Jude the Obscure

During their first excursion, Arabella and Jude find themselves seated beneath a depiction of Samson and Delilah in a tavern. The image sets the stage for themes of deception, manipulation, and entrapment. Samson, renowned for his physical strength and loyalty to God, falls victim to Delilah’s cunning seduction, ultimately revealing the secret of his strength—his uncut hair—while inebriated. Delilah seizes the opportunity to exploit Samson’s weakness, leading to his capture, blindness, and enslavement. This tale of betrayal and vulnerability finds an eerie parallel in Jude’s own experiences, where his susceptibility to alcohol and women becomes his undoing.

Arabella, Jude’s first wife, demonstrates her manipulative nature by using alcohol to incapacitate him and coerce him into a second marriage. Her actions mirror Delilah’s deception of Samson, as she capitalizes on Jude’s weakness and exploits his vulnerability to achieve her own ends. Arabella’s role in Jude’s downfall is further underscored by her comparison of him to a “shorn Samson” in Part 6, highlighting his loss of strength and autonomy.

From the time he is a boy, Jude possesses an aversion to causing suffering, particularly when it comes to animals. His refusals to throw rocks at birds to keep them out of a field or to prolong the suffering of a pig are early examples of his compassion and how that compassion can often be read as weakness by people like Arabella.