Isolation and loneliness in The Withered Arm
Isolation and loneliness in "The Withered Arm"
This story was written by Thomas Hardy who chooses constantly to switch your attention by not concentrating on one characters lonely portrayal but the four main characters of Rhoda Brook, Farmer Lodge, the boy and Gertrude Lodge.
The first three chapters are mainly focused on Rhoda Brook and you instantly recognise how emotionally isolated she is, other members of the milking farm chat together about the happenings of the past week in their neighbourhood of Holmstoke but Rhoda does not seem to join in, she is described as.
" A thin, fading women of thirty that milked somewhat apart from the rest."
The use of the word "fading" indicates that she is seen as a stranger in the background and she is ignored because she fading into the surroundings. The phrase "milked somewhat apart from the rest." I believes that Hardy is trying to tell us that she is not a social person and that she "milks apart from the rest" not just specifically at the dairy but in all public places. She stays away from social attention.
It is also interesting how Rhoda does not respond to the people talking about her and shows that this has been going on for a long time and she is used to this happening.
" Tis hard for she, signifying the thin ,worn milkmaid"
The word "worn" shows that even though she seems to be ignoring the gossip about her, its is wearing her out inside and she is emotionally worn as well as physically worn. Rhoda is referred to as a "she" , not a person but an inferior being because of her disgraceful affair with the wealthy farmer Lodge.
"He hadn't spoken to Rhoda for years."
This is a statement made by another milkmaid, this is significant because upfront it obviously means that farmer Lodge has not has anything to do with Rhoda since the affair but also that the milkmaid is talking about Rhoda as if she wasn't there but she is only a few metres away.
Rhoda lives in a small hut not far from the border of Egdon heath, it is basic but her and her son seem to be coping alright .
"Rhoda and the boy's path lay apart from that of the others to a lonely spot high above the water-meads."
Isolation words are used in this quotation such as "apart" and "lonely" and this gives the impression that they live far away from other people and do not participate in social activities.
Rhoda dislikes farmer lodge's new wife and has a vision that Gertrude Lodge is mocking her by showing her the new wedding ring, Rhoda strikes Gertrude's arm and the imprints of Rhoda's fingers are clearly seen on Gertrude's arm in real life. Gertrude and Rhoda become friends and Gertrude is oblivious about why her arm is beginning to wither. In an attempt to make her arm better ,her and Rhoda visit Conjuror Trendle who continues to tell Gertrude whom had given her those marks and Rhoda is suspected of being a witch by the citizens of Holmstoke. These suspicions drive Rhoda and her son to leave Holmstoke.
"Rhoda Brook kept her own counsel about the incubus, but her face grew sadder and thinner and in the spring she and her boy disappeared from the neighbour hood of Holmstoke."
Rhoda is aware of the ridicule of her being a witch and this is what is making her "sadder" and "thinner" because she is physically thin and sad but she is emotionally sad and her emotions are wearing "thin".
Rhoda's son is later hanged and she is now completely alone ,she disappears from Holmstoke. Only to reappear some time later.
"her monotonous milking at the diary was resumed ,and followed for many long years, till her form became bent and her white hair worn away at the forehead."
The word "Monotonous" literally means that she ...
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Rhoda is aware of the ridicule of her being a witch and this is what is making her "sadder" and "thinner" because she is physically thin and sad but she is emotionally sad and her emotions are wearing "thin".
Rhoda's son is later hanged and she is now completely alone ,she disappears from Holmstoke. Only to reappear some time later.
"her monotonous milking at the diary was resumed ,and followed for many long years, till her form became bent and her white hair worn away at the forehead."
The word "Monotonous" literally means that she is wearily doing the same thing (In this case milking) and also how her forms becomes "bent" because of the milking of the cows which Hardy has left as the only thing that seems to keep Rhoda going.
Rhoda is the only main character out of the main four that is left alive at the end which signifies that even though she has been through the most in her sad, lonely life that she has not crumbled and given up.
The next character to be studied is that of farmer Lodge whom had an affair with Rhoda Brook who was of a lower socio-economic class than he. This was heavily frowned upon at this time. It was fine for farmer Lodge to use lower class women because it was believed to be a mans right, but Rhoda was isolated because she was not allowed to love a rich and higher class man.
Farmer Lodge has married a young women called Gertrude and in the story, the impression that is given is that he has only married her because he wants to look good in public, he sees her as a "Status Symbol".
"Mr Lodge, he seemed pleased and his waistcoat stuck out and his golden seals hung like a lords."
Farmer Lodge goes to church with his new wife and wearing all his finery and best clothing. This is to emphasize that he wants to look good at public occasions.
Gertrude's arm begins to worsen and farmer Lodge shows that he is selfish by beginning to not love her anymore because of her appearance.
"Half a dozen years passed away, and Mr and Mrs Lodge married experience sank into prosiness, and worse. The farmer was usually gloomy and silent."
Farmer Lodge now dislikes Gertrude because of her arm and their marriage is suffering. He is described as "Gloomy and silent". This means that like the cloudy sky, the clouds hide what the sky is really like and this is being applied to farmer Lodge who's gloomy face and silence is hiding his inner emotions.
As farmer Lodge's marriage is failing and he now angry because
"The women whom he had wooed for her grace and beauty was contorted and disfigured in the left limb, moreover, she had brought him no child."
Farmer Lodge is being angry with Gertrude because she is now "disfigured" and "contorted" and has bore him no children to pass on his wealth. He is showing the reader how shallow he is and that he only counts beauty as what is on the outside not what is on the inside.
"He thought of Rhoda Brook and her son, and feared this might be a judgement from heaven upon him."
Farmer Lodge is now feeling guilty about abandoning Rhoda and he also thinks that god has not given him a child because of his bad ways in the past. He now believes that maybe Gertrude is not the one to blame for the lack of children. "He feared this might be a judgement from heaven upon him." He feels that his life is now in gods hand.
His wife is desperately trying become what he wants her to be and his trying supernatural remedies which farmer Lodge does not approve of.
"Damned if you won't poison yourself with these apothecary messes and other witch mixtures!"
This shows that farmer Lodge is really steaming with rage because at this time in history the word "Damned" was rarely used because it was considered a swear word.
Farmer Lodge is feeling guilty for the way he has raged at Gertrude and this triggers an apology which was not seen to be normal because women were seen to be inferior and men did not have to answer to them.
"She did not reply, but turned her sad ,soft glance upon him in such heart-swollen reproach that he looked sorry for his words, and added , I only did it for your own good ,you know Gertrude."
This shows that they are not completely isolated from each other and they may still have feelings towards each other.
His wife, Gertrude dies and he is left without a child to pass his wealth onto and he leaves that part of the country.
"he went away to port Bredy, at the other end of the country, living there in solitary lodgings until his death two years later from painless decline."
His guilt for the way he has treated people in his life and this has finally taken its toll. Farmer Lodge has decided to move away from his life and finish it alone. The words "Solitary Lodgings" is used to describe the lonely place at the end of the country where he spent the rest of his days. It is interesting that his death took place before Rhoda's because it shows that Rhoda is tough and even though farmer Lodge used her, she has still outlived him.
The next character is Gertrude who has just been married to farmer Lodge, she is new in Holmstoke. She appears as a shy and modest young women and she feels isolated because everybody in Holmstoke is aware of the recent marriage and seems to be staring and talking about her and the new marriage.
"All eyes were fixed upon her."
This quotation gives me the vision of a young beauty walking through a public place and everybody's eyes follow her up the street as an eerie silence creeps into the town. Maybe Hardy saw this too. The word "Fixed" also adds the vision of this scene.
She shows she is isolated by becoming friends with Rhoda Brook which shows that she is desperate because Rhoda has no other friends either.
Gertrude's arm begins to wither and turns to Rhoda for assistance which is ironic because Rhoda is the one who has given her those markings.
You notice Gertrude's loneliness increase as her husband begins to dislike her because of her arm.
"Six years of marriage and only a few months of love, she sometimes whispered to herself. And then she thought of the apparent cause, and said, with a tragic glance at her withering limb, if I could only be as I was when he first saw me!"
She is talking to herself instead of discussing the marriage with her husband shows that she has been isolated from him. She is being a typical "Maiden" and wishing that farmer Lodge will love her once again if she was "As he first saw her."
Her second visit alone to conjuror Trendle emphasizes that she is isolated from everybody, even her husband.
"This time she went alone, she nearly got lost on the heath, and roamed a considerable distance out of her way."
This statement is suggesting that she went alone and got lost on the way to conjuror Trendle's, she did not ask for directions from her husband or even Rhoda who knows the way and so she pays the consequences of isolating herself from everybody by travelling further than she should of.
Conjuror Trendle advises Gertrude to rub her arm along a newly hanged persons neck to make her blood turn.
Gertrude travels to Casterbridge for the monthly hanging session, which was seen as entertainment in Thomas Hardy's days.
"On no account must my husband know what I am doing."
She is isolating herself from her husband because she is frightened of him leaving her and she will be alone. In that day and age a young women like Gertrude should have a husband otherwise she was seen as a failure by other women.
She reaches casterbridge and uses her feminine charm to let the executioner see the dead body just after it is cut down from being hanged.
As Gertrude is rubbing her arm along the neck of the dead man, Rhoda is seen, she has been crying snd she becomes outraged as Gertrude realises that she is rubbing her arm along the corpse of Rhoda Brook's son.
Gertrude is overwhelmed and collapses at the present farmer lodge who has joined Rhoda in the mourning of their son even though he has ignored him for eighteen years.
"Her delicate vitality, sapped perhaps by the paralysed arm, collapsed at the feet of her husband from the severe strain ,physical and mental ,to which she had been subjected to in the last twenty four hours."
This quotation shows that even though she is wealthy and beautiful ,she is fragile and weak. This is described in the phrase "delicate vitality".
Her death ,just as her husband was conducted alone and with no-one around her , not by choice like farmer Lodges though. She has not outlived Rhoda Brook either because Rhoda has withstood pain in her life and has become partly immune to its power. It has made her stronger.
The last main character is Rhoda brook's son. His loneliness becomes apparent at the start of the story as he follows his mother to their lonely cottage on the heath.
When he reaches home it is noticed by me that he is ordered around by his mother and there seems to be no mother-son bond between them.
Hardy chooses never to give him a name to emphasize the fact of how un-important he is to his father and mother.
His mother constantly orders him around
"Hold this net up a moment!"
His mother shows no affection towards him, but only uses him to run errands for her.
His father ignores him and has for his whole life.
"He took no outward notice of the boy whatever"
This would make the boy feel rejected and lonely. He is described as.
"one of the neighbourhood"
by his own father and is used as a spy and treated like a slave by his own mother.
Hardy portrays the boys innocence throughout the story, you begin to feel sorry for him, as he may be innocent but he has no-one to stand up for him. The boy dies a lonely death because he is convicted of a crime he did not commit which emphasizes the fact that he led a sad, unjust and lonely life.
A separate character in the story who portrays loneliness is Conjuror Trendle who lives far away from Holmstoke and is never known by anybody to be alive or dead because he is so isolated.
"It is by going to see some clever man over in Egdon Heath. They did not know if he was still alive."
This is showing that he is isolated and very few people know his whereabouts because he lives far away in the heart of Egdon.
He has powers that others do not possess but he doesn't flaunt his power by becoming a paid conjuror but is a noble and solitude man.
"O, no, nothing, he wouldn't take a farthing."
And on Gertrude's second visit to Conjuror Trendle.
"He had no more to tell her and when he put her on a track homeward ,turned and left her, refusing all money, as at first.
He is obviously a noble man that is happy to give free advice to people in need of help and supernatural advice. You also notice that he is never seen with anyone else and is always alone.
Another factor that portrays isolation in this story is the setting and the surroundings of the characters.
"They immediately set out on their climb into the interior of this solemn country."
The phrase "Solemn country" indicates that it is a lonely place and not many people pass this place because the terrain is steep and unforgiving.
"Thick clouds made the atmosphere dark, though it was yet only early afternoon."
This emphasizes the fact that even though it early afternoon ,the heath is dark and gloomy making a chilling and tense atmosphere.
Personification is used to show how nature and the weather are resembling the emotions of the characters.
Hardy also paints a depressing and lonely picture of the journey to Casterbridge by Gertrude and the journey to Conjuror Trendle's by Rhoda and Gertrude. Using words like "Solemn" "Dark" and "dismally" all add to the image that Hardy is trying to build up in the readers mind, an image of loneliness and isolation.
By Paul Baillie-Lane