There is little sympathy for the new bride, she seems to have everything when Rhoda has nothing. She has good looks, youth and Farmer Lodge. “She’s a rosy cheeked tisty-tossy little body enough.”
Rhoda displays curiosity for the new bride as she asks her son to find out what she is like on the way to market. Rhoda wants to know about the bride’s appearance, especially her height and whether she is ladylike. “If she seems like a woman who has ever worked for a living”. Rhoda has already written off the bride as a well off ladylike person, “and shows the marks of a lady, as I expect she do”. The chapter ends with a description of Rhoda, which makes us feel sympathetic towards her, “her dark eyes, which had once been handsome,”
In chapter two, we are introduced to Farmer Lodge’s new bride, Gertrude Lodge, who is “many years his junior - almost indeed a girl”. Gertrude’s features are described to us and so is her personality to some extent: she is sympathetic towards Farmer Lodge’s son, when the couple see him on the road, on the way to their house, carrying a heavy load. Gertrude comments on the boy, “How that poor lad stared at me”, and thinks that they should have “relieved him of his load”.
This shows Gertrude in a good light as she seems to care about the boy even though she doesn’t know him.
We see Rhoda’s son describing Gertrude to Rhoda, who seems to want to know everything about Gertrude. Rhoda is anxious to know whether or not Gertrude is tall. She displays this when she tells her son to go and look at her again the next day. When the son says she is pretty, Rhoda does not want to know any more. However, Rhoda does ask more things about Gertrude afterwards.
In the next chapter, she even dreams of her sitting on her chest, showing how upset she is with Gertrude – page 8. It shows how obsessed she is with Gertrude. There is then the meeting where Gertrude explains about her dream and shows her the mark on her arm. At this stage, the reader has a great deal of sympathy for Rhoda, but at the same time feels sorry for Gertrude, who is unaware of her background and Rhoda’s feelings. Gertrude displays sympathy for the boy, (Rhoda’s son), again when she present him with new boots. This again shows the care she has for a boy she barely knows.
We can see now that Gertrude is a friendly person, who does not show awareness of the class system, by talking to, and socialising with Rhoda, a lonely milkmaid. It shows that Gertrude is ready to make friends with Rhoda, but Rhoda does not want to know Gertrude because she is now married to the man she loves.
We also see Gertrude asking for help from Rhoda, and when she becomes desperate, Gertrude even asks Rhoda to take her to Conjuror Trendle in Egdon Heath.
We see how Gertrude, in her desperation, changes her beliefs by going to see Conjuror Trendle.
She wasn’t superstitious before, but now is so desperate, she is willing to try anything. The sympathies change even more towards Gertrude as the reader realises that Rhoda might be the cause of the affliction.
“Gertrude was changing into an irritable, superstitious……” and she kept experiment with her ailment with every quack available.
We see more comparisons between the two women: they both love Farmer Lodge. Gertrude is desperate to get rid of her withered arm so that Farmer Lodge would love her again.
Another comparison is that both women fail to realise how shallow Farmer Lodge is.
In the prison, Rhoda has turned from the placid, helpless woman, to the angry mother and even pushes Gertrude. “Hussy – to come between us and our child now…”.
The death of Rhoda’s son had brought her and Farmer Lodge together even of only for a short period.
Gertrude now seems a lot older than she actually is. She is obsessed with her appearance towards Farmer Lodge. She is cunning because of the way she planned how to get to the prison – while her husband was away. She was now a pathetic character because the hangman felt sorry for her. She was also very persistent towards the hangman.
By no, the sympathy is mainly with her due to the state she is and the amount that she suffers.
We are exceptionally sympathetic towards Gertrude when she is in shock and dies within three days. She is a victim of this episode, and so is Rhoda – she lost her son.
The contrasts of the two women’s looks are that when we meet Rhoda for the first time, her looks have faded. Gertrude’s looks fade during the course of the story.
The contrast between wealth is that Gertrude is rich, well off, while Rhoda is the poor milkmaid.
In the end, both women are left with nothing. Rhoda is still poor – she declines the offer of money form Farmer Lodge and she loses her son, who is the only thing she had at the beginning of the story.
Gertrude dies at the end of the story.
They both have secrets which are elaborated during the story. Gertrude has the arm and Rhoda has her son.
Rhoda is obsessed with Farmer Lodge and cannot get over him.
Rhoda is superstitious throughout the story, but Gertrude becomes superstitious during the course of the story.
At the end they are both superstitious, they both have nothing.
Gertrude becomes like Rhoda: both of them love Farmer Lodge, but cannot see through him; they fail to realise how shallow he is.
At the end of the story we learn that society was cruel to Rhoda – she was like an outcast who lived on her own, people suspected her of being a witch.
She was stigmatised – Farmer Lodge couldn’t marry her because of her class.
Sympathies change during the course of the story.
There is sympathy towards Rhoda to start with. By the end, we are very sympathetic towards Gertrude. The sympathies change as you see what happens to them.
Gertrude is a victim of society, of discrimination due to disability. She is also a victim of Farmer Lodge. Both women are victims of society and of Farmer Lodge. Farmer Lodge only married Gertrude because of her looks and her class.
Gertrude was fated by her arm and Rhoda by her son.
The sympathies towards the two women change during the course of the story. In the beginning, we get a picture of a poor forsaken woman and well off beautiful bride.
Rhoda is faded in terms of looks and old, Gertrude is vivacious and young.
One has nothing and the other seems to have everything. One is poor and has to work hard for a pittance.
The other, Gertrude, has a rich husband.
Once however Gertrude’s arm becomes withered, things change dramatically. Gertrude becomes desperate with her disfigurement. She loses Farmer Lodge’s love and becomes just as obsessed with her arm as Rhoda is with Farmer Lodge.
Gradually, the sympathies transfer to Gertrude. This is brought to a climax when she touches the corpse.
We can also see how the similarities, the way they both have affection for Farmer Lodge, even though he does not deserve it.
We can see that Hardy has presented Gertrude as having everything and then turning into an “irritable, superstitious woman.”
