Hardys Jude the Obscure :: Religion Religion Jude Hardy Essays

inflexibles Jude the ObscureIn Hardys Jude the Obscure, Hardy shows his views on trust andcommitment to the Church which were said to have declined in the latter long time ofhis life. (Ingham, xxvii) Throughout the book Hardy displays his feeling that holiness is something that mess use in order to satisfy themselves by givingtheir lives meaning. One good example in which Hardy clearly displays this is whenhe writes, It had been the yearning of his heart to define something to anchor on,to cling to. (Ingham, 94) In order to bring out this full point Hardy chooses tocreate Jude as an orphan and has him come from obscure origins. By doing this hecreates a character who is looking for something to give him an identity. As aresult of his relationship with Mr. Phillotson (who leaves for Christminster inorder to become ordained), he finds religion and feels that he can use it tohelp him gain an identity. Hardy feels that people should shy away from theirold ways of thinking and begi n to anatomy new opinions of their own. He feels thatpeople should not just blindly note religion without deciding for themselvesthat this is what they want. People should not be as Jude who becomes hauntwith religion simply be bear his mentor Phillotson felt this way. One of themajor reasons that causes Hardy to have these views is that he feels religionleads to hypocrisy. He feels that man has many desires that go against the lawsof religion, and these desires lead man to feel very hypocritical. Thesefeelings of hypocrisy then cause man to have many inner conflicts that lead tomany problems. This electronegativity towards religion is seen both through symbols inthe book and in the plot of ground itself. The symbols that convey this message are the visit Jude, which is an allusion to Judas Iscariot who was a traitor to Jesus.The name Jude can also be a reference to the wandering Jew. The due south symbol isChristminster. Christminster symbolizes a world in which Jude sees howr emarkable the Church is, provided it is a place that exists only in Judesimagination. Another symbol that we witness is that of Samson who is emblematicof man going after women that are command to him. We also encounter areference to Nebuchadnezzars furnace, which is used to question idol by askingwhy the righteous suffer. Finally, the job Jude chooses is also symbolic of theanti-religious attitude that is shown.The negativity towards religion is first revealed in the name Jude.