Abstract: Thomas Hardy is one of the most outstanding English writers of Victorian age. Because most of Hardy’s novels set in the country of Wessex, his novels are called Wessex Novel. His masterpiece, Jude the Obscure, is a novel of ageless charm which dramatizes the conflict between carnal and spiritual life, tracing Jude’s life from his boyhood to his death. Based on Archetype criticism, especially Biblical archetypes, this paper is to analyze the novel by comparing three main characters with Biblical archetypes, especially with a focus on Jude, in order to have a better understanding of this work, and a deeper appreciation of the author.

Key words: Archetype criticism; Biblical archetypes; characters; Jude

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1. Introduction -1

1.1 About Thomas Hardy-1

1.2 About Jude the Obscure-2

1.3 Previous Studies on Jude the Obscure-3

2. Arcehtype Criticism and Biblical Archetypes-4

2.1 Arcehtype Criticism-5

2.2 Biblical Archetype-6

2.3 Three Types of Biblical Archetype-6

3. Analysis of Characters in Jude the obscure-7

3.1 Three Archetypal Characters in Jude-8

3.2 Sue and Ishmael-14

3.3 Arabella and Delilah-16

4. Conclusion-18

References-19