The roles that the father figures of this story play are very important. They have major roles that alter the outcome of the final event at the end of the story where Tony proposes. We do not know anything about Tony’s father except that Tony feels that he can ask his advice about important things. Tony’s father gives Tony advice about whom he should ask to marry when Tony asks whom he should ask to marry. His father says Milly as she did not ask to ride with him, this implies that Tony’s fathers thinks that the person who is the least forward is the one his son should choose as she probably cares about him. Tony’s father said this because Tony is already committed to Milly. It also suggests that his father is quite a sensitive person and cares that Tony should have a good wife. Tony completely ignored his father’s advice this could be because his is a strict Victorian father as he is worried about the scandal (being engaged to a woman and being seen with an other woman) as that was seen as sin in the Victorian times. When Tony goes and asks for his father’s opinion this could be because that he values his father’s opinion and he looks up to him. It could also mean that Tony is not very good at making decisions on he own and needs someone else to do it for him. He only likes Hannah because she is the prettiest, the “more he looked at her the more he liked her”. As he cannot marry all three he chooses the prettiest.
Hannah’s father tries protects and advises against marrying Tony as he does not want his daughter to be the cause of a scandal as he thinks that Milly is Tony’s steady partner. Unlike Tony, Hannah follows her father’s advice even though she wants to marry Tony and hopes that he will “ask her again”. By following her fathers advice Hannah is testing Tony’s commitment to her.
The next short story is called the “Half Brothers” that was written by Elizabeth Gaskell. This is a tragic tale written in the 19th century and is written in the first person and again the narrator looks back to past events. This story is about a stepfather and two brothers the stepfather is the real father to the boy who is telling the story and his wife who died was the mother of Gregory who is William Preston’s the stepfather’s son. William always had treated Gregory badly an example of this is when William never acknowledges Gregory and if he does he is rude and obnoxious to him “ one day his temper gave in and cursed and swore at Gregory “ this is an example of how badly William often treated Gregory. But deep down William knew that his wife had all ways loved Gregory more then she had loved him “my father never got over his grudging dislike to his stepson who so innocently wrestled with him for the possession of my mother’s heart” this is the main reason why William hated Gregory so much as he was never the full focus of her attention. This story is a tragedy, which is the exact opposite of Tony Kytes as that is a comedy. We are given a lot of background information about why William married Gregory’s mother. William is the villain in this and it is easy to tell as he bullies Gregory and he is almost embarrassed to be seen with him. William then sends Gregory out to the fields where he works as a shepherded under the training of old Adam. Old Adam in a way was like a father figure to Gregory as he encourages Gregory in many ways and tells him when he has done well. “ I think old Adam was almost the first person who had a good opinion of Gregory”.
When Gregory dies trying to protect his half brother, William feels guilty and ashamed of the way he treated him. He tries to make up for his bad behaviour by asking to be buried at the foot of the grave where “poor Gregory had been laid with our mother”.
The third story is called “The Adventure Of The Speckled Band”, which was written by Sir Arthur Doyle who is the creator of the Sherlock Holmes detective books. This short story was written in the 19th century and is a sinister story. It is a typical Sherlock Holmes story as it has the two main characters from the Sherlock Holmes stories, Dr Watson and Sherlock Holmes. It is written in the first person and the narrator is Dr Watson. The story is about a woman called Helen Stoner who comes to see Sherlock Holmes and she is quite distressed. She is very frightened, her face was “drawn and grey” and her eyes were like a “hunted animal”. She wants Sherlock Holmes to help her as she thinks she is in danger. Her sister had died in suspicious circumstances just before she was due to get married. Helen Stoner was afraid that she would die too. She said that her stepfather was violent and had a “violence of temper approaching to mania”.
Sherlock Holmes offers to investigate her suspicions. After she leaves the stepfather arrives and threatens Holmes if he interferes. Sherlock Holmes visits Helen and discovers that her sister died from a snake bite and manages to stop Helen from being bitten, the stepfather dies instead. The stepfather is wicked as he does not care at all about the girls as the only thing that is important to him is making sure that he does not loss the money his wife left to him to give to her daughters when they married.
We are given a lot of background information about Dr Roylott. He has a violent temper and in a fit of anger “beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital sentence”. He treats the girls badly as though they have nothing to do with him, Sherlock Holmes finds “five little livid spots” on Helens wrist. He doesn’t care about the girls, all he cares about is inheriting his dead wife’s money that would have gone to his stepdaughters when they married. He eliminates the people who are threatening his future well being as the money he will inherit will ensures that he lives comfortably for the rest of his life. Sherlock Holmes eventually saves Helen but the stepfather dies by the snakebite that meant for Helen. No one feels sorry at his death, Holmes says “I cannot say that it is likely to weigh very heavily upon my conscience”.
There are a few similarities in all three stories. They were all written in the nineteenth century and they all have a narrator. In each story the father or stepfather plays an important role. The two stepfathers are unkind to their stepchildren as they are not blood relatives, although Gregoriy’s stepfather repents when Gregory dies unlike Dr Roylott who doesn’t. The Tony Kytes story is not very descriptive as it is mostly dialogue compared to “Half Brothers” which is mostly narrated and has hardly any dialogue. The third story “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” has a range of both as there is a lot of background information to the story. All the stories that are narrated all look back at what has happened in the previous years. The “Half Bothers” and “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” are similar in a way as they both have wicked stepfathers who do not care for their step children. Compared to Tony Ktyes’ father, these two stepfathers are evil. Tony’s father is a typical strict Victorian father who only wants the best for his son, he is also Tony’s father and not a stepfather. The other two men fit the stereotype of a wicked stepfathers, Gregory’s stepfather is jealous of Gregory’s mothers love whilst Dr Roylott just wants the girls money. However the end of “Half Brother”, William realises what he has done and tries to make up for his past mistakes.
