Are the women in 'The Withered Arm' 'The Son's Veto' and 'Tony Kytes, the Arch Deceiver' victims or villains

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Oliver Tatum

Are the women in ‘The Withered Arm’ ‘The Son’s Veto’ and ‘Tony Kytes, the Arch Deceiver’ victims or villains.

Thomas Hardy was born in 1840 and died at the age of 88, in a small village in Dorset. Hardy’s early works were unsuccessful but it wasn’t until he started his short stories that his works became known. Hardy wrote a number of short stories. Some of his most popular are ‘The Withered Arm, ‘The Son’s Veto’ and ‘Tony Kytes the Arch Deceiver. Most of his stories have a supernatural element to them also. His novels and stories are set in a fictional county called ‘Wessex’, which is centred on Dorset. Most of his works are set in the early part of the nineteenth century. The manner in which Hardy writes his stories gives you the impression that there is more truth in them than in a story.

Women in the nineteenth century were in an inferior position to men socially, legally and politically. They had no chance of getting a professional job as they were given to men. Women usually married young and they were expected to stay loyal to their husbands and obey them. There was no effective method of contraception and this meant many women had large families. Many children died young and women often died in child birth. Once women were married they had very few rights to their own property, which became their husband’s. The roles of women in Hardy’s short stories are contrasting; interesting women who depend on men yet are strong; but because of social constraints are not yet accepted into the workforce. The women in these stories that I will be focusing on are either victims or villains. Victim: A person or thing that suffers hurt or injury, a person that was tricked or swindled or a living person sacrificed in a religious rife. Victim: An evil or wicked person, the antagonist who causes the suffering or a rogue.

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The Withered Arm is a story which studies rejection, vanity and jealousy. These are made worse by being set in an area where witchcraft is believed to exist. There are two women in The Withered Arm Rhoda Brook and Gertrude Lodge. Both these women have been connected with Farmer Lodge. Gertrude is his new wife and he had an affair with Rhoda and she had a son by him. Rhoda is left to live with her son in poverty whilst his father ignores him. At this early stage in the story Rhoda seems to be the victim and Gertrude to ...

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