Contrasting Ironies

Hardy mentions in the personal critique of his work that Jude the Obscure was intended to be full of contrasts. He says, "Sue and her heathen gods set against Jude's reading Greek testement; Christminster academical, Christminster in the slums; Jude the saint, Jude the sinner...etc." The presentation of contrasting symbolic natures within Hardy's characters and various settings in antithesis results in an irony of counterpoint.

Review the definition for irony and post on the following questions:

In what way are these contrasts ironic?
Also, other than the three above, are there any more contrasts you can find in the text?

Pessimism

Jude, as a character, has been called "the nadir of Hardy's pessimisim." What does that mean? And how does Jude present a pessimistic philosophy through his thoughts, relationships, and actions?

So You Say I Have a Chance?

A belief in determinism engenders a lack of chance in life. Things happen for a reason to determinists. There are no coincidences or random occurrences. Read Hardy’s poem, “Hap,” which personifies the idea of Chance. The character rails against god (line 1) and Fate (Casualty, line 11) who are making his life miserable. This message is similar to that of Job in the Bible, and Tess is Tess of the d'Urbervilles. How is Jude similar to these other literary figures?

Find some examples of “chance” or happenstance that occur in Jude the Obscure. Post them here for all to see.

Narative Structure

In Tess of the d'Urbervilles Hardy separates his novel into phases, indicative of the changes that beset the main character over the course of her life. The purpose of this technique could be interpreted as emphasizing the cycle of womanhood, or the seasonal stages of the simple, agrarian life which Hardy glorifies in all his novels, or as simply the phases of the moon, that heavenly body which affects the Earth and its inhabitants in mysterious, ephemeral ways. The moon as a early symbol, connects the concepts of a Mother Earth, or Gaia, to the seasonal discord which is a metaphor for Tess's existence.

However in Jude the Obscure, Hardy choses to separate Jude's chapters differently. Instead of phases, the sections are titled "At Marygreen," "At Melchester," "At Shaston." Knowing that Hardy intentionally creates a metaphorical structure mirror the protagonist's nature, what purpose might Hardy have for labeling Jude's sections by town or city?