Jude Fawley

Jude Fawley is a young orphan who has recently come to Marygreen to live with his aunt when the novel begins. Jude's aunt often tells him he should have died with his father; therefore, Jude grows up feeling unwanted and in the way. For this reason, Jude focuses on his future with the hopes of one day gaining an education like Mr. Phillotson, a teacher he once admired. Jude works hard toward his goal, but is sidelined when a young woman he has courted tells him she is pregnant. Jude does the proper thing and marries this girl, but soon learns she is not who he thought she was and that she was never really pregnant. Jude attempts to make the marriage work, but in the end his wife decides that marriage is not what she thought it would be.

Jude gets to his beloved university town...