A Study on the Characterization of Jude the Obscure

This paper is a brief study on the characterization of Jude the Obscure, and will be focus on the chief character Jude Fawley. This novel, first published in 1895, wasThomas Hardy’s last and best literary success. There are six main characters in this novel: Jude Fawley, Susanna Bridehead, Arabella Donn, Richard Phillotson, Aunt Drusilla, Little Father Time (Little Jude). This analysis of the distinct depictions of the typical characters will be helpful to the understanding of the gap between the ideal life a man wishes to lead and the squalid existence he is fated to live in such social environment as Jude is confronted with.