Phileas Fogg is the main
fictional character in the 1873
Jules Verne novel
Around the World in Eighty Days.
Around the World in Eighty Days
Accompanied by his
manservant,
Passepartout, Fogg attempts to
circumnavigate the late
Victorian world in 80 days, or less, on a
wager of £20,000 set by the
Reform Club. He takes the wager and on that day leaves with Passepartout, vowing to return by 8.45 pm on Saturday 21 December 1872. Under suspicion of robbing the
Bank of England, he is followed by a detective named Fix. Fogg has no idea about Fix's true intentions and Fix (wanting to get Fogg back to England so that he can arrest him) works with Fogg in the last half of the book.
While in India he saves a widowed princess, named
Aouda, from the
Satī during her husband's funeral. Passepartout rescues her and she accompanies Fogg for the rest of his journey. She and Fogg eventually fall in love and marry at the end of the book. Fix, who is really supposed to arrest Fogg, attempts to sabotage him by putting him in prison near the end of the book but he is quickly released.
Fogg, who has been careful to keep track of every day in his diary, believes that he arrives home on Sunday and that he has lost his bet. However, he discovers, almost too late, that he has forgotten to adjust his timekeeping for having crossed the
International Date Line and he wins his bet...
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