Jude the Obscure

The story follows Jude Fawley, a poor, working-class stonemason who dreams of becoming a scholar at the university in Christminster, an ambition which is ultimately thwarted by class prejudice and his initial entrapment in a loveless marriage to the sensual Arabella Donn. After Arabella leaves, Jude pursues his dream but is unable to gain entry to the university. He meets and falls deeply in love with his intellectual and unconventional cousin, Sue Bridehead. Their ill-fated relationship, marked by their refusal to marry when they become free to do so, is a direct rejection of Victorian societal institutions like marriage and religion, leading to their tragic undoing and an indictment of a rigid and uncaring society. The novel is a harsh critique of the rigid social system and class divisions of the era and explores man's essential loneliness.

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