Jude the Obscure | Chapter Summaries

Timeline of Events

• Late spring/early summer

  Jude's teacher, Mr. Phillotson, leaves Marygreen for Christminster.

  Part 1, Chapter 1
• Five years later

  Jude, now 16, apprentices himself to a stone mason but intends to study in Christminster.

  Part 1, Chapter 5
• Three years later

  Jude meets Arabella and begins courting her.

  Part 1, Chapter 8
• Three months later

  Tricked into believing she is pregnant, Jude marries Arabella, dashing his academic hopes.

  Part 1, Chapter 9
• A few months later

  Jude and Arabella fight over a pig and separate in late autumn.

  Part 1, Chapter 11
• Three years later

  After trying to catch up on his studies, Jude moves to Christminster.

  Part 2, Chapter 1
• A few weeks later

  After meeting Sue face-to-face, Jude introduces her to Phillotson, now teaching near Christminster.

  Part 2, Chapter 4
• A few months later

  Jude is rejected by Christminster, gets drunk, and loses his job.

  Part 2, Chapter 6
• A few days later

  Jude returns to Marygreen and decides to become a lower-level clergyman.

  Part 2, Chapter 7
• A few weeks later

  Jude moves to Melchester to be near Sue, who is studying at a teacher-training college there.

  Part 3, Chapter 1
• A few weeks later

  Sue is punished for breaking curfew and escapes from the college with help from Jude.

  Part 3, Chapter 3
• A few months later

  Sue hastily marries Phillotson, having asked Jude to give her away.

  Part 3, Chapter 7
• Eight weeks later

  Sue and Jude attend their great-aunt's funeral and share a passionate kiss.

  Part 4, Chapter 3
• A few weeks later

  Sue leaves Phillotson to live with Jude.

  Part 4, Chapter 5
• Winter, following year

  Sue and Jude adopt Father Time while living in Aldbrickham.

  Part 5, Chapter 3
• Several years later

  Arabella meets Sue at a fair selling Christminster cakes, which Jude has baked.

  Part 5, Chapter 7
• June of same year

  In their lodgings at Christminster, Father Time hangs himself and his siblings.

  Part 6, Chapter 2
• A few months later

  Sue leaves Jude and remarries Phillotson.

  Part 6, Chapter 5
• A few weeks later

  Arabella tricks a drunken and hopeless Jude into remarrying her.

  Part 6, Chapter 7
• June, following year

  Jude is ill and makes himself sicker, dying shortly before his 30th birthday.

  Part 6, Chapter 11

Chapter Summaries Chart