# III explained — Jude the Obscure

> Chapter companion for Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy.

## What happens

Jude's fascination with Christminster deepens as he learns about the city from a carter and later sees its distant glow. He prays for the mist to clear and is rewarded with a view of the city's lights, which he romanticizes as a place of learning and opportunity. His dreams of Christminster grow, anchored by his reverence for the schoolmaster Phillotson, who now lives there.

## Themes in this chapter

### Education and Ignorance

Jude's dreams of Christminster as a place of learning contrast with the carter's practical, dismissive view of academic life, highlighting the gap between aspiration and reality.

### Ambition and Frustration

Jude's intense desire to reach Christminster and become a scholar is already shadowed by the obstacles of his social class and lack of means.

## Character check-ins

### Jude Fawley

Jude's yearning for Christminster intensifies; he prays for a view of the city and romanticizes it as a 'city of light' and 'tree of knowledge.'

### Richard Phillotson

Phillotson is imagined by Jude as living in Christminster, promenading at ease, and is the object of Jude's reverence and longing.

### Aunt Drusilla

Jude returns to his great-aunt's cottage, which is described as having a small shop with oxidized window panes; she does not care much for him.

## Key lines

> It is a city of light,” he said to himself. “The tree of knowledge grows there,” he added a few steps further on. “It is a place that teachers of men spring from and go to.” “It is what you may call a castle, manned by scholarship and religion.

Jude imagines Christminster as a radiant, enlightened place where knowledge and wisdom originate, and where scholars and religious figures reside.

_This passage captures Jude's idealized, almost mythical view of Christminster as a beacon of learning and virtue._

> You,” he said, addressing the breeze caressingly, “were in Christminster city between one and two hours ago, floating along the streets, pulling round the weathercocks, touching Mr. Phillotson’s face, being breathed by him; and now you are here, breathed by me⁠—you, the very same.

Jude speaks tenderly to the wind, imagining that it has just passed through Christminster and touched Phillotson, creating a romantic connection between himself and the distant city.

_This shows Jude's deep emotional attachment to Christminster and his longing to be connected to Phillotson and the scholarly world._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/jude_the_obscure_se/chapters/iii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/jude_the_obscure_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/jude_the_obscure_se/chapters