Compare the relationships between men and women in 'Tony Kytes, the Arch-Deceiver' by Thomas Hardy and 'Tickets Please' by D.H Lawrence. Consider how their behavior might have been conditioned by the social and cultural attitudes at those times.

The relationships between the men and women in each story are very different. This could be because the social and cultural attitudes towards marriage and relationships are different. In 'Tony Kytes' the women's main aim was to get a husband, as they needed the security marriage offered. Because of this even though Tony treats the women with little respect he still gets Milly to marry him and the only reason Hannah and Unity don't consent to marry him is because of anger or “hurt pride”. Although the women in 'Tony Kytes' don't have much independence and they have to live within the boundaries of village life they try to overcome this and manipulate Tony to marry them. There are strict codes about how relationships should be conducted. Tony’s father reminds Tony about this telling him if he’s going to marry Milly he shouldn’t be riding around alone with Hannah causing a “scandal”. The relationships aren’t physical and when asked whether Hannah still has her “virtue” Tony says that he hasn’t slept with any of them.  But if he had slept with any of them and got them pregnant they would have been expected to marry because people believed it was a sin to have a child out of wedlock. The parents in ‘Tony Kytes’ have the power to influence their children and are very protective of them. There is a big difference in the way the children react to their fathers' advice. Tony chooses not to marry Milly because his father says he should whereas Hannah turns down Tony because her father is their and advises her not to unless she’s pregnant. However in ‘Tickets Please’ the parents don’t feature at all. The relationships in ‘Tickets Please’ are very different from those in ‘Tony Kytes’. The men and women in ‘Tickets Please’ have very casual, physical relationships. They are looking to have fun not marriage. The women don’t need to get a husband as they are independent and are earning their own money. However they would like the stability marriage offered. Annie wanted John Thomas to become more than a “nocturnal presence” but he didn’t want to commit to her. There don’t seem to be many rules or boundaries in the way the relationships are conducted.

The women in ‘Tony Kytes’ don’t have much power within society but they seem to have power and control over Tony. They try and manipulate him to do what they want him to. Unity manipulates him by the way she speaks to him and with her actions. She forces him to give her a ride home and is very flirty in the way she does this. She says to him "My dear Tony won't you give me a lift home". As soon as she is on the cart she directs the conversation with her questions. The questions she asks are very forward. She talks in a "tender chide". Hannah also manipulates Tony. She forces him to give her a ride and then she uses her beauty to charm him. She is very flirty with him and is very forward with what she says. Although Tony doesn't seem to have much control over the women he still manages to get on to marry him because they needed to get a husband. In 'Tickets Please' the women have a lot more power than the women in 'Tony Kytes'. They are out doing the mens' jobs because the men are at war. The women on the tram have a lot of control over the men on the tram. They are described as "fearless young hussies". They will kick men of the tram at their stop and will "pounce" on the men who try to avoid buying tickets. Annie has a lot of power over the men on her tram. Annie has the power and control to get revenge on John Thomas at the end of the story. The women are taking control of their actions and lives.

The style and language of each story reflects the meaning and tones of the story. 'Tony Kytes' is an anecdote and uses local dialect. It has a slow, easy, fun style. The story is lighted and not very serious. 'Tickets Please' has a very different style. It has a very dramatic opening and a lot happens in the first eight pages. It has a fast paced style. The story is very exciting but has a very serious ending. The style changes at the end of the story, to reflect the action in the story.

Both stories have one man and several women. The characters are very important to the story. The title of the story describes Tony as an arch deceiver however as the story develops it becomes clear he is not and in the end Hannah calls him a "false deceiver".  He is popular with the women even though he does not have very good looks. He is very flirty with them. He is easily won over by a pretty face this makes it easy for the women to manipulate him. He can't seem to say no. He is impulsive and doesn't think about the consequences of what he is doing. He looks at women as potential wives. John Thomas is very different to Tony. He doesn't want a commitment and as soon as Annie starts to show a bit more interest in him he dumps her. He is more cleaver than Tony and more calculating in his actions. He can be very persuasive. He is very cheeky and attractive. He acts in a wild and irresponsible way. He is a flirt "He flirts with the girl conductors and walks out with them in the night". He shows little respect for women and is insensitive to them. Annie is a very strong willed individual. She has power on the tram and she has the power to get her revenge. She is suspicious of John at first but then he wins her over. She is independent and is quite happy as a single girl although she wouldn't mind commitment. She is financially independent and doesn't need to get married. There is no pressure on her to get married. Annie is very different from the women in 'Tony Kytes'. The women in 'Tony Kytes' are very feminine and ladylike. They want to get a husband. They appear very confident and strong willed but they are still willing to put up with unacceptable behavior from a man. This is because securing a husband meant securing a future. Milly is a good example of this. She was engaged to Tony when he decided to marry not one but two other girls in preference to her but yet she still consented to marry him. There was a lot of pressure on the girls to marry which shows in the way the act and think for example even though Unity and Hannah turned Tony down if he'd asked them under different circumstances they would have said yes.

The outcomes of ‘Tony Kytes’ and ‘Tickets Please’ are very different. In ‘Tony Kytes’ it ends happily ever after. Milly gets what she wants which is to marry Tony and Tony gets a wife although perhaps he would preferred a different girl. Hannah and Unity have the choice to get want they want but because of Hannah’s “hurt pride” and Unity’s temper they turn Tony’s offers of marriage. The choice that Tony has to make comes about in a very different way from the choice John Thomas has to make. Tony had made the decision to marry Milly but then by chance he meets Unity and then Hannah. He doesn’t seem to think about the girls’ feelings and how they would react to his decision. He judges them by looks and how good they would be to him. He decides that he likes Unity best on her claim that she “ should have made ‘ee a finer wife, and a more loving one too.” He then decides he should marry Hannah, as she is the most beautiful. The only reason Tony ends up marrying Milly is because the others refused him. Nobody in ‘Tickets Please’ gets what the want at the end of the story. The girls wanted to get revenge on John Thomas because of the way he treated them. They were given the power to humiliate him but instead of them feeling happy afterwards they were left feeling sad and guilty for their rash actions. Even though John Thomas chooses Annie she rejects him because of the way he treated her before and because of what she and the other girls did to him. John Thomas is made to choose a girl in the end. The girls force the decision on him in a very violent way, which shocks both the girls and him.  The way the girls react to the decision made by John Thomas is very different from the way the girls behave towards Tony and his decision. This could be a reflection of the position of women in each story. If the women in ‘Tony Kytes’ had behaved like the women in ‘Tickets Please’ they would probably have never married. The women in ‘Tickets Please’ however can behave like they do as they are becoming independent and are trying to show the world they are equal to men and no longer need them too survive.