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Definition of Motif
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the central themes of a book... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of... read full definition
Part 1, Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Rain:
Imagery related to rain appears over and over again as a motif in Jude the Obscure, emphasizing the way the world around Jude tries to cast him down, dampen his spirit, and subvert his efforts. In Part 1, Chapter 3, the young Jude feels downcast by the rain in Marygreen and considers that it can’t possibly be as bad in the “City of Colleges”:
In sad wet seasons, though he knew it must rain at Christminster too, he could hardly believe that it rained so drearily there.
Related Themes:
Part 1, Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—Nobody :
Hardy uses the motif of "nobody" throughout the book (the word occurs 78 times!) to emphasize Jude's loneliness and isolation, as well as the cruelty of his surrounding society. In Part 1, Chapter 4, Jude feels helpless and frustrated with the difficulty of learning anything from the books Mr. Phillotson has sent him:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Somebody might have come along that way who would have asked him his trouble, and might have cheered him by saying that his notions were further advanced than those of his grammarian. But nobody did come, because nobody does, and under the crushing recognition of his gigantic error Jude continued to wish himself out of the world.
Related Themes:
Part 1, Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Hard Stone:
Hardy uses the motif of Jude’s relationship with stone—heavy, hard, and solid—to illustrate the difficulty the protagonist experiences in changing his life and his career. In Part 1, Chapter 5, Jude feels frustrated with the difficulty of learning Greek from a primer and muses that:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Certainly there seemed little harmony between this pagan literature and the mediæval colleges at Christminster, that ecclesiastical romance in stone.
Related Themes:
Part 1, Chapter 9
Explanation and Analysis—Gin Traps:
Hardy uses the nasty image of a "gin" (a cruel metal trap activated by pressure) as a metaphor for Jude's rushed and early marriage to Arabella Donn. This image also recurs as a motif. In Part 1, Chapter 9, Jude compares the situation he finds himself in to being caught in one of these devices:
Unlock with LitCharts A+There seemed to him, vaguely and dimly, something wrong in a social ritual which made necessary a cancelling of well-formed schemes [...] because of a momentary surprise by a new and transitory instinct which had nothing in it of the nature of vice, and could be only at the most called weakness. He was inclined to inquire what he had done, or she lost, for that matter, that he deserved to be caught in a gin which would cripple him, if not her also, for the rest of a lifetime?
Related Themes:
Part 2, Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—Flesh and Spirit:
Hardy regularly implies that "flesh" (the desires of the body) and "spirit" (the life of the mind) are at war. This motif is tied strongly to Jude’s desire for learning, as his “flesh” gets in the way. Hardy describes this explicitly in Part 3, Chapter 10:
Unlock with LitCharts A+[Jude] perceived with despondency that, taken all round, he was a man of too many passions to make a good clergyman; the utmost he could hope for was that in a life of constant internal warfare between flesh and spirit the former might not always be victorious.
Related Themes:
Part 3, Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Troubling Incest:
Hardy incorporates the motif of incest throughout the novel. This troubles Sue’s relationship with Jude and adds another dimension of impossibility to their happiness and progress. The other girls at Sue's "training-school" imply that her and Jude's relationship is inappropriate in Part 3, Chapter 3:
Unlock with LitCharts A+‘She said he was her cousin,’ observed a youthful new girl.
‘That excuse has been made a little too often in this school to be effectual in saving our souls,’ said the head girl of the year, drily.
Related Themes:
Part 3, Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—Troubling Incest:
Hardy incorporates the motif of incest throughout the novel. This troubles Sue’s relationship with Jude and adds another dimension of impossibility to their happiness and progress. The other girls at Sue's "training-school" imply that her and Jude's relationship is inappropriate in Part 3, Chapter 3:
Unlock with LitCharts A+‘She said he was her cousin,’ observed a youthful new girl.
‘That excuse has been made a little too often in this school to be effectual in saving our souls,’ said the head girl of the year, drily.
Related Themes:
Part 3, Chapter 10
Explanation and Analysis—Flesh and Spirit:
Hardy regularly implies that "flesh" (the desires of the body) and "spirit" (the life of the mind) are at war. This motif is tied strongly to Jude’s desire for learning, as his “flesh” gets in the way. Hardy describes this explicitly in Part 3, Chapter 10:
Unlock with LitCharts A+[Jude] perceived with despondency that, taken all round, he was a man of too many passions to make a good clergyman; the utmost he could hope for was that in a life of constant internal warfare between flesh and spirit the former might not always be victorious.
Related Themes:
Part 4, Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Birds:
Hardy regularly associates the ethereal Sue Bridehead with the motif of birds in this novel. Jude often refers to her as a bird or speaks of her as birdlike when he is frustrated with their their horrible luck, as he does in this fragment from Part 4, Chapter 2:
Unlock with LitCharts A+‘It is horrible how we are circumstanced, Sue – horrible!’ he said abruptly, with his eyes bent to the floor. [...] Your part is that you ought not to have married him. I saw it before you had done it, but I thought I mustn’t interfere. I was wrong. I ought to have!’
‘But what makes you assume all this, dear?’
‘Because – I can see you through your feathers, my poor little bird!’
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Gin Traps:
Hardy uses the nasty image of a "gin" (a cruel metal trap activated by pressure) as a metaphor for Jude's rushed and early marriage to Arabella Donn. This image also recurs as a motif. In Part 1, Chapter 9, Jude compares the situation he finds himself in to being caught in one of these devices:
Unlock with LitCharts A+There seemed to him, vaguely and dimly, something wrong in a social ritual which made necessary a cancelling of well-formed schemes [...] because of a momentary surprise by a new and transitory instinct which had nothing in it of the nature of vice, and could be only at the most called weakness. He was inclined to inquire what he had done, or she lost, for that matter, that he deserved to be caught in a gin which would cripple him, if not her also, for the rest of a lifetime?
Related Themes:
Part 5, Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—Old Children:
Children who look and act older than their age because their circumstances demand maturity appear as a motif in Jude the Obscure. These figures represent the unfair demands of an uncaring world on the innocent; they also illustrate the impartiality of fate. The most evident example of this is Little Father Time, Jude's son. This creepy child not only acts older than he is but actually looks older. He is "quaint" and "weird" and is later described as also being "old" in his mannerisms in Part 5, Chapter 4:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Him they found to be in the habit of sitting silent, his quaint and weird face set, and his eyes resting on things they did not see in the substantial world. ‘His face is like the tragic mask of Melpomene, ’ said Sue.
‘What is your name, dear? Did you tell us?’
‘Little Father Time is what they always called me. It is a nickname; because I look so aged, they say.’
Related Themes:
Part 6, Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Hard Stone:
Hardy uses the motif of Jude’s relationship with stone—heavy, hard, and solid—to illustrate the difficulty the protagonist experiences in changing his life and his career. In Part 1, Chapter 5, Jude feels frustrated with the difficulty of learning Greek from a primer and muses that:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Certainly there seemed little harmony between this pagan literature and the mediæval colleges at Christminster, that ecclesiastical romance in stone.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Rain:
Imagery related to rain appears over and over again as a motif in Jude the Obscure, emphasizing the way the world around Jude tries to cast him down, dampen his spirit, and subvert his efforts. In Part 1, Chapter 3, the young Jude feels downcast by the rain in Marygreen and considers that it can’t possibly be as bad in the “City of Colleges”:
Unlock with LitCharts A+In sad wet seasons, though he knew it must rain at Christminster too, he could hardly believe that it rained so drearily there.
Related Themes:
Part 6, Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Birds:
Hardy regularly associates the ethereal Sue Bridehead with the motif of birds in this novel. Jude often refers to her as a bird or speaks of her as birdlike when he is frustrated with their their horrible luck, as he does in this fragment from Part 4, Chapter 2:
Unlock with LitCharts A+‘It is horrible how we are circumstanced, Sue – horrible!’ he said abruptly, with his eyes bent to the floor. [...] Your part is that you ought not to have married him. I saw it before you had done it, but I thought I mustn’t interfere. I was wrong. I ought to have!’
‘But what makes you assume all this, dear?’
‘Because – I can see you through your feathers, my poor little bird!’
Related Themes:
Part 6, Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—Maiden Blushes:
Hardy uses the visual imagery of things reddening as a motif. In Part 6, Chapter 6 Arabella tries to pass off her “spirituous crimson” (a red flush from drinking too much) as nothing more than a “maiden blush”:
Unlock with LitCharts A+‘Well, we’ve been waiting for certain legal hours to arrive, to tell the truth, ’ she continued bashfully, and making her spirituous crimson look as much like a maiden blush as possible. ‘Jude and I have decided to make up matters between us by tying the knot again, as we find we can’t do without one another after all. So, as a bright notion, we agreed to sit on till it was late enough, and go and do it off-hand.’
Related Themes:
Part 6, Chapter 8
Explanation and Analysis—Pigs:
Throughout the novel, Arabella is associated with a motif of sensuality, dirtiness, and slovenliness. More specifically, she is often associated with details related to pigs. In Part 6, Chapter 8, she berates Jude for his debilitating chronic illness, raging that:
Unlock with LitCharts A+‘I’ve got a bargain for my trouble in marrying thee over again!’ Arabella was saying to him. ‘I shall have to keep ’ee entirely, – that’s what ’twill come to! I shall have to make black-pot and sausages, and hawk ’em about the street, all to support an invalid husband I’d no business to be saddled with at all. Why didn’t you keep your health, deceiving one like this? You were well enough when I married you!’
Related Themes:
