Zuleika Dobson Literary Elements

Satirical novel

Oxford University, early 20th century

The novel begins with a third-person limited point of view following Zuleika, briefly transitioning to follow the Duke as well. In the second half of the novel, however, there is an odd change to a sort of first-person omniscient narrator, although there are still flashes back to the old third-person sort of narration.

Humorous, light, melodramatic, satirical

There is no clear distinction between protagonist and antagonist in this novel: Zuleika herself could be seen as either, as could many of the novel's other characters. The clearest antagonist, however, is the fickle and deceptive nature of the human mind.

Having fallen in love with Zuleika and having his heart broken, the Duke resolves to kill himself for Zuleika. This resolution is followed by that of the rest of Oxford's student population, so the Duke must try to find a way out of this mess while finding his own place in the world.

The Duke decides that he must die as a result of an ill omen; he therefore drowns himself in the river, followed by the rest of the student population of Oxford, all of whom are killing themselves for Zuleika. In the end, all of Oxford's undergraduates end up dead, and Zuleika nonchalantly heads off to Cambridge.

When Zuleika breaks down and changes her mind about loving the Duke, he responds with a bit of hysteria, protesting in such a way that foreshadows his eventual suicide.

“And she, “resting” between two engagements—one at Hammerstein’s Victoria, N.Y.C., the other at the Folies Bergeres, Paris—and having never been in Oxford, had so far let bygones be bygones as to come and gratify the old man’s whim.” (Ch. I)

This novel obviously alludes to Oxford, the real-life university located in Oxford, England, using it as a sarcastic location for Beerbohm's novel. It also alludes to many British traditions, such as Eights' Week, as well as things like the River Isis and Knights of the Garter. The novel even incorporates Frederic Chopin himself as a character, albeit a very minor and rather humorous one.

Despite a realistic setting and plot (more or less), Beerbohm includes an odd array of supernatural elements in this novel. The pearls worn by Zuleika and the Duke, for example, magically change colors to represent the state of their affections, and neither one of them is fazed by this or gives it a second thought. The reader also gets glimpses of past, long-dead ghosts roaming Oxford in the second half of the book, all of which contribute to the overall theme of supernatural imagery.

Zuleika wants to be with someone who isn't instantly infatuated by her beauty, but it appears that no man can resist her charms. This unreasonable qualification makes Zuleika's search for a romantic partner paradoxical.

The mass suicide of all the Oxford undergraduates for Zuleika parallels the Duke's initial resolution to do so in intent, and it parallels his actual action in jumping into the river to drown himself (although their motivations, by that point, are different).

“As the landau rolled into “the Corn,” another youth—a pedestrian, and very different—saluted the Warden.” (Ch. I)

“Here in Oxford, exposed eternally and inexorably to heat and frost, to the four winds that lash them and the rains that wear them away, they are expiating, in effigy, the abominations of their pride and cruelty and lust.” (Ch. I)