The melancholy hussar was set in the 19th century in 1801. This was a time were woman had no lives of there own and this show’s the character of Phyllis in ‘melancholy hussar’. Phyllis’s father treats her as an object. She is not free to do what ever she wants because she is a woman. Thomas hardy illustrates the role of woman in the ‘melancholy hussar’ (1801).