Jude the Obscure
There are many prominent themes that run throughout the film Jude - the themes of love and marriage and what's socially accepted are two of the most prevalent. As these themes, among others, are portrayed throughout the film, it is blatantly clear that the society in which Jude, and his cousin / "wife" Sue, are confined within, has their own set beliefs regarding what is right and what is wrong. These "social bindings" are inflicted upon Jude and Sue both individually and as "husband and wife" throughout the film.
One of the very first scenes in the film shows Jude and Phillotson, his schoolmaster, walking together. Apparently, Phillotson is leaving the small town of Marygreen and is headed for Christminster to attend the university for young men. Jude is told when he is barely twelve years old that "if he wants to do anything in life, he must go to Christminster - even if it means giving up everything else for awhile." Once he is at Christminster, everything will be open to him; "he can become anything he wants, choose his future." Jude now sees Christminster as an "enlightened place of learning". He associates it with his many dreams of higher education and his vague notions of academic success. Immediately, we see the confines of society. From such a young age, Jude is told that in order for his life to have some kind of purpose and meaning, he must attend the University at Christminster. From that moment on, his entire life is centered around his studies and his aspiration to leave Marygreen and go to Christminster. To society, this university is equated with excellence and social prominence - Jude is also led to believe that his admission to the university will bring him complete and ...
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...tion of marriage - what is believed at the time to be "proper" - she must return to the man she first married in the eyes of God. On another level, she might feel that she needs to punish herself for the suffering her children endured by forcing herself into a life of unhappiness.
This film stressed how the two main characters were bound by societal standards. Sue believes that the only way she can live a "true life" is to accept that by living with Jude she would be defying God. Her only recourse was to return to her ex-husband. In a society unwilling to accept their "rejection of convention", they are ostracized. The children are also victims of society's unwillingness to accept Jude and Sue as husband and wife. This rejection by society, coupled with Sue's own feelings of shame over her divorce, help to destroy not only lives, but any hope for happiness.
marriage. She was to do just as he said, without so much as uttering a
The movie portrays a group of teens coming of age and a man encumbered with age in a less privileged part of Atlanta. They face challenges that are hard to overcome due to the disadvantages they were put into. Uncle George is the brother of the deceased sister who is the boys’ mother. He battles with the obligation of raising two nephews and struggles with the idea that he could have success without the duty. Rashad is the eldest brother and takes on the parent role toward his younger brother. He is heir to the family cleaning business and juggles adult responsibility with adolescent fun. Ant is the youngest brother and tries to make an identity in an unpopular role. Each character faces their faults while staying together as a cohesive family.
She explains that everything that was on fire she did not actually own, for they belonged to God’s. Therefore, she could not mourn the lost because He had the right to take them away.
1. Jude wants to hurry up and graduate from high school so he can assume his place in the family business and be able marry the girl next door. He has never really considered any other girl, and he says he is "lucky" he has never had to worry about what career he would choose!
Every time the family comes to a confrontation someone retreats to the past and reflects on life as it was back then, not dealing with life as it is for them today. Tom, assuming the macho role of the man of the house, babies and shelters Laura from the outside world. His mother reminds him that he is to feel a responsibility for his sister. He carries this burden throughout the play. His mother knows if it were not for his sisters needs he would have been long gone. Laura must pickup on some of this, she is so sensitive she must sense Toms feeling of being trapped. Tom dreams of going away to learn of the world, Laura is aware of this and she is frightened of what may become of them if he were to leave.
The key triangles I will focus on are comprised of Michael, Greta and Gabriel, and, Philotson, Sue, and Jude. Although not absolutely identical, deconstruction reveals guilt, duty, and unrequited love as essential components to the construction of both.
From the first paragraph we are already given insight into the situation - Sally is living together with a man called Edward, who most certainly is her husband, and Sally is also taking care of his kids, whom they did not have together. From there on readers can guess that this probably is not Ed's first marriage and it is logical to think that Sally is aware of this fact. The reason of Ed's previous divorces remains unknown, even to Ed himself (or so we are told), Sally is bound not to let it happen again, she shall be his perfect wife and “the one” in his life. Internally, this frustrates Sally, who worries that Ed would one day realize she is not the “true bride”. “What if he wakes up one day and decides that she isn't the true bride after all, but the false one? Then she will be put into a barrel stuck full of nails and rolled downhill, endlessly, while he is sitting in yet another bridal bed, drinking champagne”(773). This passage not only fully reveals the frustration and worries of Sally but also her insecurity. Bounded by the thought of getting a divorce w...
...ociety expected of her. She makes the decision to forsake her duties towards her children and her husband to go fulfill her duties to herself to find a identity. Women even today in many cultures go through the same situations as Nora and Georgiana sacrificing they identities and desires.
The most important value of the family was to not have children out of sin and to not marry within the family, which was why Mrs. Dollanger was initially disinherited.
The characters in this novel entertain conflicting notions of morality and pride. Sometimes, these characteristics are at odds with one another, creating the immoral and "evil" characters. Other times, they cooperate to create realism in these people. The moral characters are good, but still have enough pride to be dignified, yet not arrogant. Sometimes, when the evil twins (or other halves) run amuck, things get out of hand and troubles abound. Though most of the time these troubles spring from the discrepancy between pride and morality, at other points, dignity and morality work hand in hand to create reliable and realistic characters.
Her thoughts and decisions are anything but just and ethically correct. She has not been fully experiencing the joy that marriage should have brought. She felt the death of her husband as the beginging of her new world. Her dream and excitement of entering
Literary elements are demonstrated throughout the story and further improve our understanding of the central idea. The setting is important to the central idea because it shows the reader the type of society being described in the story. The language is also important to the central idea because it contains metaphors which further prove that the people are afraid of going against tradition because they are scared of being the target of violence. The conflict contributes to the central idea as well, because there are many examples of the society going against character, Mrs. Hutchinson, for not respecting the traditions put in place. The central idea is important to our understanding of the story because it sums up the main objective and furthers our
Society has changed a lot in the last couple of decades, though, at the time set in the play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the stereotype was very much alive. Even today echoes of this archaic family model still exist. Being normal, and adapting to society, can often lead a person to feel a sense of belonging in the short term. However, the penalty for conforming is that the individual can be lost. Giving up your personal goals, in the pursuit of those passed down from your family can lead to a lifetime of regrets. Basing decisions on societal norms can also have devastating consequences, leading the individual to become lost in a mundane life that is not of their choosing. Martha and George created a fictional son for their private needs to take away from the failure they felt as married individuals by not being able to conceive a child. Nick and Honey started their marriage to fill their roles as future parents in the expected family dynamic. Confronting each couple is a personal failure resulting in an unrealized future. Neither couple has a desire to admit their shortcomings for fear of judgment from the other couple. The play, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? displays how the desire to be normal and successful, in the eyes of our peers, impacts our life
The main personality in the book of Jude is Jude. However, Jude makes it very clear that he is also referencing what Peter and Paul h...