In the novel Jude the Obscure, Hardy shows the reader that the Romantic characteristics and ideals of the characters (Jude and Sue) are detrimental to them in their anti-Romantic world. Their romantic ideals are so inherent in their personality, and so antithetical to their society, that they are better off dead than living in their world. In his novel, Hardy shows the opposition between Romanticism, associated with tradition and a "golden age," and Darwinism, representative of modernization and progress. (Davis) Hardy's characters repeatedly feel the "ache of modernism." (Rogers)
             Jude's character is Romantic rather than Darwinian, which is why he cannot survive in this age. He is sensitive to nature, which is not acceptable in Darwinian society. "...he was a boy who could not himself bear to hurt anything. He could scarcely bare to see trees cut down or lopped, from a fancy that it hurt them; and late pruning, when the sap was up, and the tree bled profusely, had been a positive grief to him in his infancy." (Hardy 17)
             As a boy, Jude is very aware of life's inequities. (Hassett 432) From the very beginning of the novel, Hardy shows us not only that Jude has a strong imagination, but also
             that there is a disparity between his imaginative world and the real world. (Davis) In Jude's ideal world, there would be enough food on the farm for the "little birdies" and for Farmer
             Troutham. Early in his life, he realizes that there is a "flaw in the terrestrial scheme." (Hardy 16) Jude finds that things do not "rhyme" as they should. "That mercy towards one set of creatures was cruelty towards another sickened his sense of harmony." (Hardy 18) The consequence of this realization is a rejection of the familiar world in favor of an ideal imaginative one. (Hassett 433)
             Hardy prophesies early in the novel that Jude's life wil...