based on temporary affections and not mutual love and understanding. During their wedding On the other hand, Arabella, who is unmarried and pregnant, cannot survive society’s ruthless conviction. She becomes also a victim of her time because she has no other option. Even Jude is aware that his marriage and Arabella’s is a“mistake” (50). He protests against the legal terms that destroy the life of men and women. He says to Arabella that marriage is like “to be caught in a gin which would cripple him, if not her also, for the rest of a life time” (50) Though Sue and Arabella contradict each other in their conception of marriage, both are victims of the same rigid marital laws. While Arabella cares for marriage only for the social and financial advantages it provides, Sue enters matrimony and discovers the difficult situation of women in marriage. Both women feel the suppression of this institution on women and the weak legal state of women in marriage. Sue becomes reluctant to perform her sexual obligations. She loses her carrier of becoming a teacher, her children are killed due to the weight of society’s convictions on illegitimate children. She returns to her first husband to punish herself and converts her conventions and changes her mind. Arabella, on the other hand, survives, but not due to her respect for marriage but because she knows how things are done in society and she succeeds in finding a husband after the death of the previous.
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