Because the Nineteenth century was a patriarchal society, women were expected to follow these unofficial rules of how to act. In 'Tony Kytes and the Arch-Deceiver' there are three different types of women that are described. Milly is the most naïve girl who falls for everything Tony says, including wedding him in the end. Hannah follows Tony's instructions, like a woman should have done, right up until the very end where she refuses him. Unity is the most independant women who when it comes down to it, won't settle for second best. Although two of the women decide not to believe what Tony says and refuse his marriage proposal at the end, all three of them accept his instructions willingly to begin with and so follow the stereotypical standards of women. This shows that generally women would follow the rules of society and most of them let themselves become passive to men. Women allowed men to instruct them in their decisions as at the end, Hannah "would not have refused Tony if…her father had not been there" so therefore allowed the male to dominate and over ride what she wanted. Women believed they needed instruction because a man's decision was always better than her own. Women also wanted to be looked after by men - "Don't expect me to walk to town do you?" - showing that they felt like they needed a man to look after them - that was the only thing they wanted and expected from a man. This fact gives the hint that women agreed with the society at the time and felt they need a man to protect/look after them as they were too incapable and therefore inferior themselves.
The story concludes with Tony marrying Milly who is the most pathetic and dependent out of all the women. This was a reflection on society and it showed what type of women men wanted. She was naïve, gullible, - "If you like, Tony. You didn't really mean what you said to them?"- fragile and basically just quite pathetic. She is seen as "a nice, light, small, tender little thing". For men at this time, this type of fragile women was seen as the 'perfect women'. That was the type of modest, naïve women that all the men in those times wanted for a wife. They wanted someone that they could overpower. If the women was small and petit, it seemed that they were more fragile and made the man feel even more superior than he would if he had a wife of his size and more independent.
Thomas Hardy was expressing the way that women were being treated in the Nineteenth century and how men saw them. He was giving the impression that women were generally completely passive to men and used the irony that Milly is the one who Tony's father recommends and it just so happens that she is the one who is most pathetic; she would be a "finer wife". This is how men wanted their women in those times - completely dependent. This story gives the impression that women were also judged by a man on how beautiful she was rather than what was in her mind- "I never knowed you was so pretty before". Women were looked at rather than heard, they were better when they didn't speak out and express their views. The author was also satirising marriages as he writes in an abrupt ending that Tony married the woman who was last in line for proposal. He was making a joke out of marriage, making out that people wed simply to say they were married and to have a 'normal' life. There is irony here also as the couple are made out to be happily wed at the end even though their love obviously doesn't run that deep because of Milly being third in line. As long as the man was kept happy by a loving wife, it wasn't really that important who it was. Also the author states, "I was not able to go to their wedding, but it was a rare party they had by all account" which is making fun of marriage in those times and giving the idea that it is just done as an excuse for a party; the marriage doesn't really matter to them that much.
'Tony-Kytes' has a male narrator which affects majorly the way the story is told and put across to the reader. Because he is male, the story is written in a light headed way; it is all seen as a bit of a laugh that Tony Kytes has messed around so many women but ends up with one in the end. If a women were to be narrating it, the story would have been written in a very different way. She probably would have been offended by the story and would have expressed more of an independent woman viewpoint as she told it. There would be negativity towards Tony Kytes instead of it being a mere amusing story like the male narrator made it. If the reader knows this fact they can discard the bias of a 'funny' story and make up their own opinions on whether or not they agreed with how Tony Kytes treated those women.
Another author who wrote stories that reflected a patriarchal society was Kate Chopin. She was brought up in an all-female household and was interested in the differences between how men and women were treated in the Nineteenth Century. The story 'The Unexpected' gives the subtle idea that women felt constricted and restrained but it was possible for them to break free from society. At the beginning of the story two lovers Randall and Dorothea are parted because of Randall's illness, then when he is well again, she decides that she didn't truly love him, she only loved his outer appearance. Because of this realisation, she flees from him rather than settling for a good husband who offers her stability.
This story first of all hints that the patriarchal society is a bad thing by saying that when Dorothea runs away at the end, she runs as if "Death himself persued her." The fact that death- seen as a bad thing- is personified as a man shows that men tried to control the actions of women just like the stereotypical Death controls when people's life ends. In this story, women were supposed to do as they were told by men and higher authorities; they weren't seen to be capable of making a decision on their own which would benefit them the most. This is shown when Dorothea wishes to see her beloved Randall on his sick bed but would only go "if her parents had permitted." Women were obeyers- they did only as people asked them to. When Dorothea was alone "she was glad their was no one there to compel her to speak" as she would have had to in that type of society.
Women followed these rules usually in the same way that Dorothea obeyed her parents' instructions at the beginning of the story by not visiting Randall. She would also do what other people wanted her to do, just as many women did in the Nineteenth Century, because when asked "she would be forced to face and speak." Towards the end of the story, Dorothea began to rebel against the restraints society was putting on her. I believe that Kate Chopin wrote this twist in the story to try and influence women in the Nineteenth century to be more independent and make their own decisions in life. After Dorothea's realisation of not truly being in love, "she did not care" what anyone else wanted her to do and what they thought of her. She became more headstrong and independent as her confidence in her own feelings grew. The climax of the story is when Dorothea decides to run away and she was "fleeing" in desperation. She is fleeing literally as she runs from her home but she is also fleeing metaphorically; she is fleeing from oppression. She wants to break free from the restraints of society and as she runs, she is letting herself become free in her own mind.
Because of the pressures placed on Dorothea to comprehend with society's rules of a good wife, when she finally thinks for herself towards the end of the story- "Never! Never! Not for millions"- she has to escape from everything and literally run away in order to be herself. Randall expected Dorothea to love him and cherish him for as long as he lived no matter how sick he was. He thought that because she was a women, she would take his offer of wealth and stability up immediately and become his wife. He belived this because of how society saw women as needing to be looked after and needing to have a man. Towards the end of the story Dorothea becomes a more confident woman who is willing to speak out and think for herself. She begins to realise that she does not need a man to control her. In doing so, the language used to describe this freedom makes the reader believe that Dorothea is also acknowledging her sexuality as women and is realising her true feelings about how she can enjoy life. She is described as feeling a "sensuous throb" when she is "alone with nature". This is symbolic imagery as women are sensuous creatures and were not supposed to be oppressed by men and the patriarchal society in which Dorothea lived in. When Dorothea rides away she bends "her supple body to one purpose", this type of language hints towards a sexual innuendo. Other words such as "throb" and "delicious sensation" also hint to this type of sexual reference. This makes the reader believe that maybe the author wanted Dorothea to appear free from the patriarchal society but also become free as a woman. By escaping near marriage, Dorothea has realised that she is a woman with needs of her own. As she rides "a stubborn impulse that lighted her eyes" she begins to feel free. This is like the breaking point where she becomes independent and breaks free from all oppression. She is being stubborn to the ways of life by rebelling against what society. Women did have desires and wants just as men did and they shouldn't have been oppressed in the way they were. I think the author wanted to get this point across and because of the language she used, she also wanted people to realise that Dorothea is symbolic of all women who have sexual needs but they weren't allowed to have such desires in a patriarchal society. The author also described Dorothea as a "fallow field" which is another reference to a sexual innuendo - something that has a double meaning and one of the meanings could be construed as sexual. A fallow field is a field that has already had crops grown in it, -symbolic for Dorothea already been oppressed by society- it has then been given nutrition to revive it, - symbolic for Dorothea fleeing the stresses of patriarchal society and realising that she has needs as a women- and lastly, the field is used again for a new start - Dorothea is now fertile and ready to begin life again and satisfy her needs and do things for herself. Also pathetic fallacy is used as Dorothea's change in mood and mind set is mirrored by the fact that she is experiencing the beauty of nature around her as she is realising that she can be free from society and she can be free as a woman who has her own needs. She becomes one with nature. I believe that these last few paragraphs are the most important in the whole story as they talk about women's freedom and how their sexual feelings feel natural to them. Because of the erotic language used in these paragraphs, it also seems that the whole story is based around women's needs sexually as well as physically.
