Jud Fry: Where Does he Belong?

Oklahoma! is one of the most well-known classic musicals. One of my favorites. About five years ago, I watched the 1955 movie, and at the time it didn't appeal to me much. I try to remember what I thought of the whole thing, but I don't quite remember. All I remember is the story line. Well, not my high school is doing a stage production of it, and now I see how epic it is. But the character that caught my attention the most is Jud Fry. What I remembered from the movie is he was this really creepy guy that dies in the end. In my high school's production, he's played by a great guy who's a senior in high school. At first I was skeptical about my director's casting. But once I sat through the first practice (I'm just a chorus person) I was totally convinced that the casting of Jud was perfect. I've re-watched the movie, I've seen the 1999 London production (not live, unfortunately, just a recording), and I still think that my Jud is the best there will ever be.
So who is Jud Fry? Creepy, dirty guy is what most people say when I ask them that. I, however, think differently. For those who have only seen the movie, I completely understand their placement of the hired hand. The one thing I hate about the movie is that they cut out Lonely Room. That song kinda, I dunno, cracked Jud's shell open. He revealed his more emotional side. One of the reasons Jud is my favorite character is that I linked with him instantly. Jud knows exactly what he wants, but still does as he's told. Jud wants to be, "accepted", I guess would be the right word. He want a decent living, a handful of money, a place in society, and, of course, he wants Laurey. But he still does his job. Aunt Eller said herself that Jud was the best hired hand she'd ever had, and pretty much ran the whole farm himself. So he's a hard worker. The part of him that really connects with me is that I think he has kind of a social barrier. I'm not saying he's stupid or something, he jut has a hard time putting his feelings into words. He acts on his thoughts, but doesn't talk a whole lot, let alone tell anyone how he really feels. About halfway through the musical, Curly tries to convince Jud to commit suicide. In what world is that right? Once Curly and Ali leave, he submits to Curly's insults. He decides that pictures of women (I'll talk about those later) aren't enough anymore. He's gonna get himself a bride. But not just any bride. He's gonna get Laurey. The song is kinda out of character from the Jud we've been exposed to for the first chunk of the show. It's a very deep song, and it almost has the moral of "everyone has dreams." So is Curly, the smart aleck cowhand, really better than Jud? As I stated earlier, Jud works all-day, everyday. As for the pictures of women, is he really worse than anyone else? Will's "Little Wonder" had a picture of a woman in it, and he also talked about the stripper show he went to. When Curly visits the smokehouse, he is interested by the pictures, and even though he said "I'd go blind!" when he saw the postcards, he didn't stop looking. Ali Hakim seemed pretty stocked with pictures, so Jud can't be the only one that buys them.
Now we tackle the topic of the dream ballet, where Jud does all sorts of nasty things to Laurey (and the random stripper ladies). I'm not going to dwell long on this topic, because it's pretty simple. It's all Laurey's dream. You can only dream of things you know about. So to Laurey, Jud is a creepy, controlling, obsessive guy. So that's how he is in her dream.
Jud death, for me, us a sad affair. The only thing he wants in the world completely rejected him, and banned him from coming on her land. The last thing he had to live for was gone. He was gonna go with a fight. So during Laurey's wedding party, he came. Jud was either going to kill Curly, or die trying. Unfortunately (well, for weird people like me), the latter happens. Fell on his own knife. So did anyone come to Jud's funeral? Was there any weeping and wailing from the womenfolk? Were there flowers, and palms?
Before writing this, I talked to the person who plays Jud in my school. He said that he liked putting a bit of "umph" in the Lonely Room, and he wasn't comfortable doing weird things to the girl who plays Laurey, but he would if the director told him to. He wanted to bring out the more human part of Jud, but still but that evil edge on him.
So, just like in everything, good is a matter of perspective. Where's Jud's place in your mind?