Rhoda Brook in “The Withered Arm” worked for a living, to support her son and herself. She was not treated fairly by society as she had had a child out of wedlock.
The child was Farmer Lodge’s but he didn’t wish to marry Rhoda because she had a lower standing in society, which can be seen by the fact that she worked for him as a milkmaid. She must have felt obliged to sleep with Farmer Lodge although she may not have made a conscious choice to do so. She would have known that nothing more would possibly come of it, and I don’t think she would have expected it. Obviously Farmer Lodge didn’t want to be made a public sceptical of and therefore he had very little input into the child’s life and future.
Appearance mattered in the times the stories were set, men preferred an attractive wife although it wasn’t a necessity.
In “The Withered Arm” Gertrude is very attractive, Farmer Lodge partly married her due to this. We know this because when her arm and therefore her beauty became disfigured “(Farmer Lodge) was usually glum and silent, the woman he had wooed for her grace and beauty was contorted and disfigured in the left limb.” This behaviour proved that the appearance of his wife meant a lot to him. This was society’s influence, as at the time appearance was a major part of a woman’s job as a middle class wife, she has to make an effort to look her best at all times.
Rhoda is also interested in what Gertrude looks like as Gertrude is said to be much prettier than Rhoda although she feels she cannot compare herself to Gertrude due to the class differences that they hold. Although she does desire to know how Gertrude would fit into community life in the township and she is very inquisitive as to Farmer Lodges choice in wife. This can be seen in the book as she asks her son many times to find out such details as “What colour is her hair and face?“ This proves she wants to know as much as possible about Gertrude’s beauty and attractiveness.
I think Rhoda is resentful that Farmer Lodge “wooed” Gertrude and is staying with her; although Rhoda knows that realistically she had no future with the man and that he would never support her and the child due to the fact they were never wed.
In “The Withered Arm,” Gertrude Lodge appears to be a very “modest woman.” She doesn’t boast or brag about marrying the farmer and seems very shy and introverted. When she first appeared in public at the church on the Sunday, “all… eyes were fixed upon her” and the congregation were judging her for her appearance and the first impressions she made. This made it very hard for her, because, due to her modesty, she found it most irritating and upsetting when her dress kept brushing against the pews making rather a lot of unwanted noise.
I think this shows that Gertrude is treated with very little privacy as the people of the village wish to see her at the first chance they find. This shows that women are judged very quickly on appearance and therefore sometimes aren’t given a chance to reveal their personalities and character.
In “The Distracted Preacher,” Stockdale appropriately thinks that Lizzy should be kept safe and away from the smugglers who he believes are a dire influence on her. He also believes she shouldn’t profit from such a trade although he very rarely mentions it to her face.
However Stockdale shows these angry emotions when Lizzy “… is in mans clothes…” and he exclaims how “ashamed” he is of her; he obviously thought it was “indecent” of a women to wear such male attire. This meant that society was not very open to such matters of women wearing anything but their long dresses; this was one of the pressures women faced during the era, but it was generally accepted without fuss as a moral rule that should be abided by. This proves Stockdale is very much in keeping with the times and traditions of treating women of the day as was considered “proper.”
I think Stockdale is a man with a very high moral ground because of his profession. Therefore he tries to put across his points of view very stoutly to Lizzy. He treats her very much as his property as if she cannot be independent and that is the reason for him acting in such a negative manner towards her when she was dressed in male attire.
At the time the stories were set women were greatly underestimated. They were thought to be inferior to men and therefore men often treated them as their belonging. Men would tend to chose women to marry them and therefore women wouldn’t very often turn a man down. This shows that women had few rights and responsibilities over their choices and decisions at the time.
Sophie in “The Sons Veto” is underestimated by her son; subsequently her son treats her badly, this is because of her previous background. Before Sophie had her son, she was a servant, she came from a lower class background, and therefore there wasn’t the money in the family to give her an education. Her son frequently criticises her speech and on one occasion says, “Has dear mother – not have!” This error of speech embarrasses him as he wishes to mix with the higher-class circles and thinks that her lack of education may stop him from reaching the social goals he sets himself.
I think Sophie feels guilty that she may stop her son from having friends in high places. She feels insecure about her speech anyway and her son makes her feel inferior when he corrects her in such ways. I think she feels she is intruding on her son’s higher-class circles when she tries to become involved in his life. At the time the stories were set, a good education was something only the middle and upper class could afford. Therefore lower class people weren’t treated well because their lack of education had denied them the ability to work in highly paid, highly skilled jobs. Lower class women were especially denied this right to education; this is how unequal the treatment of society’s women was.
Lizzy in “The Distracted Preacher” was underestimated by Stockdale as he thought her very improper to go against normal everyday practises of women of the time. He thought she should not smuggle or break the law and this put him in a very awkward position when she refused. Stockdale had the idea in his head that women were not up to such excursions and that is why he was so surprised that when he found out he exclaimed, “you are a smuggler!”
I think Lizzy was not very pleased with Stockdale’s opinions as I think she felt she should be able to do as she pleases. She didn’t feel it was improper for women to able to smuggle and break the law and in fact thought it was actually relatively harmless as there wasn’t a harsh penalty for being caught. She thought Stockdale was over reacting and that is why she refuses to stop participating in the smugglers trade.
After studying the Wessex tales in some depth I have come to the conclusion that women were treated differently due to their class. Lower class women had to work whereas middle and upper class women had lower class women working for them. Lower class women were often treated quite well by their employers; they weren’t well educated as there wasn’t the money to educate them to the high standard of the middle classes. Education wasn’t a choice which lower class women were given as their parents often wished them to be out making money as soon as possible.
I concluded that appearance was quite important for women at the time as men preferred to have an attractive woman as their wife. Appearance mattered more to different people, some men thought appearance was more important than others. Middle class women often spent more time on their appearance due to the fact they didn’t work and had more time on their hands.
Women in the era the stories were set, were often underestimated. Men tended to think that women were not up to doing things they could very well manage. They also found it improper for a woman to act anything like a man and therefore the wearing of men’s clothing or doing masculine work was deeply discouraged.
