Show the effects of Fate on the lives of the character in

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Show the effects of Fate on the lives of the character in "The Wessex Tales" by Thomas Hardy

Fate is believed to be an unseen power that controls and guides ones life either for good or for bad. In "The Wessex Tales" written by Thomas Hardy the main character almost always suffer and encounter a negative fate, usually accompanied by death. The stories I am going to compare are "The Withered Arm" and "The Melancholy Hussar"

The Withered Arm" is about a woman named Rhoda who is jealous of her ex - lover's new wife and dreams of a curse to affect her life, in order to exact revenge. The only definitive cure was for her to touch the neck of a hanged man who coincidentally is Rhoda's son. These chains of events are highly unlikely and are not acts of normal human activity. This suggests that a greater power, maybe fate, is at work. One such example of this occasion is when ever Rhoda takes a meaningless walk in the village, she always seems to end up outside Gertrude's house. Rhoda has no intention to visit her house but feels compelled to as if an external