Crime and punishment, at this time, is also to be seen as tough. Although only two of the stories include punishments they are both executions. ‘The Withered Arm’ has a public execution in which a young man is hanged. ‘The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion’ has a very strong execution in which two soldiers are shot blindfolded in coffins because of an attempted escape in which they are caught. From this we know that the policies and rules in that time were very strict and punishment was also very strict. These punishments were both deaths, which can be very unsettling to the reader, but in the executions of the soldiers, they try to escape with one of their lovers, which they are eloping with. This is showing an example of the dramatic mixture of romance and the unsettling in depth making the reader feel sorry for the soldiers, as they had lost their lives for the one they loved.
The position of women in society was clear from the stories. Women were considered almost dependant on men and could not do anything on their own. The story ‘ Barbara of the House of Grebe’ shows women to almost have to obey their husbands. When Lord Uplandtowers finds out about Barbara’s obsession with Edmond’s statue he decides that he knows what is best for her without trying to talk about it with her. He disfigures the statue as it was after Edmond had been maimed so that it looks exactly how he did when he died making her look at it every so often so that she would forget about him. This gives Hardy the extra opportunity to add something deeply disturbing into the story.
The dramatic and unsettling parts of ‘The Withered Arm’ are clearly distinctive as there are many. They would be clear as to what they include, as they are strong and highly unsettling. Rhoda’s dream would be the first unsettling part that strikes you. After a long introduction of the story it suddenly comes in. “ ‘O, merciful heaven!’ she cried, sitting on the edge of the bed in a cold sweat”. Later in the story Rhoda spying on Gertrude and Trendle comes as a surprise to the readers because it seems as though Rhoda has a guilty feeling. The corpse and when Gertrude shows Rhoda her arm are related as they both are unsettling but also are parts of the body, which does not leave a good feeling in the minds of the readers. Romance is limited in this story as it is not concentrated around a love or marriage. The only romance is that Gertrude becomes the young wife of Rhoda’s former lover. The language that Hardy uses is a slow, creepy and eerie making the reader slow down as it is hard to follow and
makes the reader stop to think about what is going to happens next but also making the reader want to read on.
‘The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion’ is very similar to ‘The Withered Arm’. At almost the beginning of the story the reader finds out that the handsome hussar is not happy like the others. “ Phyllis was much surprised to see a fine, tall soldier in such a mood as this.” This strikes the reader as odd because one as handsome as this hussar ought to be happy. This short sharp sentence helps the reader understand the point of view of Hardy. The next disturbing thing the reader notices when the hussar goes to meet Phyllis in her ordinary meeting place and she is not there. “ On the next occasion of his awaiting her she did not appear in her usual place at the usual hour”. This forces the reader to think about where she is or what could have happened to her. The reader wants Phyllis to be happy and at this moment wishes that nothing terrible has happened to her. At the end of the story the reader is suddenly surprised to learn that the soldier’ punishment was death. This comes as a surprise to the readers but when the shooting occurs it is a great sense of sadness and unsettling. The setting and atmosphere and the fact that it is set in a graveyard helped this.
Romance in the story is very great as it is based around a great love. At first the reader learns that Phyllis is engaged but her fiance has gone away. She then meets the hussar, which sort of indicates that something between them could happen and is helped by the language and the structure of the story. Romance is stressed when the hussar and Phyllis plan to escape and when it is being carried out her husband turns up out of the blue. This story is an ideal example of saying that Hardy’s stories are a dramatic mixture of dramatic, romance and unsettling.
‘The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion’ is very similar to one of Hardy’s less famous stories ‘Tony Kytes, the Arch – Deceiver’ which, also has a great deal of romance and deception. But in this tale are no unsettling parts of the story.
This story is related to ‘Barbara of the House of Grebe’ because a planned elopement goes ahead but is destroyed after a few complications. This story is one of the most romantic tales that Hardy has written as it starts with an elopement. The other thing is that Barbara is not running off with him because he has lots of money but quite the opposite, she has fallen for a very handsome man that is of a lower class to her. This
clearly emphasises the true love and romance between the two lovers. Their love continues when they return for financial help and Barbara’s father decides to send Edmond to receive an Education in Europe. This is when the romance and love is tested as Edmond returns with facial disfigurements. Romance in the story stops as he is subtly rejected.
The unsettling parts of the story are very dramatic and lead to the reader ending in a state of despair. A dramatic character change occurs, as Lord Uplandtowers turns from frustrated to evil, as there is a mental unpleasantness of his plans to remove memories of Edmond from Barbara. Barbara has an epileptic fit in despair after being mentally tortured with evil memories of Edmond, which also leads to her long nights of screaming. “ ‘No – no!’ she faltered, shuddering, with her expanded eyes fixed on her husband. ‘He is too terrible – no, no!’” the length that Lord Uplandtowers went to, to find out how Edmond looked just to give Barbara (his wife) psychological punishment is very odd and obsessive. He also went to great trouble just to make a statue of Edmond that was him in his perfect state, to him when he was disfigured. The readers are also unsettled by the later description of Edmonds facial disfigurement.
‘Old Mrs Chundle’ is a very subtle and un-dramatic story compared with other Hardy stories. It is very unlike Hardy as in the last stories we see him as obsessed with death. It also follows a main character, which is a male unlike most of his other tales. The reader can relax more and they face a more ordinary subject matter painting, chatter and food. This story has two characters, which have no relations or complications. It is also more humorous and has a shorter time span and lighter character description. Although including a death, there are almost no romance dramatic or unsettling parts. It has similarities of different class, lies and deception. It is also set in Dorset and character is shown through conversation.
‘ Old Mrs Chundle’ is very similar to one of Hardy’s very short stories ‘Absent – Mindedness in a Parish Choir’ which is also very slow and subtle although having a little more unsettling parts when they accidentally play an evil tune.
The evidence above points to the fact that Hardy’s stories are clearly a dramatic mixture of the unsettling and romance. Clearly emphasising the areas with most relevance and reviewing the subject I still have to agree with the title and stick to my opening judgement. Although showing some arguments against the title the overall sense one would get after reading this essay would see that it is clearly true.
Reflection: I have enjoyed the study of Hardy tales as they have enlightened me to a new source of reading although a bad start in class. I thought at the start that it would be really boring but now know not judge a book by its cover. My enjoyment of reading Hardy stories helped me write this essay and made it a more bearable task.
