Jude the Obscure: Part 3, Chapter 6 Summary & Analysis

Meanwhile Phillotson is thinking about how he has abandoned his earlier plans for Sue’s sake. One day he sets out to visit her at the Training School, but when he gets there he learns all the circumstances of her scandalous departure. Phillotson is shocked, and he goes into the cathedral. He notices Jude is there too, working, and Phillotson approaches him.

Phillotson asks Jude about Sue, and Jude assures him that nothing has happened between them, though he hints that he does love Sue. Phillotson believes Jude that Sue is innocent, and the two men part. Later that day Jude sees Sue, who is coming to fetch her belongings from the Training School.

Sue acts coldly towards Jude, and he remarks that she is nicer in her letters than in person. Jude then confesses his own history to Sue, including his marriage to Arabella. Sue is upset at him for withholding this information, and she wonders how Jude can reconcile his religion and the supposed sanctity of marriage with his own life. They both grow miserable, trapped in their confused feelings.

Jude and Sue walk around town, and Jude says that Arabella is the only obstacle between them. Sue argues that her own lack love is another obstacle, and also the fact that they are cousins. Sue then mocks the people of the Training School, who can only perceive men and women as having relations based on “animal desire.” Jude tells Sue about the curse on their family regarding marriage, and Sue says she had heard the same thing. The two decide to act like friends and cousins, nothing more, and they part ways.