Jude the Obscure belongs to the literary genre of Realism, as it attempts to accurately depict the situation, environment, temperament, and nature of the characters within it. Realist novels by Thomas Hardy are often focused on social criticism. The author depicts the struggles of everyday life for ordinary people in a cruel and uncaring version of England. This novel also arguably belongs to the genre of Psychological Realism, as the narrator interrogates characters' decisions and digs into the motivations behind their actions.
Hardy paints a vivid picture of the mental and physical landscapes of his characters. He brings the reader into the world of Wessex (the imaginary region of England that Jude the Obscure is set in) through incorporating political issues and local color specific to that location. His characters also often speak with West Country English accents, so the reader "hears" them as they might have actually spoken.
Jude the Obscure is also a very typical example of a Bildungsroman, or a novel of development and education. It focuses on the growth into maturity of its protagonist, Jude Fawley. In doing so, it discusses the rites of passage and the changes he has to go through in order to mature and to play his part in society. Many of Hardy's other most famous novels are also realist Bildungsromans, including Tess of the D'urbervilles and Far From The Madding Crowd.
Unlike many other Bildungsromans, however, Jude the Obscure also undoubtedly belongs to the genre of tragedy. The novel follows the conventional structure of this sad genre. The reader is made to sympathize with a protagonist and then watch them fall under the crushing weight of difficult circumstances. Jude seems doomed to fail no matter how well he acts or how hard he works, as do the other characters who associate with him. Through this, Hardy employs another level of his social criticism; in Wessex, it is almost impossible to break free from the difficulties one is born into.
