# Rosalys Ambrose — Short Fiction character guide

> Rosalys Ambrose in Short Fiction by Thomas Hardy.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** So Rosalys, Rosalys, little Rosalys

**First appearance:** 0002-destiny-and-a-blue-cloak

## Snapshot

A gently bred young woman who slips away to a gloomy London church to marry her golden-haired Jim, trembling between love and dread.

## Who they are

Rosalys moves through a city of shouting drivers and blood-stained butchers' blouses, her head aching and her heart feverish as she approaches the altar. She clings to Jim Durrant, whose careless lie about the residency requirement she half-absorbs, and the shabbiness of the other brides around her sharpens her sense of the step she is taking. Her shiver of disgust and the tears that rise at the church door mark her as someone whose romantic courage is inseparable from her fear of what she is becoming.

## Relationships

### [Jim Hayward](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/characters/jim_hayward)

_friendship_

Jim and Rosalys are close friends, with Rosalys often acting as a confidante to Jim's romantic troubles.

### [Jim Hayward](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/characters/jim_hayward)

_friendship_

Jim and Rosalys are close friends, with Rosalys often acting as a confidante to Jim's romantic troubles.

### [Jim Hayward](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/characters/jim_hayward)

_friendship_

Jim and Rosalys are close friends, with Rosalys often acting as a confidante to Jim's romantic troubles.

## In the story

### [XVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/xvii)

Not present in this chapter.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/i)

The young lady who meets Jim secretly on the terrace; she is torn between her love for him and her discomfort with deception.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/ii)

Leaves home to secretly marry Jim, feels superstitious about a lame horse, and experiences a mix of joy and sadness after the ceremony.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/iii)

Loathes the secrecy and lies of her marriage, feels humiliated, and confronts Jim about his changed behavior.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/iv)

Feels trapped and indifferent; struggles with the aftermath of her secret marriage to Jim.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/v)

Now sole mistress of Ambrose Towers, she is about to marry Lord Parkhurst while haunted by her past with Jim Durrant.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/vi)

Torn between her love for Lord Parkhurst and the reappearance of her husband Jim Durrant, she is overwhelmed by guilt and despair.

### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/vii)

Initially devastated by Jim's betrayal, she burns her renunciatory letter and marries Lord Parkhurst.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/characters/rosalys_ambrose
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/characters