“O yes. You must expect to be stared at just at first, my pretty Gertrude”. (pg 5)
In the middle of the story, Gertrude’s arm becomes more and more disfigured which makes Farmer Lodge become more obsessed with the women’s appearance. He then starts neglecting her just like he did to Rhoda Brook and all just because of her wither arm. But towards the end of the story he eventually changes for the better and appeared as a thoughtful and chastened man because after his wife Gertrude died, he bequeathed the whole of his not inconsiderable property to a reformatory for boys.
Other examples of characters like Farmer Lodge are Humphrey Gould in “The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion” and Tony Kytes in “Tony Kytes, the Arch-Deceiver” because they are represented as being shallow, unemotional and someone who would not care about women’s feelings. But I think Randolph in “The Son’s Veto” is the worst male character in the stories because he only cared about his own happiness and not his mother’s feelings. He always cared about his status as he did not let Sophy marry Sam because he was a green grocer.
“I am ashamed of you! It will ruin me! A miserable boor! A churl! A clown! It will degrade me in the eyes of all the gentlemen of England!” (pg 49)
Women in Thomas Hardy’s stories were represented in the stereotypical way as they were seen on those days. Phyllis Grove in “The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion” is a good example of this as she is being represented as a soft, delicate and a physically weak woman. Rhoda Brook in “The Withered Arm” is an exception to his writing as she was strong minded and independent and also who was able to live her life without the help of a man. But Gertrude Lodge was just opposite to Rhoda Brook as she was weak, very delicate and would do anything to satisfy her husband. All of the female characters were represented as soft and elusive. The different aspects and key elements affect each of the female character, one of which is social status and the other being the problems that rise from this. Like for example Rhoda Brook in “The Withered Arm” is a milkmaid (lower-class) and Sophy Twycott in “The Son’s Veto” is a parlour maid which is lower-class too but the difference between the two of them is that Rhoda is strong and independent where as Sophy is weak and delicate even though she changes at the end of the story after her husband dies where she learns to live the life of her own by being strong enough to make her own decisions. All the female characters were represented in a stereotypical way including Phyllis Grove in “The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion” because she was soft, weak and followed social conventions instead of her heart. Overall the women were represented as physically weak and delicate.
In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s story men are represented as being cold hearted and someone who would not care about women’s feelings. Mr.Marroner in “Turned” is a very good example of this because he has an affair with his servant Gerta Peterson even though he has a wife. His attitude to Gerta Peterson is that he thought she was child-like and would not be able to take care of herself.
“And you must take care of Gerta, too”, he said. “I expect you’ll have her ready for college when I get back”.
He had discussed Gerta’s visible limitations with his wife and also gets Gerta pregnant and then goes away on business for seven months. He also sends her a fifty dollar bill saying that he would take care of her.
“You must bare it bravely, little girl. I shall be home soon, and will take care of you, of course”.
Mr.Marroner is therefore being represented as cold-hearted and someone who expresses no regret over his betrayal because when he gets home and finds that his wife and Gerta have gone, he only looks for his wife and not Gerta.
Mrs.Marroner is represented as being well off and of having a “reserved, superior Boston-bred life”. She is a woman who loved her husband before she found out about the affair. She felt jealous and angry at first but controls her feelings of jealousy and realise that Gerta should not be blamed for the affair with her husband. She was also represented as a different woman character who was well-filled and had a well-balanced mind because she had the patience to take into account what her husband did to Gerta and also leaves her husband to take care of Gerta and the baby born out of the affair. She stays strong and thought what she did was right till the end of the story as she never forgave her husband. Mrs.Marroner was also similar to Rhoda in her independence because she had the mind to accept Gerta after the affair and did not want anything to do with her husband as she lived her own independent life where as Rhoda was the same as Mrs.Marroner because she lived her own independent life too without the love of a man.
Conclusion
Overall I think the main differences in the attitude of the two authors is that Thomas Hardy was being rather sexiest and wrote stories which were more sympathetic to the offending male where as Charlotte Perkins being a woman herself has represented other women as being strong and independent. I think they are both different not because of the fact that one of the writers is American and the other English because I don’t think it is really important where the write was born. But they might be different as to how they were bought up or something that might have happened in their past life which might have affected them and made them get a bad impression about men or women as Thomas Hardy seems to support the male characters in his stories where as Charlotte Perkins supports the female characters.