Romanticism in Jude the Obscur

Romanticism in Jude the Obscure In the novel Jude the Obscure, Hardy shows the reader that the Romantic characteristics and ideals of the characters (Jude and Sue) are detrimental to them in their anti-Romantic world. Their romantic ideals are so inherent in their personality, and so antithetical to their society, that they are better off dead than living in their world. In his novel, Hardy shows the opposition between Romanticism, associated with tradition and a “…

…Romanticism in application. A consistent Romantic response to everyday experience can simply not be maintained. (Hassett 432) Sue ultimately collapses under the struggle. (Draper 248) Jude, in the end of the novel, ever in need of an embodied vision, is helpless. Jude’s idealism is ultimately undercut – he achieves neither academic success, nor does he gain Sue’s love in the way he had hoped. (Davis) He represents an earlier time, one incompatible with Victorian modernity. (Rogers)