ence and potential for a satisfying career in teaching, and marries Phillotson partly out of a desire for a pleasant work environment. She attempts to resist a romantic relationship with Jude, but falls in love with him nonetheless. Yet by marrying Phillotson, Sue hopes not only to protect her reputation, but to achieve the traditional and accepted lifestyle of a married woman. She does like Phillotson, despite his age, yet is unable to become attracted to him. Phillotson tries very hard to preserve at least the external appearance of a typical marriage. As a man, he is legally permitted to force Sue to stay in his bed and even sleep with him. For this reason, he is viewed with contempt by society when he eventually permits her to leave him. However, his understanding brings him only more difficulty, as he is personally blamed for Sue's disobedience of what is considered the societal norm. Jude and Sue are both able to obtain divorces from their previous marriages - Sue to Phillotson and Jude to his wife Arabella. Therefore, they are now able to marry one another. Jude decides that he can be happy not being legally married to Sue, as long as he is with her. The couple does not tell their neighbors that they are not married, yet live as if they were. This results in the two being considered sinful by people around them - another example of society‘s obvious moral values at the time. Eventually, Arabella informs Jude that he has a son (Young Jude) who has been living with her parents in Australia for the past few years. They can not care for him anymore, so she sends him to live with Jude and Sue. The idea of raising Jude’s son prompts Sue to thinking about “formalizing their marriage” but ultimately they do not marry. In fact, Sue bears two more children before she and Jude decide to return to Christminster. They are poor and have no place to live. The family goes to look for lodging, but finds that people ar...
