Compare and contrast at least two of the female characters in two or more of the female characters in two or more of the tales you have studied

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Compare and contrast at least two of the female characters in two or more of the female characters in two or more of the tales you have studied.

Gertrude Lodge, Rhoda Brook and Phyllis Grove are all very different women in different situations; however they all suffer an undeserved fate. Gertrude, from The Withered Arm, loses her looks, the love of her husband and her friendship with Rhoda, who in turn loses her only friend, her son and must suffer the shame of an illegitimate child.  This was highly unacceptable at the time, especially as the father of the child was of a higher class and people of different classes were not expected to mix.  Phyllis lived a reclusive life with her father up until she met Matthäus Tina, the love of her life, whom she later watched die after having to abandon him.  All three protagonists are united in the hardship they must each endure.  Their suffering was similar in the way that it was partly due to social principles of the time, as women had no independence and were expected to be totally subservient to their fathers and husbands, and this comes through in Hardy’s short stories.  

Gertrude Lodge is “years younger” than her new husband, Farmer Lodge, and there are constant references to her beauty.  She is described as a “lady complete” which suggests her high class in society and her respectable upbringing, now married to a suitable man.  Her skin is described as “soft and evanescent, like the light under a heap of rose petals.”  This beautiful image gives the reader an idea of purity and naivety which also comes across in Gertrude’s personality.  The focus and detail on her beauty at the beginning of the tale also make the loss of her looks more pointed later on during the story.  

As well as being blessed with lovely looks, Gertrude is very charming, with a “glance so winning, smile so tender”. She is compassionate and selfless, even to those of a lower class than herself. This was unusual for the time, as different social classes did not generally mix.  She was an exception to this tradition, showing kindness to Rhoda Brook’s young son, delivering new boots personally after noticing that his were old and worn.  Rhoda’s son explained to his mother that she “gives things away to other folks”, and this immediately makes the reader warm to her.  The fact that she does not care for social classes becomes clear as she becomes intimate friends with Rhoda.  Gertrude appears to be quite dissimilar to her husband in the way that she does not enjoy being the centre of attention, and has “the shyness natural to a modest woman”.  By telling the reader that Gertrude seemed ashamed of her extravagant gown in church, Hardy lets us know that she is aware of being better off than others around her and so does not want to flaunt her wealth and social status, whereas Farmer Lodge “seemed pleased” with the attention.  This gives the reader a negative impression of Farmer Lodge, while the reader warms to Gertrude even more, as she comes across as a very genuine, selfless person.  When we first hear of the affliction on Gertrude Lodge’s arm, the reader feels sorry for her, especially as she is an innocent victim and has done nothing to deserve it.  She opens up to Rhoda, another sign of their close relationship, and tells her of the “notion that it makes her husband – dislike her - no, love her less.”  However, she does not take the ailment too seriously, snuffing the idea of a visiting a conjuror; even though superstition and spells were commonly believed in at the time, she mocks the idea of seeing “a man of that sort!”  However, as her arm worsens, she gets more worried and her character begins to change.  Her views on the conjuror change and she goes to visit him.  By finding out who caused this ailment, she loses her closest friend and is now completely alone.

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She is now becoming obsessed with the affliction on her arm as Farmer Lodge is becoming colder and distant towards her, and she wishes to be “again as she was when he first saw her”. She would do anything to make him happy, and is desperate to do so.  This is another sign of the oppression of women at the time.  Gertrude feels she has failed as Lodge’s wife, as she also cannot produce a child, and because of this they have shared “six years of marriage and only a few months of love”.  She has become an “irritable, ...

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