Hardy, Religion, & Society
Posted by Linda K. on September 18, 1998 at 19:48:15:
In response to Hardy and God, written by Kellie on September 17, 1998 at 11:03:28
] Hello! Tess is only the second Hardy book I've read (the other is FFTMC and I saw the movie version of Jude). He seems to be against the traditional church and religion...(snip) - it is like a "God is unfair" theme running through his works. Anyone else get this feeling?
I am only familiar with "Tess" and "Jude" so far, but I get the feeling that Hardy is trying to poke holes in some of the beliefs and practices upheld by the church and society at large. For example, in "Jude," society turned Jude and Sue away and ultimately destroyed their family because it would not accept their "unmarried" love for one another. Never mind the fact that Jude's marriage was a sham. And in "Tess," I think Hardy attempted to show not only how ridiculous society was in condeming Tess for her rape, but also how ridiculous the church can be in saying that a poor innocent child cannot have a Christian burial or enter the kingdom of God if he is not properly baptized before his untimely death. That's just my take on it.
Posting followups to old messages is disabled; instead go to the main index and post a new message which mentions this one.
