Jude Fawley, a stone-mason, has already suffered. His academic ambitions were thwarted by his poverty and class: trapped into a loveless marriage, he is now alone but not free. He comes to love his cousin Sue who, seemingly emancipated, is herself miserably married. Sue`s words to Jude are prophetic, for although together they defy conventional morality to seize a chance of happiness, they are ultimately defeated by both circumstance and the flaws within their own nature.