ABSTRACT
The catastrophe is a product of both Jude and Sue's characters and of the external factors emphasized by the novel's rhetoric. Jude's fascination with Christminster is partly to blame. The family arrives on Remembrance Day by Jude's design. Just as Jude's ruling passion contributes to the catastrophe, so does Sue's persistent avoidance of marriage and her present lack of self-control. Hardy's critique of marriage and of social and religious attitudes toward it has been prominent throughout the novel, but it escalates toward the end, in large part through Sue's transformation. Phillotson's humane behavior turns out to cost a great deal. Sue attempts to cope with her overwhelming anxiety by compliance and self-effacement, defensive strategies that Hardy intuitively understood and admirably portrayed. The ending of Jude the Obscure confirms Hardy's dark vision of life. Sensitive, well-meaning, innocent people like Sue and, especially the generous Jude, are destroyed in this absurd world, while the coarse, callous, selfish Arabella makes out reasonably well.
