Jude the Obscure (AmazonClassics Edition) characters

Appears from the start

An orphan raised by his great-aunt in Marygreen. Jude is a serious, compassionate boy whose longing for education fixes on the distant university city of Christminster. He teaches himself Latin and Greek while working, hoping eventually to enter the church, but has little money or social guidance to help him cross the barriers between his village life and academic ambition.

Appears from the start

The village schoolmaster at Marygreen, whose departure for Christminster awakens Jude's desire for learning. He is thoughtful and earnest, and intends to improve his prospects by pursuing a university degree and entering the church.

First appears in chapter 2

Jude's elderly great-aunt and guardian, a baker who is practical, severe, and skeptical of grand ambitions. She warns Jude that marriage has brought unhappiness to his family and speaks darkly of the Fawleys' history.

First appears in chapter 3

A traveling seller of medicines who lends Jude books and encourages his attempt to teach himself classical languages, though his casual promises and questionable remedies make him an unreliable adviser.

First appears in chapter 7

The lively daughter of a pig breeder near Marygreen. Direct, physically confident, and practical, she notices the shy young stonemason and draws him away from his studies into a courtship shaped by desire and unequal expectations.

First appears in chapter 8

Arabella's friend and confidante, who helps her navigate her courtship of Jude. Anny is more candid than Arabella and sometimes exposes the calculation behind their plans.

First appears in chapter 13

Jude's cousin, first encountered in Christminster working in an ecclesiastical shop. Intelligent, unconventional, and resistant to inherited beliefs, she combines emotional reserve with a strong need for sympathy. Jude is fascinated by her independence and by the kinship between them, although their great-aunt has warned against closeness between the two branches of the family.

First appears in chapter 32

Phillotson's friend and fellow schoolmaster. He listens when Phillotson faces a painful domestic decision and represents the respectable opinion against which Phillotson measures his conscience.

Also known as Little Father Time

First appears in chapter 39

Arabella and Jude's solemn young son, sent from Australia to live with his father. Small, quiet, and prematurely burdened by adult anxieties, he seems to expect hardship before it is explained to him and struggles to believe that there is room for him in the household.

First appears in chapter 39

Arabella's Australian husband, a hotel manager who comes with her to England. He is a practical, comparatively prosperous man and is unaware at first of the full complexity of Arabella's earlier marriage.

First appears in chapter 45

An elderly family friend who assists Jude and Sue during their later difficulties. Mrs. Edlin is plain-spoken and kind, offering practical help without sharing the harsh moral judgment they meet elsewhere.