Portrayal of Women in Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure
While many people claim that Hardy's portrayal of female characters is considered as biased, but what I believe is that Hardy has only portrayed women so weak and vulnerable because of the societal pressures they have been faced with. A Society is an environment created to cater to the rational basic needs and rights of its inhabiting individuals. However, a closed and oppressive society has been noticed to view the MALE as a superior gender. Both men and women readily accept the high status which comes with the masculine gender, doing little to change what had been set as the norm. Hardy utilises Tess’s lack of control over her own life to convey a woman’s struggle in a male-dominated environment.
In Tess of the D’Urbervilles, when her work horse dies because of what she believes to be her own fault 'Tis all my doing – all mine!”, she is forced by her family to choose either between working or marrying her distant cousin Alec D’Urbervilles. This is the first of the multiple incidents where Tess is being forced to do something despite being unwilling to do so. Tess’s responsibility towards her family is the first thing to fall apart which further leads to her ultimate downfall. Likewise, Jude from Jude the Obscure, although he is not nearly as awful as Alec D’Urbervilles but he also puts a certain amount of pressure on his love interest Sue because he has built up in her mind to be this perfect intellectual soulmate and no woman, in fact no human being ever is comfortable with being put to such sort of test. Tess’s indecisiveness is portrayed in her frequent failures as it has been noted of Tess that ‘her speech, decision making. . . and even her sense of self are characterised by a curious absence’, Tess appears absent in the decision making process which later effects upon her life. Similarly, Sue Bridehead, in Jude the Obscure, has been objectified by various critics that she is a self-obsessed Victorian woman and much similar to those women whose needs do not “lie in the direction of loving but of being loved”. Regarding Sue's strange behaviour and attitude Sigmund Freud (1957) resembles her with the self-obsessed women and comments that 'They are plainly seeking themselves as love objects'. According to Freud, Sue’s narcissistic and gloomy character results in her indifference or hatred towards the opposite sex. It also illustrates that Hardy’s creative imagination takes to the furthest point of his exploration of complex and psychologically disturbed personalities.
However, critics such as Penny Boumelha (1982) refutes the above statement who says that although Tess seems to be vulnerable at points, she is the only one who suffers immensely, essentially as a result of corrupt masculine attitudes prevailing in the society. He states that Tess is often subjected to the perverted male gaze, through the ‘overt maleness of the narrative voice’. During the late 20th century, Christian moral values of chastity were under scrutiny, as they gave way ‘to the… authority of biological law’. The value of a woman’s purity was the main subject of the popular debate and the same subject has been depicted in Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles. As Thomas Hardy himself states that this story is the one in which he attempts to show what ‘everybody nowadays thinks and feels’. Again, following are the comments of another critic Geoffrey Harvey (2003) which further favors this argument stating that, 'Both Alec and Angel regard her as an object of desire, and she becomes their victim, violated by Alec and later abandoned by her husband. Alec assumes her compliance, while Angel fits her into his Romantic preconceptions of nature'. Tess has been physically both seduced and spoilt, but she is pure and innocent in her mind, heart and soul. Thomas Hardy describes her as a bird caught in a trap which means that she has no immoral intentions that provoke Alec’s seduction. Hardy has explored multiple themes in his works and demonstrated their role in the lives of his heroines; for example love, marriage, and poverty are the elements of society which victimize the characters in Jude the Obscure. These elements lead to the tragic and sorrowful life of Sue Bridehead and others. Sue Bridehead represents the emerging new social behaviour in the Victorian society. At that time, Victorian society had a very narrow view of the potential and individuality of women. A good example of Hardy’s initially independent women is Sue Bridehead in Jude the Obscure. In Hardy and the Erotic, critic T. R. Wright writes that ‘Sue Bridehead is in many ways at the centre of Jude the Obscure … because she is stronger, more complex, and more significant. ’
As a main feminine character in Jude the Obscure, Sue Bridehead represents in some aspects the New Woman of the Victorian period. Sue’s rebellious and enthusiastic spirit and intellect urge her to confront and most of the times attack the conventions of her time and try to gain her voice in a world that mainly gives ears and attention to the man's voice. Nevertheless, in the end Sue herself surrenders to the prevailing conventions of the society which she has been against throughout the novel. Sue shows how harsh the journey of a 'rebellious woman' can be. 'Victorian middle class image of women was culturally controlled. They were denied political and economic power, and were expected to conform to the idea of separate spheres for men and women […] and women were denied any sexual feelings. Moreover, they were doubly victims of idealisation and abuse, particularly of the double standard in moral sexuality, which branded women as ‘fallen’ while condoning their lovers'. The comments of the critic above support my argument that it is undoubtedly the society which could not bear a free spirit as Sue. In terms of human and social evolution Sue seems to be a 'New Woman' who is alienated due to her intellect, her thoughts against marriage and her attempt to retain her sexuality. Lastly, to conclude my idea, I would summarize my whole argument that my research paper includes information, analysis and interpretations of the element of society as a 'victimizer' in Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure. The protagonists of these two novels suffer at the hands of the society. Male domination, men's sexual attitude towards women and the rigidity and harshness of the social rules towards women victimize innocent and helpless individuals like Tess.
In the same way, Sue Bridehead also fails in her attempt to rebel against the conventions of the society because the rules of the Victorian society could not accept the idea of being in love without marriage and free, immoral and extramarital relationships. It seems as if society is the cause of destroying the happy lives of the female characters in these novels.
Works Cited
- Boumelha, Penny, in ‘Introduction’ pp. 13-27 in ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles’, Oxford ThousbdUniversity Press, 2005.
- Boumelha, Penny, ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891)’ pp 117-134, in ‘Thomas Hardy and uthjubnfWomen: Sexual Ideology and Narrative Form’, The Harvester Press Ltd, 1982.
- Freud, Sigmund, ‘On Narcissism’, pp 88, Standard Edition: 14:69-102. London: Hogarth hhhjju gPress, 1957. [3] The Psychology of Love. Trans. S.
- Harvey, Geoffrey, The Complete Critical Guide to Thomas Hardy, (London: Routledge, 2003), gjjbggjj p. 83.
- Lovesey, Oliver, ‘Reconstructing Tess’ Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, Vol. 43, No. Hjjgyjjb4, The Nineteenth Century (Autumn, 2003), pp. 913-938.
