Sue of Jude the Obscure.

        Sue experiences many hardships as a result of her ideals because she would not compromise them. The fact that she would not compromise is always at the expense of those she loves. One of the most difficult hardships that Sues faces is the lost of her children. Sue and Jude were irresponsible parents to their children and she did not cause their deaths but she could have prevented them. Sue and Jude after taking  in Jude’s son Jewy, the son of Jude’s ex-wife Arabella had two children of their own. The family is constantly relocated because they are shunned by society because of their social status. The family eventually returns to Christminster so that Jude can find work. The family seek shelter at an inn where the owner asks Sue of her marital status and she tells the woman that she is unmarried by society’s standards. The woman then informs her husband of the situation and he orders that they leave their home the next morning. Jewy hears the news and is very hurt because and inquires from his mother what he might do in order to help the situation. She assures him there is nothing that he can do and leaves him alone with his brother and sister to find Jude. When they return she discovers that Jewy kills his brother and sister because he fells that they are the cause of their family’s troubles. This is avoidable because she could have lied about being married to Jude or even could have just had a marriage ceremony. Instead she suffers to prove her point which would be fine if she were only one person, instead she causes her children to suffer and eventually lose their lives.

        Sue perceives the death of her children as vengeance from God for her wrongs. She thought that Jude’s son who was a legitimate child killing her illegitimate children was a sign from God; she called it “the right killing the wrong.” She then believes that Jude was never her one true husband because she had married Phillotson first and therefore he was her rightful husband. She then abandons Jude in an effort to save herself. Sue at one time denounced Christianity on the basis of its conventionality returned to it with the same fervent passion that she had devoted to being against it. As she once defended her ideals against Christianity at the expense of the suffering of others she now defended Christianity despite Jude’s suffering. Jude goes to Sue to try and convince her of her old beliefs but she does not listen to him and then in a moment of desperation she rationalizes why she could return to her old beliefs until she switches back and then tells Jude she will not be with him. This hurts Jude tremendously and he then dies, not only of sickness but also of a broken heart. She then returns to Mr. Phillotson and leaves Jude to return to his ex-wife Arabella.  

        In the end it becomes apparent that Sue Bridehead lives her life according to rhetoric instead of convictions. Her ideals that she devotes her life to not only ruins her life but that of her entire family. The problem with Sue is that her ideals were not strong enough based for her to constantly defend them. After all the pain that they cause and after she defends them until she has nothing left she abandons them in order to make herself feel better. Sue fails in life because she never really sought to have convictions to have them but to project this unconventional character that would be a rebel in her society. But the ideals that she establishes to do so are not ones that she happens to believe in. She cannot figure this out because she does not know the person that she truly is and therefore she has no real identity and left free to adopt whatever convictions she chooses and then molds herself to fit them.