Find some examples of “chance” or happenstance that occur in Jude the Obscure. Post them here for all to see.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
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?
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Jude is similar because he is lost and trying to find himself, by means of location rather than heart. In Jude, there are many chances such as when Mr. Philloston moves to Christminster, where Jude is then curious to see. He has the chance to run away there, but holds himself back.
ReplyDeleteThe first line of Hardy's poem "Hap", reminded me of when Jude was out in the field to scare the birds away from the crops and realizes that they were just as unwanted as he was. In a way, him being placed in this situation was almost as if he was being mocked, "If but some vengeful god would call to me, From up the sky, and laugh".
ReplyDeleteJude sees his life as some evil twist of fate. He feels stuck and he has big dreams, so it makes it seem like even more of a huge struggle. He watches his schoolmaster leave and move on to bigger and better things, while he can't. He is in a way, being teased and mocked, making his life miserable. Jude is a very pessimistic person, and so is Tess from Tess of the D'Urbervilles. She has one tragic event happen right after another, quite similar in a way to Jude. But, Jude's story starts out tragic, as he has no parents at all and he has no where to go. Tess, however, was not at a tragic place at the beginning of the book. In a way, Tess led herself down the wrong path on her own while trying to restore her families name. But Jude, did not put himself in his situation, he had no control over his parents death and that fact that he really was stuck where he was.
In comparison to Jorie's response, I don't believe Tess was at fault for the bad happenings in her life following the death of her father's horse. Although it seemed her actions and choices caused her despair, I believe fate was present in her head when each choice was made. Hardy made fate present in both Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure to create a course of events that were obviously leading to a particular event which was of more significance than the previous. In Jude, fate was present in a way that Jude could not control, but in Tess, fate made its way into her head.
ReplyDeleteThat was me, I'm not sure what's going on with this blog >:|
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