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Jude the Obscure (Arabella Analysis)

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Jude the Obscure (Arabella Analysis)
Heer 1

Julian Heer
Mr. Niezgoda
Senior English AP
19 September 2014
Cycle of Arabella’s Character
Manipulator would be an understatement in describing Arabella Donn’s character. She evolves from a somewhat innocently individualistic woman into an unforgettable villain capable of the unthinkable. From a rural upbringing, her initial mindset is comprehensible, but later develops into a nearly dismissible character by reason of her primitive egocentrism. These transitions are essential in analyzing other characters and themes that progress throughout the novel and missing the highlation that Arabella brings forth upon these aspects would be missing the cycle of the narrative. From creating a false persona only to lure in a potential lover to utterly crumbling a man’s dream into pieces, this development resonates with its reader and is crucial in understanding Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure.
The reader’s first encounter with Arabella’s antics are with the throwing of the pig intestine and her initial flirtations with Jude. “But she, slyly looking in another direction...she turned her eyes critically upon him” (Hardy 25). Arabella, the daughter of a pig farmer, naturally thought it acceptable to fling such a grotesque object at a man she wanted to get acquainted with. She goes on to further secure the relationship by inviting him to her house late in the night. This act portrays just how uncomplex and tenacious her character is. It shows the determination she puts forth to obtain such a simplistic ambition of living the life of security and perhaps even luxury.

Heer 2

Jude, of course, grows tired of the romance he shares with Arabella and begins fixating on Chrismister once again. Arabella notices the monotony in the relationship and as if to practice her newly acquired taste for deception, she lies to Jude by telling him that she is pregnant with his son. Jude’s character is amplified during this junction in the novel because of the



Cited: Hardy, Thomas. Jude the Obscure. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2006. Print.

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