Analysis of Jude the obscure with Existentialism开题报告

1. 研究目的与意义

Existentialismis a school of philosophy that emerged after the First World War, aiming to explorethe plight of human beings: the meaninglessness and purposelessness of life,the alienation and anxiety of human beings in this absurd world. At the sametime, it emphasizes the pursuit of real existence in the absurd world. Hardy,in his last novel Jude the Obscure,shows us the predicament of human existence. The novel tells the story of alonely individual struggling in vain in a ridiculous world. Jude tries to find egoand the meaning of life in an absurd world. He wanted to go to college, so he workedhis whole life for it, but failed. He had persistent pursuit of true love, but endedin pain.

When it comes to the realworld, many people are suffering from the loss of themselves. They are toodespaired to continue their life. During this absurd time, Existentialism tellsus that life is painful and meaningless, but we should try our best to realizeour life value in this absurd world. That is what I just want to express inthis paper, no matter how difficult the conditions are, we should have hope andcourage to realize the value of our own existence.

2. 研究内容和预期目标

firstly,i will give a brief introduction of thomas hardy, the story jude the obscure and existentialism.secondly, i will analyze jude’s dream of fulfillment in the view of existentialism.thirdly, i will discuss the ‘existence’ of jude in his pursuit of love. finally,give a comment of jude’s existence.

in jude’s short life, henever gives up and insists on pursuing himself. this is what existentialistphilosophy wants to tell us. it is also what i want to convey in this paper: nomatter how hard the life is, we should have hope and fight bravely to realize ourlife value.

3. 国内外研究现状

Thevast majority of western scholars analyze Judethe Obscure in the view of Feminism and Love. As Margaret R, Higonnet shown in hispaper ‘The Sense of Sex: Feminist Perspectives on Hardy’, she revealed that womanare oppressed by men and civilized society. After the 1970s, with the rise ofliterary theory, philosophy replaces the dominant position of Feminism. Jagdish, Chandra, Dave pointed out the dilemma of modern society by the analysis of Jude the Obscure in his book The Human Predicament in Hardy’s Novels.They acknowledged difficulties but they didn’t pay any attention to find theway of self-salvation. When it comes to Existentialism, none of them analyzes Jude the Obscure in this view. They evenpay little attention to Existentialism at present.

Domestic research is familiarto western research, most scholar focus on Pessimism and Feminism. Ding Shizhongstated Pessimism which can beaccounted for the struggle between soul and body in his paper. Xiao Manqiongpointed out the tragedy of Jude’s marriage in her paper. She strongly attackedthe traditional moral concepts of Victorian era and the institution of marriagethat destroy human nature. But there are some different scholars, they analyze Jude the Obscure in the view ofExistentialism. When it comes to the domestic research of Existentialism, ZhangQingwei acknowledged that death is the common theme in Existentialism, and hepointed out that ‘death consciousness’ brings great vitality to Existentialism.Tan Jingfeng staled that Existentialism has broken the inherent theoreticalframework of people''''''''''''''''s thoughts before, making choice as the most importantliving phenomenon of people, opening up a unique way of philosophical thinkingfor us to seek liberation and call conscience in the destruction. To theanalysis of Jude the Obscure, insteadof previous study which focused on Nihilism by Yang Li, Liu Yan pointed out thecourage in despair in her paper and called on us to live bravely.

4. 计划与进度安排

1.beforenovember 1^st, 2022, the topic selection has to be completed.

2.beforenovember 29^th, 2022, the opening work must be completed.

3.beforemarch 13^th, 2022, to finish the first draft and mid-term inspection.

5. 参考文献

dave, jagdish chandra. (1985). the human predicament in hardy’s novels.palgrave macmillan press.

draper, r p. (1991). thomas hardy: the tragic novels. palgravepress.