Thomas Hardy used Events in his life and characters familiar to him to help shape some of his stories. An example of this is in ‘The Withered Arm’ with Trendle the ‘white wizard’ recommending a cure to Gertrude. Hardy knew himself of a similar character known as ‘The Planet Ruler’ who lived in his mother’s Dorset village. This character suggested a cure similar to the one of Trendle to help an old lady cure her wasting disease.
Hardy’s Mother had once been a servant to a Dorset Vicar. I feel ‘The Son’s Veto’ has biographical elements in it and I feel it demonstrates some of Hardy’s views on class and snobbery. I feel they are portrayed as negative qualities in the story. This is because Sophy’s son Randolph is seen as a bad character who only cares for himself and these are all obvious in his character. When the vicar marries Sophy the parlour maid, he loses much of his social status. In the era the book was written this would’ve been seen as a disgrace. I feel the relationship between Sophy and Mr. Twycott is how Hardy may have seen his mother’s relationship with the vicar.
Class and social standing is another autobiographical element Hardy includes in his short stories. It was seen that Hardy married above himself when he married Emma Gifford. Hardy represents this in ‘The Son’s Veto’ with Sophy marrying the vicar who was a long way above her in his social standing. It is also represented in ‘The Distracted Preacher’ with Lizzie Newberry and Mr. Stockdale. Mr. Stockdale is a minister and Lizzie a maid.
Thomas Hardy was a very religious man at times in his life. He was close to his religion but eventually his faith grew less and eventually became a very small part in his life. Many of the male characters in his stories are religious figures and they, like Hardy are attracted to young girls. Examples of this are Mr. Stockdale and Lizzie Newberry or Sophy and Mr. Twycott.
In many of Hardy’s stories there is an immediate attraction between young couples. I feel this is biographical of Hardy because it is well known he took a liking to young girls based on their appearance. It is also noticeable that the immediate attraction in many of his stories is between good-looking young women and men. Perhaps Hardy saw himself as one of the good-looking men and wrote about his attraction to young women.
There is a sense of fun and humour attached to many of Hardy’s stories. Hardy is referred to as having an “Impish Charm” which implies he was very mischievous and did things he shouldn’t. At the age of seventy he married a twenty-year-old woman. I feel Hardy would have found it highly amusing when he wrote about Tony Kytes having all three women in his wagon.
I feel Hardy writes about men being sucked in or manipulated by women in some of his stories. I feel this may be slightly autobiographical because Hardy was a fool for a pretty woman. I feel that again Tony Kytes demonstrates this because all the women know that he cannot refuse their beauty and they manipulate Tony and use his weakness against him. An example of this is when Unity says to Tony “And- can you say I’m not pretty, Tony?”
Tony cannot say no and Unity tries to use this to try to win Tony. I think Hardy feels he is similar to Tony because attractive women have manipulated him in a similar way to Tony.
In conclusion, Thomas Hardy characterised women generally by making them young and beautiful. They were very attractive to the men and they found them hard to resist. I feel this is autobiographical of Hardy because he often had affairs with attractive young women. Events in Hardy’s life provided him with foundations for stories, which he built on. He uses some of his own characteristics in his stories and gives us an insight on how the society viewed weddings between different classes.
