Discuss the tale “Tony Kytes, The arch deceiver” by Hardy. Show how he develops character and humour by his use of language.

Hardy’s use of language portrays humour and, also introduces and develops characters.

We can tell from the start the tone is that of a light hearted one. We can tell that Tony Kytes is the centre of village gossip, as the Carter knows a lot about him. The following quote shows Tony is a womaniser and an arch deceiver “He was quite the woman’s favourite, and in return for their likings he loved ‘em in shoals.” From this you would automatically presume he was extremely attractive but Carter goes on to tell us other wise “ ‘Twas a little, round, firm, tight face, with a seam here and there left by the smallpox. The Carter finds it amusing that he has not physically matured “ And there was no more than a sign of a whisker or beard on Tony Kytes face than on the palm of my hand. Tony made the woman laugh by singing “ He used to sing the ‘ The Tailor’s Breeches’ with a religious a manner, as if it were a hymn:- ‘o the petticoat went off, and the breeches went on!’ ” .

“But in course of time Tony got fixed down to one in particular” this implies she was not the first choice for Tony and that he probably preferred loving the woman in shoals. The woman Tony is about to marry is Milly Richards “ a nice, light, small tender little thing” this shows Milly can be easily manipulated by Tony and will do exactly as she is told.

As the story continues we learn that Tony is coming home from the market in his waggon when he meets Unity Sallet, “one of the young women he’d been very tender towards before he’d got engaged to Milly.” We can see Unity is much more forward than Milly. Immediately Unity asks Tony for a lift, “My dear Tony will you give me a lift home”. We then see that Tony can not refuse a woman and he tells them what they want to hear “That I will, darling… You don’t suppose I could refuse ‘ee. After Unity is on board she begins to flirts cautiously with Tony by asking him of his marriage to Milly “ In what way she better than I?” Unity never mentions Milly’s name to Tony she just implies she is better than Milly. Unity begins to manipulate Tony by reminding him how long they have known each other. By reminding Tony of past memories it makes him think whether he likes Unity more than Milly. Unity uses Tony’s weaknesses against him “Now look at me” Tony is encouraged to look at Unity, she knows he will do anything for a pretty face. This is the first part of the story where Hardy uses the manipulation of Tony to bring humour into the tale. Soon Tony sees something he sees some thing very familiar to him, the feather in Milly’s hat. Tony tries to turn the manipulation round to avoid confrontation, he asks her to hide under the tarpaulin. Before Unity can protest he uses terms of endearment to convince her to hide “Do-… and perhaps I shall put the loving question to you after all” this implies marriage but he never actually mentions the word. He tells Unity it is not all settled with himself and Milly, this shows he is a deceiver. At the thought of marriage to Tony she goes under the tarpaulin.

When Milly sees Tony she looks up with a little pout at him as they get closer. She reminds him they had arranged to meet to talk over there future home. He then panics at the thought of being caught so he makes up an excuse. Humour is made has we see Tony trying to regain control. Tony says that he saw her mother in the market and she looked like she was expecting Milly. However, this excuse does not work as Milly has already seen her mother when she was on her way back from the market. Therefore, Tony ...

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Tony and Milly talk pleasantly and look at the trees, beasts, birds, insects and ploughmen at work in the fields. Tony tires to avoid the subject of their marriage and new home. Their conversation continues pleasantly until Tony sees Hannah Jolliver who Tony had met and loved before both Unity and Milly. Hannah was much prettier then both of the other girls and Tony had nearly married her instead of Milly. “My dear Milly- my coming wife, as I may call ‘ee” says Tony in his usual modest way, but not so loud that Unity can over hear again this implies he is a deceiver. Tony continues saying that he can see a young woman looking out of a window and he thinks she may accost him. Tony goes onto say that Hannah has the mistaken idea that Tony was going to marry her. He tells Milly that Hannah will lose her temper, as Milly is prettier than, Tony asks Milly to creep under the sacks in the front of the waggon. Again he call her his “coming wife”, Tony his reassuring her that he wants her and not Hannah. Tony drives on until he is by the roadside cottage.

Hannah who is waiting at the window tosses her head and smiles at Tony. Hardy shows the humour of the situation as Tony loses control yet again. “Well aren’t you going to be civil enough to ask me to ride with you!” she says. This shows Hannah is much bolder and more forward than Milly. Tony tells Hannah that her though she was staying in the house. Hannah replies by saying she was just stopping on her way home, so Tony has no choice but to take her onboard. “Tony feels a dim sort of sweat riding up inside his clothes” the Carter would have found this highly amusing as he is being overtaken by panic.

Hannah was sitting next to Tony and he is becoming very cautious, as he is petrified of being caught. Hannah begins to manipulate Tony just as Unity did. Hannah looks straight into Tony’s eyes and talks to him. The more this continued the more Tony realised he liked Hannah, more than both Unity and Milly. “ He couldn’t for the life of him think why he had ever said a word about marriage to Milly or Unity while Hannah was in the question” They spoke tenderly to each other and moved closer together.

We see Tony being a deceiver when he tells Hannah everything is not settled with his marriage to Milly. Things are going smoothly until Hannah hears something “Hark…surely I heard a sort of little screaming squeak under those sacks”. Tony is panic stricken, and is forced to think of an excuse, he says it was just the axel in dry weather. Luckily Hannah believes him, of course this is a lie really, it is Milly squealing because she heard what Tony had said. Hannah then becomes extremely manipulative, by talking of their relationship and talking of marriage, she says “ Do you like her more than me?…to tell the truth; and I wouldn’t say no if you asked me” Tony was so won over by what he has been told. He looks behind him then whispers so Milly can not hear what he is saying “I haven’t quite promised her, I think I can get out of it, and ask you that question you speak of” Hannah is excited and begins to shout with enjoyment “Throw over Milly? -all to marry me! How delightful!” At this Milly squeaked again and there was movement in the sacks. Hannah is horrified by this, and Tony is left to make up another excuse, he says he has ferrets in the back that he is going to use for poaching. As Tony tries to regain control by asking about the weather and Hannah’s aunt Tony sees his father calling him over, he is more than happy to get out of this situation, so he asks Hannah to take the reins. The Carter would have found this hilarious as Tony has lost control once again.

Tony’s father is looking at Tony with a stern eye and asks him why he is riding with Hannah when he is intending to marry Milly. Tony explains that both Milly and Unity are there in the back. He also explains that he is intending to ask one before the rest. He asks his father for his opinion “ Now which would you marry, father, if you were in my place?” Tony’s father replied by saying “ Whichever of ‘em did not ask to ride with thee” of course this was Milly, and his father says stick with Milly she is best. As he is talking to his father Hannah begins to lose control of the horse, so Tony runs towards the cart. “Now of all the things that could have happened to wean him from Milly there was nothing so powerful as his fathers recommendation” so due to this Tony decides that Hannah is the one he will ask, since he could not marry all three as he longed to do. Hardy again shows that Tony is a deceiver.

Milly became very restless in the back and she spotted Unity’s foot, she was frightened at first, but then decided to resolve what was going on. Milly says to unity “ well isn’t this disgraceful” they begin to argue, but whisper, as they do not wish to be heard, the Carter would have found this humorous as things begin to go wrong. As the argument continues the louder they become and Hannah is horrified by it, and she lets go of the reins. The horse took the turn too sharply, and it toppled the off wheels, which went up the bank until the axle’s were on their side, and out rolled the three maidens into a heap in the road.

Tony came up frightened and breathless; he was relieved to see that none of his darlings were hurt. The three women begin to argue and Tony steps in “Don’t ye quarrel, my dears-don’t ye” this shows he is a deceiver as he he is not committing himself to either of the women. Tony then tells them he has asked Hannah to be his, and she is willing. However, Tony does not see that Hannah’s father is coming up behind him, and he declares that his daughter is not willing. So, Hannah refuses Tony and says “… little did I think I was so soft with him just now that I was talking to such a deceiver.” Hannah left with her father and Tony turns to Unity and asks her if she will marry him. Unity says, "Take her leavings? Not I!…I'd scorn it” and she also walked away. The Carter would have found this humorous, as not only has Tony
been found out, but also two women have turned him down. This leaves Tony and Milly by themselves, she is crying and he looks like a tree struck by lightening. So Tony says that fate has brought them together, and that he did not mean what he had said to Unity and Hannah. This makes Tony a deceiver because he did mean what he had said, and portrays Milly as a weak character for taking him back. They then kissed and they righted the wagon and rode home together. They married the following Sunday and almost everyone in Longpuddle was there.

The humour in the story was achieved by Hardy in not only making Tony lose control and try to regain it, but also due to the coincidence that all three women were on the same stretch of road, at the same time.

In conclusion, the story is light hearted and the title is justifiable by Tony’s behaviour and actions. Each of the women were different and the characters were evoked in different ways to highlight Tony’s character.