Zuleika Dobson · Chapter
XII explained
The narrator, unable to bear Miss Dobson's behavior, leaves her presence and wanders through Oxford, revisiting his old college where he finds a student writing a will bequeathing everything to Zuleika.
What happens
The narrator, unable to bear Miss Dobson's behavior, leaves her presence and wanders through Oxford, revisiting his old college where he finds a student writing a will bequeathing everything to Zuleika. He then floats over the meadows, reflecting on the damp, miasmal air of Oxford that fosters a spirit of gentle scholarship and detachment from harsh realities, before hearing the midnight chimes and descending back to the Broad.
Themes in this chapter
Death and Sacrifice
Craddock writes a will bequeathing everything to Zuleika, foreshadowing the theme of dying for love that pervades the novel.
Tradition vs. Modernity
The narrator contrasts the timeless, gentle spirit of Oxford with the urgent, tragic events unfolding among the undergraduates.
Characters to notice
- Zuleika Dobson
The narrator finds her behavior outrageous and leaves her presence.
- Duke of Dorset
The Duke departs from Miss Dobson's presence, allowing the narrator to leave.
- Edward Joseph Craddock
Found in the narrator's old room, writing a will leaving all his property to Zuleika Dobson.
Key passages
“Not less averse than from dogging the Duke was I from remaining another instant in the presence of Miss Dobson.”
I was as unwilling to stay with Miss Dobson as I was to follow the Duke.
The narrator expresses his strong desire to leave Zuleika's company.
“Oxford, that lotus-land, saps the willpower, the power of action. But, in doing so, it clarifies the mind, makes larger the vision, gives, above all, that playful and caressing suavity of manner which comes of a conviction that nothing matters, except ideas, and that not even ideas are worth dying for”
Oxford, like a land of lotus-eaters, weakens one's drive to act but sharpens the intellect and fosters a charming, detached manner based on the belief that only ideas matter, and even they are not worth dying for.
The narrator reflects on the paradoxical effect of Oxford's atmosphere on its inhabitants.