Comparison of "Tony Kytes, the arch deceiver" by Thomas Hardy and "Tickets please" by D H Lawrence.

Authors Avatar
'Tony Kytes, the arch deceiver ' and 'Tickets please', are two short stories, which are set around the male/ female relationship of their time. Neither of the stories is written from a woman's point of view, 'Tony Kytes, the arch deceiver ' is clearly written from a mans point of view, while 'Tickets please' is written from a neutral point of view. They are both set in the past, and in both the male/female relationship differs from what we would expect today. 'Tony Kytes, the arch deceiver ' is set in a 19th century countryside village, in southern England. The narrator is local to the community, and the story begins by introducing Tony Kytes, the male character. Women in general are also introduced very early on, after which the narrator settles on one of the three female characters. The story is set around Tony Kytes, and his relationship with three different women. The setting is not very important into his story, and so not much is done to describe it. Most of the description is given through dialogue.

'Tickets please' is set in wartime England, specifically in the industrial midlands: so areas in the vicinity of Nottinghamshire. The story is set around a tram service, renown for being run entirely by 'girls'. The story begins with a very detailed description of the setting, and eventually introduces the general group of female characters, before settling down on the main female character. Lawrence gives a very adventurous, wild, and energetic feel of the tram service: "the ride becomes a steeplechase", while Hardy, in 'Tony Kytes, the arch deceiver ' sets a very relaxed calm pace of life: "They talked on very pleasantly, and looked at the trees..." in which Tony Kytes faces the dilemma of who to 'put the question to'. The genres of both stories are quite different too, 'Tony Kytes, the arch deceiver ' is more of a comedy then the typical romance, and 'Tickets please', is much more serious and dramatic, but both of these stories raise serous issues as to the relationship between men and women, in their time.

The setting of 'Tony Kytes, the arch deceiver 'could be adapted to any time or setting, if you only look at its comical side: which is a basic story of one man and his dilemmas. But if you look in more depth, you will see that, the circumstance and situation, especially the social system of the time and it's jurisdiction over relationships, have a heavy influence over what happens in the story, e.g. the stance of women in the story, and their limited choices. As a contrast, the setting of 'Tickets please' is very important, as the issues and circumstances that were a consequence of wartime, are the reason for the story coming to life.

The setting of 'Tony Kytes, the arch deceiver ' is important, but only to a small degree. I have come to this conclusion after analysing the story and have quite a few reasons for this. The story begins by introducing the male character rather then a description of the setting: " I shall never forget Tony's face," The opening line also tells the reader that the narrator had a personal connection with Tony Kytes, as he uses only his first name, rather then "Mr Kytes", (Tony is also generally an abbreviation for Anthony), or any other formal name. As well as the fact that he 'shall never forget Tony's face'. We are also told that the narrator is a carrier. I was not quite sure what a carrier was but in the second paragraph where it says: "the foot of the very hill we shall be going over in 10 minutes", I worked out that he was on a cart, or wagon of some sort, and also that he was telling his story, rather then writing it. This also explained the lack of description used, as the narrator and his audience were passing through the setting while he was telling the story, so their was no need to explain the setting, as his audience could see it. Hardy also does not take much time in explaining the time, culture or class of the people, this is probably due to the fact that the narrator, is supposed to be part of the community which Tony Kytes comes from. For the audience who are listening to the story being told, they can imagine the story being told in their heads, considering they are just passing the setting, but for the reader, although there is not much description, there is enough to make some assumptions using the clues that have been given throughout the story in the form of key words and phrases. We can tell that the story is set in the Victorian era, by clues such as the fact that Tony has:' a seam here and there left by small pox', so it was in an era where small pox was still common; and that he is going to the market 'to do business for his father', by this he means going to sell produce from his farm, or any other produce, rather then the modern market where this cannot be done so simply. This also tells us that it is a rural part of England, as in the cities they didn't have market s as such. We can also tell from the clothes that the characters were wearing, "can you not see I have my bonnet and jacket on?" For women in the Victorian times, a bonnet, a sort of hat, was worn as a sign of modesty, or respect, and it was very important for a woman to do so when she went out. For this reason, Hannah Jollier is appalled at Tony's stupidity when he does not realise that she is on her way home, because she is wearing 'her coat and bonnet': her outdoor clothing. The wagon that Tony drives, I first assumed was a motorised one such as the ones we have today, but later on in the story is says: 'And he reigned in his horse', so it was obviously a horse powered wagon, not a motorised one. This indicates that the story is from a time before the car was invented, and in full use- so once again it indicates the Victorian era. Another point that I noticed was the way that Tony acts towards the women. Although his straying heart can easily be related to a few situations today, there is a certain civility and politeness that has become rare in today's society. To offer someone you know a 'ride home' is no longer seen as something civil, but more generous, and extremely polite. With the stressful lifestyle of people today, it is no longer obligatory to be so polite as to offer someone you know a ride home. As a contrast to Tony and Hannah, Tony's father strongly disapproves of him 'driving about the country' with Hannah Jollier. As Tony is 'said' to be marrying Millie, Tony's father sees him alone with his ex-girlfriend, as 'making a scandal'. The social system of that time was very complicated, a lot more complicated then it is now, although being seen with your ex' girlfriend today can result in some disapproving looks in some cases; but on the hole it is seen as quite normal, and certainly not 'scandalous'. Another example of the complexities of the time is the whole scenario of Millie and Tony's engagement. Tony is still yet to ask Millie to 'put the question to Millie' he is even thinking of putting it to someone else, yet the whole town knows that they are "engaged to be married". At the beginning of the story, when we are first introduced to Millie, their engagement is not seen as much of a romance. Instead of falling in love with, he was 'fixed down' to Millie, and instead of the happy couple announcing their engagement, 'it was 'said' they were to be married'. It gives of the impression of a social system where the community decided what happens, and where you have little choice but to abide by what the community think of as 'proper'. This gives us an insight as to what sort of culture the story is set in, more specifically their tight nit social system.

The story is set in a farming village, in a working class society. We can see this from the regional dialect expressed in the story. The dialect is not the type that would of have been seen as 'posh', or the types spoken by higher and middle class people of that time. We can see on many occasions slang is used: "Tisn't", "ee", and "knowed". The dialect sounds as if it was from a southern region, such as Essex, or Dorset. This is very likely, as Hardy is known to set his stories in places that very much resemble Dorset. We know it is a farm, from a few key phrases that we have read, such as' the ploughmen at work in the fields', and 'you've been carrying corn', and 'father in a field'. These are all strongly related to farming and villages. From this we can also see that it is a working class society. Another reason to believe that it is a working class society is the amount of importance stressed on marriage. All three female characters are very eager to get married, we can see this most clearly when even after realising that Tony had betrayed each of them, the still wanted to marry him: "For she would not of have refused Tony if he had asked her quietly, and her father had no been there, and her faced not scratched by the bramble". Although it was seen as important for women of all classes to get married, it would have been a lot easier for a women of middle/higher class to refuse with all her heart and dignity, for it was no that important for her to get married- she would have money to lean back on. But for a women such as those in "Tony Kytes the arch deceiver", there was no real alternative then to get married- if they didn't they would face being despised or pitied by their community, and no chance to earn a living. We can see that it was taken for granted that all women wanted to get married, in the fact that Tony Kytes doesn't foresee the possibility of being rejected. Fate lies in his hands, who he chooses, shall dare not refuse. When Hannah Jollier does refuse: "What, you won't have me Hannah?" Tony is shocked. As this is a comedy, we can expect the social system to be slightly caricatured, but the fundamental social issues raised, are very real of that time.
Join now!


"Tickets please" begins with a detailed description of the setting, which is one of the reasons for me believing that it is very important to the story line. The narrator is omniscient, as he seems to know all the details, without actually being there, also he has a virtually neutral opinion, although sometimes he tends to go into the thoughts of the character, e.g. John Thomas' thoughts;" a good, easy twelve mile chat", and in Annie's thoughts: "After all, he had a wonderfully warm, cosy way of holding a girl..." The first detail as to the location of ...

This is a preview of the whole essay