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 be the villain but this is all set to change.
Rhoda is portrayed as a lonely character however; she is a strong character to remain in the community after her affair with farmer lodge. Although she was ostracised by the locals she remains dignified and she disregards the fact that they think she is a witch. Hardy draws the reader’s attention to Rhoda and her son’s poor lifestyle; this establishes some sympathy for them both. Rhoda is a victim of the rigid social system as her affair with Farmer Lodge is frowned upon by the local community. This is because Farmer Lodge is of a higher social class than Rhoda and her son. Rhoda is again portrayed as the victim in her nightmare. This is because Gertrude is pictured in her dream kneeling on Rhoda’s chest and flashing her new wedding ring at her. Rhoda then reaches out and grabs Gertrude and this where Gertrude supposedly gets her mark on her arm from.
As Gertrude’s arm becomes worse Rhoda feels genuine compassion for her as she feels it is her fault that Gertrude has her ‘Withered Arm’. As her affliction becomes worse she is sympathetically portrayed as a victim. In the final part of the story there is again sympathy for Rhoda as we find out the man that was hung was her son. Now Rhoda has returned to her role as the victim.
At the beginning of the story Gertrude is described as “a rosy-cheeked” with a “tisty-tosty little body.” Gertrude is a vision of beauty and is always concerned with personal appearance. Gertrude is of a much higher class than Rhoda that is why she was able to marry Farmer Lodge. Gertrude’s ingenious description of her ailment leads to a disastrous chain of events. Gertrude becomes persistently vain and selfish and she becomes obsessed with treating her disorder. When Gertrude discovers that the hanged youth was in fact Rhoda’s son. This forces Rhoda to contemplate Gertrude’s vanity. Gertrude’s actions showed no compassion or care for anybodies feelings but her own. Gertrude is obviously a victim of her own vanity and her attitude to life is shown to be inadequate.
In ‘Tony Kytes, the Arch Deceiver’ Hardy takes a sceptical look at the relationships between men and women. His choice of first person narrative allows the story to remain amusing despite the sadness.
There are three women in ‘Tony Kytes, the Arch Deceiver’ they are Milly, Hannah and Unity. Milly is the only character to gain sympathy from the narrator. She is a gullible character who is easily persuaded by Tony’s promises of marriage. Her heartfelt moan hearing Tony declare his love for Hannah adds sorrow to the comical situation. The recommendation by Tony’s father to marry the women who did not ask to ride with him highlights the attitudes of him. Thus he should marry a wife that is not domineering, vain or manipulative.
‘The Son’s Veto’ is a vehicle for some of Hardy’s most hostile comments towards the divisive social class system of the nineteenth century. This story is educational, criticises the class system and forces people to behave different to their instincts.
Sophy is the mane character in the Son’s Veto. The opening description of her is very important it praises her skill and achievement, by contrast to her confinement to a wheelchair. Sophy is portrayed in a sympathetic way emphasising innocence and her loyal marriage to Mr Twycott.
Hardy establishes in the early story that her characteristics are to please others. This has disastrous consequences. Sophy is a victim of social snobbery despite efforts to improve socially she remains at heart a lower-class character. Hardy directs the reader to sympathise with Sophy. Her social inadequacies put in to perspective her love for and loyalty to her son. It is clear that Hardy values compassion and love highly and more than social acceptability. He is critical of those who do not share his views.
In all three of these shorts stories all of the women are either victims or villains. In The Withered Arm it is hard to decide which women is the victim and which is the villain as they both carry out actions that would make the a victim or a villain. In ‘The Son’s Veto’ Sophy is clearly the victim and she is the only victim that is certain. She suffers for most of her life as she wants to please her son. She wants to marry Sam but her son stops her hence the name ‘The Son’s Veto’ as a ‘Veto’ is a vote to cancel something and this case her son is cancelling her love for Sam. In ‘Tony Kytes, the Arch Deceiver’ I think Milly is the victim because Tony tries to marry Hannah Joliver and Unity Sallet but when he is unable to do this he turns to Milly because she is the only one left, yet she still says yes to him.