The incidents and themes of the stories are the same, with love and hate at the same time. The authors focus on different points. Hardy seems to focus more on the description of the landscape around the scene, whereas Lawrence focuses more on the description of the characters, their looks and their expressions.
The authors don’t seem to have many opinions about the story. You can’t tell whether the author believes in the subjects brought up in the piece or not.
The characters of the Lawrence and Hardy stories tend to be around the same age. Gertrude in ‘The Withered Arm’ by Hardy is around the age of mid twenties, as Phyllis seems to be in ‘The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion’ by Hardy. Joe in ‘Monkey Nuts’ by Lawrence is about that age, and the girls in ‘Tickets Please’ by Lawrence also seem to be in their twenties.
The characters in the stories are from a range of different backgrounds. Gertrude of Hardy’s ‘The Withered Arm’ seems to be quite well off, whereas Lawrence seems to focus more on the less well off people of the world. E.g. Albert and Joe, the main characters of ‘Monkey Nuts’ by Lawrence, are poor soldiers
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Hardy uses the characters in his stories to show, I think, the life of all classes in the country from the very rich to the very poor. The way each character speaks often tells us their background, class and type of person they are.
The authors use intelligent vocabulary with very descriptive words and phrases. Both Lawrence and Hardy have used imagery strongly in their pieces. Both use it extensively in different ways. Hardy, to describe surroundings, and Lawrence to describe people and expressions.
Each story is clearly structured, the beginnings starting off at a scene, often with most of the main characters featured, moving into the main plot and ending clearly and definitely, apart from ‘Tickets Please’ by Lawrence. This story ends abruptly. You turn the page expecting the rest of the story and discover that the story has finished.
The Syntax:
Hardy uses long sentences, which although very descriptive, can drag on and tend to become complicated, leading to confusion.
An example of Hardy’s long sentences is page 10 of ‘Wessex Tales’ in ‘The Withered Arm’:
‘Rhoda said she was well enough; and indeed the paler of the two, there was more strength that endures in her well-defined features and large frame than in the soft-cheeked young woman before her’.
This sentence has a total of 35 words in it and is about the differences between Gertrude and Rhoda.
Lawrence tends to use a mixture of lengths in sentences, as most of the content of his stories is people talking. This is clearer than Hardy’s style but can also be confusing, as you sometimes can’t tell who is speaking.
An example of this is page 78 of Selected Tales by D.H. Lawrence. The story is ‘Tickets Please’ and the scene features all the girls and John Thomas. Annie and John Thomas are featured.
‘Do you hear?’ she repeated. He only looked at her with hostile eyes.
‘Speak!’ she said, putting her face devilishly near his.
‘What?’ he said, almost overcome.
‘You’ve got to choose!’ she cried.
This rallying happens throughout Lawrence’s stories, with someone speaking, a question, and answer status that goes on for a long time.
Hardy has a style of writing that is very descriptive, using long complicated words and sentences to describe surroundings, and to capture the mood of the piece, literally handing the whole thing on a plate to the reader. He states facts whereas other writers do not. He uses half the story to describe the landscape, trees, bushes, hills. Although his sentences can be tedious with lots of description and grammar, overall his pieces are strangely accurate as to what the landscape of the setting is today.
I feel that a person can relate to each of the characters in their own way, understanding and feeling their moods, whether angry, upset or joyful. This is because there is a large amount of description of the people’s feelings and expressions
E.g. ‘The low sun was in her face, rendering every feature, shade, and contour distinct, from the curve of her little nostril to the colour of her eyes.’
This sentence is page 4 of ‘Wessex Tales’ by Thomas Hardy, and is featured in the story ‘The Withered Arm’. Hardy is describing the farmer’s new wife, Gertrude. The characters in this scene are Mr. Lodge, Gertrude Lodge and Rhoda and Mr. Lodge’s son.
D. H. Lawrence, however, has a different style. This is more of a talking piece with lots of characters talking with little description. Although this can sometimes be a good thing; too much description can be tiresome. A good example of D. H. Lawrence’s style of writing is page 93 of D. H. Lawrence’s ‘Selected Tales’. The story is ‘Monkey Nuts’, and the characters featured in this conversation are Miss Stokes and Albert:
‘Where’s Joe?’
‘He though you’d like a change: they say variety’s the salt of life – that’s why I’m mostly in pickle.’
‘Where is he?’
‘Am I my brother’s keeper? He’s gone his own ways.’
‘Where?’
‘Nay, how am I to know? Not so far but he’ll be back for supper.’
This conversation is made up of short remarks from each person in it, especially Miss Stokes’ side of the conversation concluding of ‘Where’s Joe?’ ‘Where is he?’ ‘Where?’
Albert’s responses are a little more detailed. ‘He thought you’d like a change: they say variety’s the salt of life – that’s why I’m mostly in a pickle.’
D. H. Lawrence’s stories tend to be more humorous than Thomas Hardy’s stories. In ‘Monkey Nuts’ Albert is the witty corporal included in a humorous story about a love triangle gone wrong. Hardy’s stories are more sinister with a large amount of death, betrayal and hate as in both ‘The Withered Arm’ and ‘The Melancholy Hussar of The German Legion’.
