Jude the Obscure

Jude the Obscure

by

Thomas Hardy

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Jude the Obscure: Part 6, Chapter 6 Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
Meanwhile Arabella comes to Jude’s lodgings, telling him that her father has kicked her out and she has no money or shelter. Jude is unable to be cruel to her, so he takes her in and his landlord lets her stay in the attic. Arabella tells Jude that Sue went through with her marriage to Phillotson. A few days later Jude is still depressed, and Arabella offers to go visit Anny at Alfredston and get any news about Sue.
Arabella now returns to her old tricks, and she knows Jude has no strength to stand up against her. She begins by playing to his natural sympathy for the downtrodden and unwanted, and rubbing salt in the wound of his break with Sue.
Themes
Marriage Theme Icon
Women in Society Theme Icon
Arabella goes and returns that same day, practicing making dimples on the train ride. She tells Jude that Sue went through with the marriage, though part of her seemed against it. Arabella admits to a similar feeling to Sue’s – Arabella says she feels like she is still Jude’s wife. Jude brushes this off, but then he goes to a tavern for the first time in many months.
Arabella is single again, and she decides (with a total lack of love or anything other than jealousy and greed) that she wants Jude back, so she piggybacks on Sue’s new theory about returning to their first marriage.
Themes
Marriage Theme Icon
Women in Society Theme Icon
Jude stays out late, and Arabella goes to her father’s house and tells him to leave the door unlocked that night, as she has a chance to win Jude back again. Arabella then finds Jude drunk at a tavern, and she buys him more drinks. Jude laments his loss of Sue, and says that no one understands him like she did, though she has now ruined his soul to save her own. Arabella takes the drunk Jude back to her father’s house and leads him upstairs.
Arabella’s father (Donn) is just as callous as she is, and he is willing to indulge her tricks if it will get Arabella out of his house. Arabella is once again associated with alcohol and all the worst parts of Jude’s nature. In his despair he is an easy target, as he feels he has nothing left to live for.
Themes
Marriage Theme Icon
Fate Theme Icon
Social Criticism Theme Icon
Women in Society Theme Icon