Throughout ‘The Withered Arm’. ‘The Melancholy Hussar’ and ‘The Three Strangers’ Hardy used similar ways of narrating the story he wanted to tell. Within the body of his work, Hardy’s characters battle through misfortune in both major and minor tragedies, often he includes innocent victims, which often he leaves nameless, for example Rhoda Brooks son in ‘The Withered Arm’. A possibility for such morbid and macabre themes is Hardy’s attitude; he believed that humans were not put on this earth to be happy.
Also within Wessex tales, Hardy explores and portrays the hierarchy between the social stigmas (the social isolation of Rhoda Brook in ‘The Withered Arm’ in contrast to the respect and wealth of Farmer Lodge) which would have been of great interest to the Victorian and modern audience as throughout this time period we have watched them break down, especially the discrimination of women, a topic towards Hardy was particularly empathetic. He expresses this in ‘The Withered Arm’ and ‘The Melancholy Hussar’ by highlighting the cruel irony that the women had to face and portraying the predominant male characters as weak selfish people, for example in ‘The Melancholy Hussar’ the leading male, Matthaus is needy and depressed as he was totally dependent on Phyllis’ love, possibly suggesting how much men can depend on women and in ‘The Withered Arm’ the leading male, Farmer Lodge, who is a selfish, pretentious man who values status over his own son, showing men to be sadistic beings who value material worth over what is really important. It was strange for a male author at the time to show so much empathy and respect towards women within his literature. The Victorian Era was one in which women were still treated as the inferior sex but saw the beginning of change. A possibility for this approach in Hardy’s portrayal of women within the ‘Wessex Tales’ is due to the fact that Hardy had a strong relationship with his mother. However in ‘The Three Strangers’ Hardy shows he has respect for the leading male character (a sheep stealer waiting to be hung who cleverly managed to befriend his hangman whilst on the run), this is possibly due to the fact that Hardy seemed to have a great deal of respect for outlaws and also the poor. It is likely that this character was both.
Hardy also wrote about his “Wessex” as being a ‘small town’ in the sense that it was a close knit community and that everyone knew everything about each other. Although this may seem negative as Hardy tended to express this fact through the form of gossip, it is possible that he still felt affection towards it as it reflected the innocence of the time. Gossip also adds a different perspective to what is going on and therefore making the readers more involved in the story. For example in ’The Melancholy Hussar’ Hardy uses the narrative text to prolong the idea of gossip making the readers feel more involved in the scandal and anxious to find out what happens next. The narrative also allowed Hardy to give a personal take on the tale, bearing in mind that the narrator was also interpreting the tale, making the story sound more believable.I think the reason Hardy seemed to hold such affection for gossip is because it seems that as time went on interest in peoples neighbors welfare/relations decreased, possibly showing that people had stopped caring or became more self absorbed.
In the three strangers, Hardy introduces us to the tale by describing in great detail the agricultural surroundings of his setting, “Among the few features of agricultural England which retain an appearance” the significance behind this in connection with Hardy’s nostalgia could be due to the fact that as the years grew on less and less of the countryside remained undisturbed as it gradually gave way to the epoch and industrial revolution it seems that Hardy felt that not only the landscape had changed but also the attitudes of the people had too, from being pure and unpolluted to clouded by industry and money.
Hardy also has a strong descriptive technique which he successfully demonstrates by his use of pathetic fallacy and chiaroscuro.
He uses pathetic fallacy at the start of the three strangers giving the reader an indication that something bad may happen, therefore effectively but subtly building tension. Hardy’s use of chiaroscuro is very much a useful tool in giving us, the reader an image of both how the character looks and feels. For example in ‘The Withered Arm’ “The candle-light, such as it was, fell upon her imploring, pale, upturned face”, this effectively gives us an image of Gertrude and also involves the reader as it gives us a guide to how Gertrude is feeling, therefore creating empathy and further understanding towards her situation.
Hardy wrote for magazines or newspapers therefore the layout of his tales had to be one of constant suspense. Hardy achieved this by using catching chapter titles. For example ‘The Lorn Milkmaid’ within ‘The Withered Arm’ is effective as it introduces the reader to the character and then entices us to read on and discover more. Hardy left many chapters on cliff-hangers; sometimes even paragraphs were too, left on a cliff-hanger.
Hardy also had a clever narrative pace, in that within his tales he would slow down the pace of his writing when he wanted the readers to take in an important/significant point, but when nothing significant was happening he would skim over details. This then gave Hardy control as to how much the reader knew and gave them chance to interpret how things would occur, he also did this by giving ‘hints’ as to what would happen. For example in ‘The Withered Arm’ Hardy tells us that the boy who was to be hanged was eighteen, and we had previously been told that Rhoda’s son had been twelve six years previous. This therefore gives s a subtle hint but is often not recognized until after the whole tale has been read. This effectively compels readers to both read on and maintain great esteem for Hardy’s literary talents.
Also, the tales have a strong sense of Cohesion, there beginning being similar to their end, in ‘The Withered Arm’ the story begins and ends with Rhoda being a ‘lorn’ milkmaid, in ‘The Melancholy Hussar’ the tale begins with Phyllis being alone and dying alone, and Matthaus it seemed was destined to die as without meeting Phyllis he claimed life would not be worth living and just after they parted he was ironically executed. And in ‘The Three Strangers’ although there is a lot of drama in the midst of the tale again the beginning and end are both relatively unaffected by the events.
Hardy effectively used symbolism to further explain his characters or relationships between his characters by mirroring them with their surroundings. For example in ‘The Melancholy Hussar’ a wall is literally placed between Phyllis and Matthaus. This symbolizes the objects standing between their relationship like Phyllis’ engagement.
Also, many of the couples that Hardy invented sorely contrast, for example Rhoda Brooks poverty and struggle compared to Farmer Lodge’s easy life and wealth. Also Hardy effectively expresses the cruel irony of life, for example how the breakdown of Gertrude and Farmer Lodges relationship then lead to bringing Farmer Lodge and Rhoda closer together.
Hardy also explores the concept of fate and destiny within his stories, and how people’s destiny’s can be interwoven and connected. For example, how the sheep stealer and the hangman both came turned up at the isolated house in ‘The Three Strangers’. A possible reason for this is Hardy himself nearly died as a child and from an early age had a fascination with death. Another possibility for why Hardy explored such subjects was that of the audience he was aiming to appeal to; the Victorians. Death was a thrilling but dangerous subject during the Victorian era, and therefore Hardy’s work enticed readers.
It seems Hardy also linked in with his fate and death theme the idea of the supernatural. At the time this was viewed by many as a social taboo and that touching on pre-Christian superstitions was immoral. However Hardy successfully managed to maintain this theme without offending to many people, but instead exciting and enticing them with these taboo mysterious phenomena. For example, in ‘The Withered Arm’ Conjurer Trendle and Rhoda’s dream touches on a prospect that is both frightening and enticing, in that the supernatural can affect you without anybody’s consent.
I believe Hardy’s narrative style is most successful due to his skill in being able to touch on social taboos but instead of offending with them, using them as a way to entice and compel readers to read on. Also the way he manages to involve his audience so deeply into the tales, so that he does not just create empathy for the characters but can make his readers jump of their seats in shock when something exciting happens. It seems he took inspiration from Shakespeare and the Bible as throughout his tales references are made towards them. I believe that Hardy was not afraid of his critics and continued to write about the things that interested him, not for an audience. Although he had a generally pessimistic way of writing, he did so with passion and flare, so intense that it leaves readers in a state of disbelief and awe. This is why, in my opinion, Hardy manages to continue to compel his audience today and will continue to do so for a long time after our deaths.
