The document provides an analysis of the character Sue Bridehead from Thomas Hardy's novel 'Jude the Obscure'. It highlights Sue as an intelligent, feminist figure who grapples with her beliefs and relationships, particularly with Jude Fawley and Richard Philotson. The text reflects on Hardy's critique of marriage and societal norms through Sue's complex emotional responses.

1. Character of Sue
Bridehead

2. Personal Details
● Prepared by Payal Bambhaniya
● Roll no. :- 18
● Sem :- 1 (M.A.)
● Paper No. :- 104
● Paper Name :- Literature of the Victorians
● Enrollment no. :- 40692064220002
● Batch :- 2022 – 2024
● Submitted to :- Department of English, M.K.B.U.

3. About WRITER - Thomas Hardy
• Thomas Hardy was a English Novelist and Poet. Who set
much of his work in Wessex.
• Born :- 1840
• Died :- 1928
• Hardy was the eldest of the four children of Thomas Hardy, a
stonemason and jobbing builder.
• Thomas Hardy was an important British writer and poet for
the 1800s and early 1900s. He changed the way the world
look at everything. His books were very powerful and
emotional.
• He primarily regarded himself as a poet, who only wrote
novels for financial support, he was and still is much better
known for his novels.

4. Hardy’s works
● Under the Greenwood Tree
● Far from the Madding Crowd
● The Return of the Native
● The Mayor of Casterbridge
● Tess of the D’Urbervilles
● Jude the Obscure

5. Introduction of Novel
● Jude the obscure is a novel written by Thomas Hardy.
● Jude the obscure is Hardy’s last work of fiction.
● First published in book form in 1895.
● Highly criticized for sexual and anti – religion theme.
● It is a story of man , Jude , who falls in love with his
cousin Sue Bridehead.
● The novel is concerned in perticular with issues of class ,
education, religion, morality and marriage.

6. Characters of the Novel
• Jude Fawley
• Susanna Bridehead ( Sue )
• Arabella Donn
• Aunt Drusilla
• Richard Philotson
• Little Father Time ( Little Jude )

7. Character of Sue Bridehead
• She is a protagonist of the Novel.
• She is an extremely intelligent woman who
rejects Christianity and flirts with paganism,
despite working as a religious artist and then
teacher.
• She is the first feminist character in the English
Fiction.
• Sue is often described as “ethereal” and
“bodiless” and she generally lacks sexual
passion, especially compared to Jude.
• Sue marries Philotson as a Kind of rebuke to
Jude for his own marriage to Arabella, and is
then repulsed by Philotson as a husband.

8. • She is a portrayed as inconsistent and emotional,
often changing her mind abruptly, but she develops
a strong relationship and love with Jude.
• Though she starts out nonreligious, the death of her
children drives Sue to a harsh, legalistic version of
Christianity as she believes she is being punished
for her earlier rebellion against Christianity.
• And she returned to Philotson Even thought she
never ceases to live Jude.

9. Sue Bridehead and Arabella Donn
• In the novel we can see that two different women, Sue Bridehead and Arabella Donn, share
the same man in Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure.
• Sue is very intelligent and young woman. Her mind, her education, her unconventional
beliefs and especially her insistence on these beliefs impress Jude.
• His affection to Arabella Donn is quite different.
• Arabella Donn is wife of Jude. She is a vain, sensual Woman who is the daughter of a pig
farmer. She decides to marry Jude. Arabella sees marriage as a Kind of entrapment and as
a source of financial security. When Jude dies she immediately starts seeking a new
husband.
• So In the novel Hardy described the two different kind of women.

10. Conclusion
• In the novel we can see that Hardy try to reflect some controversial ideas about
the institution of marriage.
• He uses Sue’s character to voice throughout the novel.
• However, Sue’s complex, frustrating, emotional responses to her relationship
with Jude and Philotson make her much more than a mere mouthpiece for
Thomas Hardy to express his Social criticism.
• The Characteriation of Sue was already part of a Tradition , the tradition of the
New Women, the Proto – Feminist, the young woman who is educated,
intelligent and free spirited.

11. Works Citation
• Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Jude the Obscure". Encyclopedia Britannica, 19 Feb. 2018,
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Jude-the-Obscure. Accessed 17 October 2022.
• Cosby, Matt. "Jude the Obscure Characters: Sue Bridehead." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 24 Jul 2014.
Web. 17 Oct 2022.
• Horlacher, Stefan. “‘Joseph the Dreamer of Dreams’: Jude Fawley’s Construction of Masculinity in
Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure.” Configuring Masculinity in Theory and Literary Practice, edited
by Stefan Horlacher, Brill, 2015, pp. 141–68. JSTOR, http://w.
Millgate, Michael. "Thomas Hardy".
• Millgate, Michael. "Thomas Hardy". Encyclopedia Britannica, 31 Aug. 2022,
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Hardy. Accessed 17 October 2022.
• Stewart, Dugald, 1753-1828, et al. Encyclopaedia Britannica, A. & C. Black. JSTOR,
https://jstor.org/stable/community.27604300. Accessed 17 Oct. 2022

12. Thank you