Another Way “The letter killeth”: Classical Study in Jude the Obscure

Abstract The epigraph to Jude the Obscure enables a more thorough understanding of the novel's criticism of the university. Read literally, the statement “the letter killeth” amplifies Hardy's rebuke of the class prejudice that kills Jude's dream of university study by calling attention to the letter in which it is most nakedly expressed. Read allusively, the epigraph condemns the university's examination system and program of classical study, which discourage invention, creativity, and originality in favor of rote learning. Critics within and outside the university (including Ruskin) urged reform of this system. In The Stones of Venice, Ruskin examines the ideology that robs industrial workers and university students of the capacity for creative invention by demanding strict adherence to approved methods, and he employs the phrase “the letter killeth” to condemn it. Hardy knew The Stones of Venice well, and it is plausible that Ruskin informs his depiction of classical study. Metaphorically describing th...