Jude the Obscure

Jude the Obscure, published in 1895, is Thomas Hardy’s most controversial and tragic novel. It tells the story of Jude Fawley, a working-class man with intellectual aspirations, and his ill-fated relationship with the unconventional Sue Bridehead. Through their struggles with societal norms, marriage, and personal failure, Hardy critiques the rigid class structure and sexual morality of Victorian England. The novel’s bleak vision and themes of despair and alienation caused public uproar upon release, but it remains a powerful indictment of social injustice and human suffering.