Aouda

Aouda
Jules Verne character
Aouda by Alphonse de Neuville & Léon Benett (1873)
First appearance	Around the World in Eighty Days (1872)
Created by	Jules Verne
Information
Gender	Female
Title	Princess
Spouse(s)	unnamed (deceased) Phileas Fogg
Religion	Parsi
Nationality	Indian/British

Aouda, a fictional character in Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne, is an Indian princess rescued by Phileas Fogg and Passepartout when she is about to be sacrificed by Hindu monks as a suttee at the funeral of her former Hindu husband, who is the erstwhile ruler of an Indian princely state. ^[1]

At first, Fogg attempts simply to deliver her to relatives along the way on his trip. However, when that proves impossible, she is their permanent companion who becomes more and more attracted to the intriguing and noble Fogg as she shares in the adventures. When they finally reach Britain and appear to have arrived too late to met the deadline, Aouda fears that she ruined Fogg by causing him delays in his journey, although he firmly denies she was a problem. Now in love with the gentleman and also wishing to help him in his impoverishment, Aouda proposes to Fogg, and he joyously accepts.

As it turns out, this gesture by Aouda saves the day for them all for it prompts Passeportout to discover that by traveling east, they inadvertently arrived in London a day early and now have just enough time to sprint to the Reform Club to win the wager. The company sets off for the club and arrives just in time.

Afterward, Aouda offers to end the engagement since the original motivation has been removed. However, Fogg, deeply in love and grateful for all Aouda is and has done for him, will not hear of it and they are happily married with Passepartout given the honor of giving her away at the wedding.

Adaptation

In the novel, Aouda changes out of her traditional sari for a typical European dress provided by Fogg. However, to enhance her exotic Indian beauty, most adaptations have her keeping her sari at least until the company completes the challenge. The popular Spanish animated adaptation, Around the World with Willy Fog compromises on this detail by having Fog invite Aouda, here named Princess Romy, to change out of the dark-coloured funeral sari she was forced to wear for her suttee and into a lighter-coloured one which she wears for remainder of the voyage.

Aouda was played by Shirley MacLaine in the 1956 film Around the World in Eighty Days and by Julia Nickson in the 1989 three-part TV mini-series Around the World in Eighty Days.

References

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