STAR-CROSSED LOVERS – THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF LOVE IN THOMAS HARDY’S JUDE THE OBSCURE

Abstract

The paper will primarily explore the topic of impossible love between the main character of Thomas Hardy’s novel Jude the Obscure, Jude Fawley, and his cousin Sue Bridehead. Namely, as the term “star crossed lovers” refers to “lovers whose relationship is doomed to fail (they are frustrated by the stars), because those who believe in astrology claim that the stars control human destiny”,1 so is with Jude and Sue, starting from his great aunt’s monition that “the Fawleys are not cut out for marriage”. Though the readers during the course of the novel might have impression that their love will overcome all the obstacles, their liaison (and love) ends in disaster due to external agents. What is more, not only is Jude unfortunate in the matters of love, but he is star-crossed in his desire for education, having his prospects of enrolling at the university and receiving higher education thwarted, being forced to work as a stonemason for his living. The paper will try to reach the conclusion whether the liaison between Jude and Sue ends up disastrously due to its “not meant to be” or it was simply thwarted by social (namely marital) conventions.