THE ONE DIMENSIONAL MAN IN THOMAS HARDY’S JUDE THE OBSCURE

Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure (1895) successfully represents the conflict between the individuals and the bourgeois industrial society in the late Victorian period. Herbert Marcuse’s criticism of the contemporary industrial society, which is actually a one dimensional society that imposes absolute norms on the individuals who are forced to become one dimensional wo/men, is quite relevant for a critical approach on this conflict. Marcuse’s approach enables a critical analysis of the social hegemony on such characters as Jude Fawley and Sue Bridehead in the novel. According to Marcuse, the institutionalised form of social oppression on the individuals aims to force people to lead one dimensional lives in accordance with dominant social norms. Marcuse underlines the conflict between individuality and social order. Hence, the protection of social harmony and the established bourgeois social order depends on the subjection of these individuals to the rules of the one dimensional society and actually destroys individuality. So, this article argues that, viewed from Herbert Marcuse’s perspective, social oppression in Hardy’s Jude the Obscure suppresses individuality to create one dimensional characters in a one dimensional society.

Thomas Hardy’nin Jude The Obscure Eserinde Tek Boyutlu İnsan

Thomas Hardy’nin Jude the Obscure (1895) eseri bireyler ile geç Viktorya dönemi burjuva sanayi toplumu arasındaki çatışmayı başarılı bir şekilde betimler. Herbert Marcuse’un günümüz sanayi toplumunu sorgulayan yaklaşımı, ki bu toplumsal yapı bireyleri tek boyutlu insanlara dönüşmeye zorlayan mutlak toplumsal kuralları baskıyla uygulayan tek boyutlu bir toplumdur, bu çatışmanın eleştirel bir yaklaşımla incelenmesi amacına son derece uygundur. Bu çalışmanın amacı, Marcuse’un yaklaşımını benimseyerek romanda özellikle Jude Fawley ve Sue Bridehead gibi karakterlerin üzerindeki toplumsal baskıyı eleştirel bir yaklaşımla incelemektir. Marcuse’a göre, bireyler üzerindeki sosyal baskının kurumsallaşmış olması, bu kişileri hâkim sosyal kurallara göre tek boyutlu yaşamlar sürmeye zorlar. Marcuse bireysellik ve toplumsal düzen arasındaki çatışmaya dikkat çeker. Bu nedenle, sosyal uyumun ve kurulu burjuva düzeninin korunması bu bireylerin tek boyutlu toplumun kurallarına mahkûm edilmesine bağlıdır ve aslında bireyselliği de yok etmektedir. Dolayısıyla, bu makale, Herbert Marcuse’un bakış açısıyla yaklaşıldığında, Hardy’nin Jude the Obscure eserindeki toplumsal baskının, tek boyutlu toplumda yaşayan tek boyutlu karakterler yaratmak amacıyla bireyselliği ortadan kaldırdığını savunmaktadır.

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