Religion drives two things in particular in this
novel.
First, religion and religious ideas initially define
Jude's self-image and later his ambition. The moral precepts of Christianity also form
Jude's uncritical moral views until Sue has a chance to convince him that these views do
not allow for the honest pursuit of one's truest life (if that life does not include
marriage or if it means divorce, etc.).
In the first three
sections of the novel, Jude occassionally makes biblical references and also pursues a
religiously founded education (for a time). He also gets most of his work as a stone
mason in religious contexts - in churches.
Jude has been trained to reconstruct Gothic,
medieval churches. Hardy placed great value in historical preservation, believing
urbanization to be the source of the destruction of the rural
past.
Religion also drives
the moral vision of the society of England at large. It is this vision that Jude finally
rebels against, to some degree, and which Sue chafes against constantly, begining with
her purchase of two Roman statues. These statues are then smashed by the house mother
where Sue is staying, symbolizing the nature of the conflict: the honest feelings of the
individual are destroyed if they do not conform to the widely held moral feelings of
society.
Even Phillotson, a quite conventional man, finds
that he is forced to go against the views of society at large. He is
defeated.
It is religion, as a general body of ideas, that
represents and codifies the moral views of the society depicted in the novel. It is
religion, ironically and symbolically, that lands the fatal blow against Jude and Sue
when they are run out of town while working on a job re-furbishing the ten
commandments.
The most significant aspect of the pervasive
religious moral view of the day is the view of marriage. The novel's central interest is
marriage, the inflexibility of the institution, and the effects of marriage on the
spirits of those who are married.
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