The country scene is a romantic setting. It is much more pleasant to be looking “…at the trees, and beasts, and birds and insects, and at the ploughmen at work in the fields” than to be surrounded by “…the silver stream of traffic through the city… the blind windows of the tower blocks.” as in the Seduction. The “bricks”, “tower blocks” and “windows” are all cold, harsh objects – like the poem, which shows a cold, harsh reality; Tony Kytes uses soft and warm objects, such as “rabbits” and talking about “what a fine day it is”, which makes for a more romantic and warmer piece of writing. However, the “brambles of the hedge” could be taken to mean that there is a more unpleasant element in Tony Kytes.
The transport in Tony Kytes is also more romantic than in the Seduction, as they are “driving home in the wagon”. This is because they are surrounded by pretty countryside and there are no cars around to create fumes and noise and pollution to deter form their enjoyment. Also, each girl believes that they are alone with Tony, without another person in sight. This allows them to behave in a way that people in the Seduction cannot. They sit close to Tony and place “their feet upon the foot-board” which is openly flirtatious for their time. Whereas in the Seduction the “tower blocks” and surround them, detracting from their privacy. The only mention of transport in the Seduction is the vehicles that make up the “silver stream of traffic”. The young man leads the girl on foot, which can be romantic in its way, but not in this case.
The clothing in the Seduction is more modern than in Tony Kytes. The boy is dressed in a “leather jacket” and also caries “a bag”, whereas she wears “high white shoes”. This contrast between the black of the leather and the white of the shoes is reflected in the respective personalities. He being the dark, evil one – the black one; she being the pretty, innocent one – the white one.
The clothing of the period in Tony Kytes is mentioned in few quotes. From the quote “O the petticoats, they went off and the breaches they went on!” we can imagine that there was one set of attire for women and another completely different set for the men. This is because this quote was a part of an impolite song and therefore can be inferred that the opposite is more normal – meaning that women were unlikely to wear breaches, or any other sort of masculine attire for that matter. Instead, women were more inclined to wear gowns or other dresses (“haul up the tails of her gown”) with “stockings”.
Hannah asks reproachfully at one point “Don’t you see I have my bonnet and jacket on?” and at another point Tony notices “a feather he knew well – the feather in Milly’s hat” this would indicate that women of the period were more likely to wear some sort of head attire. The men too also seem to wear hats and, when meeting women, Tony at least is accustomed to “taking off his hat”. This would imply that it was socially expected of the men to remove their hats in the presence of women. As not many males in this day and age would think about removing their hats for a woman, this in turn implies that ladies gained more respect from men than the women of today do.
The 1800’s are a time when offspring are less likely to move far from home and boys will often grow up to work alongside their fathers. Hence the quote “He had been to market to do business for his father”. This shows a physical closeness between Tony and his father, but it does not necessarily mean that he is mentally close with him. That would explain why “…of all the things that could have happened to wean him from Milly there was nothing so powerful as his father’s recommending her.”
The 1800’s are also a period of less freedom for women. Social expectations decree that they are not expected to sleep with anyone until they have settled down with one man. Which is why Hannah Jolliver’s father asks her if “…yer virtue is left to ‘ee…” meaning, has she still got her virginity. Likewise, a man is not expected to be seen alone with any woman different to the one he is currently seeing, but Tony seems to ignore this as he travels back from the market with three women – only one of which he should have been (Milly). As Tony’s father says “Don’t go driving around the country with Jolliver’s daughter and making a scandal. I won’t have such things done”. But he also thinks it’s very forward of the girls to ask
Tony for a ride in his cart.
This is unlike the Seduction, where there is no mention whatsoever of parents, and the young people have much more freedom. There seem to be no restrictions of sex after marriage; indeed marriage is not mentioned once in the poem. However, social expectations are still in place. The girl realises that it is better “…to fade away. Than to have neighbours whisper that ‘you always looked the type’.” This proves that the girl feels she is being judged as having fallen below the social expectation.
The characters of the two young men are both different too. Tony is depicted as “serious looking and unsmiling”, which would seem to indicate maturity. However a observation of “no more sign of a whisker or beard on Tony Kytes face than on the palm of my hand” suggests physical immaturity, and the further comment of “He used to sing ‘Tailor’s Breeches’ with a religious manner indicates a blasphemous nature and possible mental immaturity.
The boy in the Seduction is equally immature; although he smokes and sniffs “shimmering, sweet paint thinner” he is really just a boy who “should be at school”. He appears as the stereotypical youth rebel, complete with “leather jacket” and spitting habits. Which is quite unlike the charming appearance of Tony Kytes.
The boy plies the girl with alcohol with the full intent of injuring her. He audibly mutters “little slag”, showing that, unlike Tony, he has no real respect for the girl. He is also incredibly self-centred and focuses the conversation on his interests: talking about “football… the Milk Cup, and the next McGuigan fight”. This also shows a lack of interest in the girl beyond sex.
This is quite unlike Tony, who doesn’t mean any harm to any of the three girls. When the cart tipped over, he made a point of “taking off his hat out of respect to ‘em”. It also states that “he would have kissed them all around”, indicating again that he is indecisive and also that he doesn’t mean any injury to befall them. However he is very easily swayed by the girls and with every new girl he begins to wonder why he liked the girl before. This is backed up by the quote “he couldn’t for the life of him think why he had ever said a word about marriage to Milly or Unity while Hannah Jolliver was in question”. This shows that although he was happy with Milly and Unity before her, he cannot stick to any plan and is constantly living for the moment - he is very fickle.
The girl in the seduction is dressed in white, signifying her innocence. The white contrasts with the guy’s black “leather jacket”, making her seem quite angelic. This can also be taken to mean that she is a virgin – white and untouched – and that the boy is about to ruin this purity for her.
Milly herself has a strong resemblance to the girl in the seduction, in the way that they are both fooling themselves that they are wanted by the respective boys and that they are the only ones the young men are interested in. They seem to be able to hide from the truth rather than face up to it.
She does not seem to be romantically attached to Tony and never displays any strong emotions. Instead she talks about more mundane things, such as their future house. From this it is clear that she feels secure with Tony, and does not expect any competition; she expects to marry him and consequently buy a house.
She appears to have no pride, unlike Unity. She takes Tony’s offer of marriage after he has already asked two girls before her in quick succession. Unity refuses him after being asked second. She is a very sly character and worms her way into Tony’s affections by asking leading questions and comparing herself to Milly.
In this way she is like Hannah, who also asks leading questions. Hannah is very direct and leads Tony on by sitting close to him and batting her eyes. However she has more pride than the other two, and wont marry Tony even though he asked her first – she is too humiliated.
Transport:
“…Wagon seemed to be empty but for the loose tarpaulin”
“…Creep under the empty sacks just here in the front of the wagon”
“…Crouched down just behind the seat”
“…A sort of little screaming squeak under those sacks? Why, you’ve been carrying corn, and there’s mice in this wagon…”
“’Tis the axle”
“Would you mind taking the reins a moment…”
“…The off wheels went up the bank, the wagon rose sideways till it was quite on the edge upon the near axles…”
Scene:
“…He reached the foot of the hill… waiting for him at the top… Unity Sallet”
“…Over the hedge and past the turning…”
“…Upper window of a house that stood beside the road…”
“…Coming to the corner where we turn round to drop down the hill to Lower Longpuddle”
“…In the afternoon…”
“…’Tis almost Christmas”
“…In dry weather”
“…What a fine day it is… for this time of year?”
Period:
“…If it had been Milly, twould have been quite proper; but you and Hannah Jolliver going about by yourselves-”