This wasn’t a normal thing during the Victorian era as the woman were supposed to be desperate for marriage as it was the only way they could secure their future. The offering of money to her, from Randall, shows women’s position during this time and that it was thought that they couldn’t be independent for themselves.
Since women, at this time, were not meant to bee interested in mens looks Randall thought Dorethea wouldn’t mind his appearance, he still treats her with respect though. But Dorethea doesn’t like Randall’s appearance and doesn’t want to marry him because of it, so the message being sent is looks are important in relationships.
In “Tony Kytes the Arch-deceiver” there are four main characters, Tony, Unity Sallet, Milly Richards and Hannah Jolliver.
In this story the women are made out to be desperate for marriage and that it is their main interest. A main example of this is after Tony asks everyone to marry him, apart from Milly; she still takes him back as it means she will be married herself.
The women are portrayed as gullible and easily lead, they just seem to want a secure future and this is available from a husband. In the Victorian era, there was no other way to secure a financially sound future for a woman.
All the women compete with each other over Tony even though he is meant to be deceiving, not good-looking and manipulative, showing the value of marriage during this time.
Once again, in this story looks mean everything. The two stories portray the characters realisation that marriage was an important in securing futures during the Victorian era.
I looked at plot/voice next, and found that both of the two stories have a twist at the end, Tony Kytes were he marries Milly at the end anyway and unexpected when Dorethea wont marry Randall because of his looks.
Both stories are set in the Victorian era but each in different areas of class e.g. “The Unexpected” is upper class because of the way Randall can move down south and Tony Kytes is working class because of the way the women get in the back of the wagon.
After looking at the mood/tone of the two stories I found that Tony Keates was comical and light hearted whilst the Unexpected is much more serious and melodramatic. The author’s intentions in Tony Kytes the Arch-deceiver was to humour the audience and that was all, because the author was a normal Victorian man who saw women as objects.
However the mood of “The Unexpected” was to have a serious message that women don’t need to marry to have secure futures.
The themes of the two stories were both the nature of physical attraction, Dorothea not marrying Randall and Tony Kytes trying to choose the best-looking woman for his wife.
Both stories show the man in the position of power, where the woman has to marry him for financial security.
The target audience of the two stories were both different, Hardy’s was aimed at everyone in the Victorian era whilst Chopin’s was aimed at women during the Victorian era, and we can tell this because it was published in a women’s magazine.
To conclude, the two writers portray woman who rely on marriage for secure futures. Even though in “The Unexpected” Dorothea refuses to marry in her head it was still seen as a rebellious act.
In Hardy’s story it also seems as if women were meant to be obedient during this time because Hannah Jollivers father told her not to marry and so she refused Tony.
I preferred “Tony Kytes the Arch-deceiver” because it was much more comical than “The Unexpected” as its message isn’t as explicit as “The Unexpected” and I found it much more entertaining and easier to understand.
Seán Russell
