Thomas Hardy's Sue Bridehead

Thomas Hardy is one of the most widely-read novelists throughout the English-speaking world. He enjoys this vast popularity in spite of his ill-fame as a pessimistic novelist. He practically dismisses the idea of a benevolent and omnipotent God. This has drawn much debate and controversy. But despite this, he remains one of the most popular English novelists to this day. Hardy¿s fourteenth and last novel, Jude the Obscure, stirred up a veritable hornet¿s nest over its alleged attack on marriage, as well as for the delineation of Sue Bridehead¿s character. Sue, one of the two major women characters of the novel, is a strong-willed independent woman, least bothered about the society. She dares to cohabit her lover, Jude Fawley, and bear his (illegitimate) children, caring two hoots about social prejudices and moral values. In this research work the author has tried to examine the socio-cultural background, as well as Hardy¿s own mindscape, which spring-boarded the advent of such a woman in fiction.