Jude the Obscure
The book Jude the obscure begins with the main character Jude Fawley
who has hopes and dreams of attending University of Christminster, but his past
of being an orphan raised by his aunt pushes him toward a career as a stone
mason. He is motivated by the motivations of the town schoolmaster, Richard
Phillotson, who left for Christminster when Jude was a child. However, Jude
falls in love with a young woman named Arabella; Jude is then tricked into
marrying Arabella, and cannot leave the village. As time passes on their
marriage goes bad and Arabella moves to Australia, Jude then wants to go back to
Christminster. Jude then meets his cousin Sue Bridehead and tries not to fall in
love with her. Jude decides to find a way for Sue to work for Phillotson in
order to keep her to stay in the town, but then finds out that the two are
engaged to be married. Once they got married Jude finds out Sue is not happy
with the marriage, she can no longer put up with the relationship and leaves her
husband for Jude. Jude and Sue decide to get divorced, but Sue does not want to
get remarried. Arabella begins to tell Jude that they have a son together in
Australia, and Jude asks to take him in. Sue and Jude become parents to the boy
and have two more children of their own. Jude becomes severely ill, and once he
recovers, he decides to go back to Christminster with his family. AS they arrive
back to Christminster they have trouble finding a place to stay because they’re
not married and Jude stays in a different room then Sue and the children. The
next morning Sue goes to Jude’s room and eats breakfast with him they return to
the lodging house to find that Jude’s son has hanged the other two children and
including himself. Sue begins to feel she has been punished by God for her
relationship with Jude, Sue then begins to go back to Phillotson, and Jude is
tricked into living with Arabella again, Jude dies soon later.
C.haracters
Jude Fawley- Jude is the hero and the main character of the book and his life
is connected to other characters in the story. Jude is the protagonist as an
ordinary working-class man, and struggling hard to realize that his dreams are
ruined by the social system. Jude is an outsider who is denied by the social
class. We first see Jude as a child at age eleven, hardworking, preserving
affectionate and, sensitive. As Jude grows older he begins to want everything
living creature living to suffer no matter what it is. Jude’s death at age
thirty tells you that he has been cursed by society, his death in Christminster
on Remembrance Day and his loneliness and desolation has a strange poignancy.
The reader is left with a feeling of bitterness.
Sue Bridehead- Sue is the villain of the book, but Jude sees Sue as charming,
lively, intelligent, interesting and attractive. The other side of Sues
personality is she is self-centered, she is wanting more than she is willing to
give up; she is outspoken but afraid to suit her actions into words, she wants
to be loved but is afraid of her emotions and desires. Jude has given herself
more freedom than she knows how to handle. She wants to
believe that she is free to establish a new sort of relationship to men, even as
she demands freedom to examine new ideas. But at the end she finds herself in
the role of sinner performing penance for her misconduct. As Jude says, they
were perhaps ahead of their time.
Arabella Donn- Arabella is the least ambitious, though what she wants she
pursuits with determination and creativity. Arabella is after a man who will
meet her needs that will provide the comforts and some of the luxuries of life.
She is attractive in an exaggerated way, good-humored is common in her tastes
and interests. She is capable of understanding a good deal in the emotional life
of other people, especially women, as shown on several occasions with Sue.
Arabella never quite finds what she wants either. Jude's desires put her off
when they are first married, but after him Cartlett is obviously a poor
substitute, though she doesn't complain. She wants Jude again and gets him, but
she isn't satisfied, since he is past the point of being much good to her. She
has a self-interest that amounts to an instinct for survival, rather than the
self-interest of a Sue that is the same as pride. And, of course, she does
survive intact in a way the others don't. Though at the end of the novel she is
standing by Jude's coffin, Vilbert awaits her somewhere in the city.
I. Works cited
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/jude/summary.html
http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/monkeynotes/pmJude62.asp
The book Jude the obscure begins with the main character Jude Fawley
who has hopes and dreams of attending University of Christminster, but his past
of being an orphan raised by his aunt pushes him toward a career as a stone
mason. He is motivated by the motivations of the town schoolmaster, Richard
Phillotson, who left for Christminster when Jude was a child. However, Jude
falls in love with a young woman named Arabella; Jude is then tricked into
marrying Arabella, and cannot leave the village. As time passes on their
marriage goes bad and Arabella moves to Australia, Jude then wants to go back to
Christminster. Jude then meets his cousin Sue Bridehead and tries not to fall in
love with her. Jude decides to find a way for Sue to work for Phillotson in
order to keep her to stay in the town, but then finds out that the two are
engaged to be married. Once they got married Jude finds out Sue is not happy
with the marriage, she can no longer put up with the relationship and leaves her
husband for Jude. Jude and Sue decide to get divorced, but Sue does not want to
get remarried. Arabella begins to tell Jude that they have a son together in
Australia, and Jude asks to take him in. Sue and Jude become parents to the boy
and have two more children of their own. Jude becomes severely ill, and once he
recovers, he decides to go back to Christminster with his family. AS they arrive
back to Christminster they have trouble finding a place to stay because they’re
not married and Jude stays in a different room then Sue and the children. The
next morning Sue goes to Jude’s room and eats breakfast with him they return to
the lodging house to find that Jude’s son has hanged the other two children and
including himself. Sue begins to feel she has been punished by God for her
relationship with Jude, Sue then begins to go back to Phillotson, and Jude is
tricked into living with Arabella again, Jude dies soon later.
C.haracters
Jude Fawley- Jude is the hero and the main character of the book and his life
is connected to other characters in the story. Jude is the protagonist as an
ordinary working-class man, and struggling hard to realize that his dreams are
ruined by the social system. Jude is an outsider who is denied by the social
class. We first see Jude as a child at age eleven, hardworking, preserving
affectionate and, sensitive. As Jude grows older he begins to want everything
living creature living to suffer no matter what it is. Jude’s death at age
thirty tells you that he has been cursed by society, his death in Christminster
on Remembrance Day and his loneliness and desolation has a strange poignancy.
The reader is left with a feeling of bitterness.
Sue Bridehead- Sue is the villain of the book, but Jude sees Sue as charming,
lively, intelligent, interesting and attractive. The other side of Sues
personality is she is self-centered, she is wanting more than she is willing to
give up; she is outspoken but afraid to suit her actions into words, she wants
to be loved but is afraid of her emotions and desires. Jude has given herself
more freedom than she knows how to handle. She wants to
believe that she is free to establish a new sort of relationship to men, even as
she demands freedom to examine new ideas. But at the end she finds herself in
the role of sinner performing penance for her misconduct. As Jude says, they
were perhaps ahead of their time.
Arabella Donn- Arabella is the least ambitious, though what she wants she
pursuits with determination and creativity. Arabella is after a man who will
meet her needs that will provide the comforts and some of the luxuries of life.
She is attractive in an exaggerated way, good-humored is common in her tastes
and interests. She is capable of understanding a good deal in the emotional life
of other people, especially women, as shown on several occasions with Sue.
Arabella never quite finds what she wants either. Jude's desires put her off
when they are first married, but after him Cartlett is obviously a poor
substitute, though she doesn't complain. She wants Jude again and gets him, but
she isn't satisfied, since he is past the point of being much good to her. She
has a self-interest that amounts to an instinct for survival, rather than the
self-interest of a Sue that is the same as pride. And, of course, she does
survive intact in a way the others don't. Though at the end of the novel she is
standing by Jude's coffin, Vilbert awaits her somewhere in the city.
I. Works cited
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/jude/summary.html
http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/monkeynotes/pmJude62.asp