The character of women in Thomas Hardy’s “The Withered Arm and Other Wessex Tale” is in many ways different and in many ways similar to women in this century. Unity and Hannah from “Tony Kytes the Arch Deceiver” refused to marry Tony because of what he did and because they had pride in them that stopped them from saying yes to Tony. Because they refused Tony I think they are similar to girls in the 21st century because girls their age in this century would refuse if someone like Tony would have done something similar to them. Sophy is different from women in the 21st century because Sophy married Mr Twycott out of respect rather than love and she let her son Randolph stop her from marrying her love, most women in this century would not marry someone out of respect but rather they would marry because of love and they would not let their children stop them from marrying someone they loved. Phyllis is different from women in this century because she did not run away with Matthaus instead she decided to go back to Humphrey even though she did not love him, women in this century would have most probably run away with their love rather than go back to someone they were engaged to but did not love.
In the late 19th century people married in their own social class and marrying someone beneath your social class was considered disgraceful and was like committing “social suicide”. Marrying someone above your social class was a social advancement and a great thing like Phyllis and Sophy. In those time people expected women to get married, have children and settle down and take care of the family and the house. Some women married for love and other for financial security. In my opinion Milly from “Tony Kytes The Arch Deceiver” is the perfect representation of women of that time because she married Tony for financial security. If women did not marry they were called names and were looked down on. In “Tony Kytes The Arch Deceiver” Hardy give the readers an impression that Hannah and Unity were chasing Tony and would do anything to get married to him. A man used to marry woman a for her beauty not for her personality and character like in “The Withered Arm” Farmer Lodge marries Gertrude because she is young and pretty and doesn’t care for Rhoda because she isn’t very pretty and because she is of a lower class.
A woman in the 19th century could not do anything disloyal like commit adultery but a man could commit adultery and no one would say anything. Humphrey from “The Melancholy Hussar of The German Legion” told Phyliss that he has“privately married a young dear belle” and no one said anything but if Phyliss had done something like that the locals would look down on her, call her names and would not associate with her. A man in those days could marry a woman half his age and it would not matter. Gertrude was 'Years younger than he' in “The Withered Arm”. If a woman had a child out of wedlock it was considered wrong and would be an outcast like Rhoda from “The Withered Arm”. Since everyone in the village kew eveyones business they knew that the child was Farmer Lodge’s but nothing happened to his reputation it was Rhoda reputation that was destroyed. This shows that if a women in those days did something wrong her reputation would be destroyed but a man would practically do anything and his reputation wouldn’t be destroyed.
Women in the late 19th century really cared about their reputation because if a woman’s reputation was dented the people would look down on her and no man would be ready to marry her. A woman’s reputation could easily be dented because living in a small village meant that everyone knows about everything you do so you had to be careful about what you do. Phyliss from “The Melancholy Hussar of the German legion” did not run away with Matthaus Tina because her fiance had come back and she cared a lot about her reputation and could not run away because if she was caught she would be called names and no noe would be ready to marry her or associate themselves with her.
There was a lot of belief in superstition in the late 19th century and people believed in wizards, conjourers, witches, black magic and so on. In “The Withered Arm” there is a lot about magic and since Rhoda kept to herself and lived in a lonely area near the border of Egdon Heath, the locals believed she was a witch and practiced black magic. I think that since Rhoda kept to herself and didn’t migle with the locals, the locals started rumours about her and it spreaded around like wild fire and it wasn’t long before everyone believed she was a witch and had powers. Rhoda knew that “she had been slyly called a witch since her fall”.
Women in those days didn’t have much freedom and were dominated by men like in “The Son’s Veto” Sophy couldn’t marry Sam because her son forbid her from marrying him and made her “swear that she would not wed Samuel Hobson without his consent”. Phyliss from “The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion” was dominated by her father who wanted her to marry Humphrey. He had forbad her from leaving the garden to meet the German soldier even though she was in love with him. She obeyed him and didn’t leave the gate of her house but still continued to meet her lover.
The late 19th century is very different to the 21st century and the lives of women are different as well. In this century women are considered as men’s equals unlike the late 19th century. A woman doesn’t have to marry for financial security in this century like like a woman had to in the 19th century. In this century women are not dominated by men like they were 2 centuries ago. Women in the 19th century didn’t have as much freedom as women do right now. In this century there isnt much about social classes like there used to be in the late 19th century. I think I would find it extremely hard to live in the 19th century after being used to living in a century were women have freedom and are not dominated by men. In my opinion Thomas Hardy portrays women as gullible and inferior to men and their lives being dominated by men and the local people.
