ABSTRACT
Jude the Obscure can be viewed as an examination of the central premise behind the ostensibly happy ending of Great Expectations. Jude confronts the same dilemmas that Pip does, but in Great Expectations, the conflicts are objectively modelled in other characters. Pip can see in Biddy and Joe a model of integration, can witness the meaninglessness of work on the High Street, can study Mr. Wemmick and Mr. Jaggers and measure the consequences of corrupting work. Jude’s first encounter with Arabella occurs as he is walking home from work, carrying his tools on his back, lost in thoughts of his developing intellectual prowess. Jude even begins to acknowledge that there is something to be learned from the working class experience: “he began to see that the town life was a book of humanity infinitely more palpitating, varied and compendious than the gown life”.
