An analysis of Thomas Hardy's Tess of The D'Urbervilles and Jude The Obscure in the light of feminist criticism

Victorian Age was a great time of change in many ways. The growth of urban civilization, the technological developments, the gradual increase in personal wealth were some of the reasons which caused to change the period of that time. Paralel to the innovations on technology, class issues, economy, family and love relationships, writers started to reflect such kind of changes in their work of arts. It was such a powerful era that most of the great novels were written in that period. The fiction of that era has taken its name from the Queen Victoria and has been called as Victorian fiction.Thomas Hardy was one of the most prolific writers of the Victorian Age. As a reflection of great changes in social and economical life in the Victorian Age, he creates his own style in English literature. He focuses on the complex issues such as class distinctions, family and love relations with a various, open and self conscious form. His novels mainly deal with issues concerning women in this time period.My argument in this study is focused on his ambiguity towards his female characters. On the one hand, he is praised by some critics as he defends his female heroines thinking that they are oppressed under the rigid norms of Victorian society. On the other hand, as other critics support, his perception towards women was influenced by the conservative society, therefore his novels are criticized as being biased from a male point of view.In my thesis, I will examine his most well-known novels, Tess of the d?Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure in the light of feminist criticism in order to show his ambiguity towards his female characters.Key Words: Victorian Age, Hardy, women, feminist criticism