Compromised female characters in Far from the Madding Crowd, Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure Thomas Hardy's novels are intricate and complicated works whose plots seem to be completely planned out before the first word is actually formed on paper. While I have no evidence of Hardy's writing method, it is clear that in the novels Far from the Madding Crowd, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, and Jude the Obscure he focuses more on plot development than characterization. The benefits of this can easily be seen in the clever twists and turns that occur in the novel and that keep the reader interested. But the main reason why Hardy uses this method, especially in the tragedies Tess and Jude, is to present the reader with a moral argument through the actions performed by and towards the main characters of the novels. By defining turning points in advance, Hardy is able to control the course of his writings, which emerge as social criticism. But in doing so the characters are condemned to a literary predestination. Hardy focuses more on forcing characters to perform these actions than on allowing their personalities to develop fully and freely. Women perform most of the necessary but unlikely actions, and Hardy blames any erratic behavior on the woman's natural inconsistency. Therefore, in achieving a high literary goal, Hardy inadvertently hinders the development of the main female characters. Jude the Obscure is designed to show the flaws and repercussions of religious and social conventions, with an emphasis on marriage. According to Hardy, short-lived impulses drive people to marry, which bonds couples until death. When these feelings of affection fade, they must live together... middle of paper... eventually attract the attention of a man she has no desire to be with, turning her character into a provocation. She begins to be seen as a comedic character and is given less respect. She is just another female character used to run the machine in Hardy's novels, and as a result she takes on a more mechanical and stereotyped appearance. Hardy's intentions are noble. It tries to show the case for giving more social freedom to everyone, women in particular, but compromises their characters in the process. Novels would benefit greatly if there was a more spontaneous atmosphere and characters were given free rein to develop unhindered, but novels could result in the loss of such powerful moral messages. So, changing the characters might endanger the importance of the novels in the story, but it would definitely improve the overall reading experience.