To What Extent Does Hardy Portray Sophy Twycott In The 'Son's Veto' As A Victim Of Society.

Authors Avatar

To What Extent Does Hardy Portray Sophy Twycott In The ‘Son’s            

                         Veto’ As A Victim Of Society.

 ‘The Son’s Veto’, tells the story of Sophy Twycott, a working class girl who marries an upper-class man, Mr Twycott, a vicar who she was a maid for and they have a child together and moved to London in order to escape gossip. Mr Twycott then dies, paying for the Sons education and preparing a villa for Sophy. Years later Sophy sees Sam Hobson again, the man who she was going to marry years ago but instead chose Mr Twycott after arguing with him. After slipping put a few times with him, they once again decided to marry however Randolph put his foot down and said no. Sophy begged him for eight years until she tragically dies of a broken heart. Thomas Hardy can relate to a number of aspects in the story. He uses his own experiences to create his main character, Sophy. Like Sophy he was from a working class background and married into the Upper class, then moved to London to escape gossip. Like Sophy he experienced Social Class discrimination, and when he married into the Upper class he and his wife had to move to London were there would be less ‘prying eyes’.  

Hardy’s intention seems to be to portray Sophy as a victim of a harsh and rigid Victorian society. However, he presents Sophy’s character as demonstrating certain weaknesses that may be said to have contributed to her tragic end.

Firstly, Sophy is portrayed as weak and indecisive. Her indecisiveness is shown when she changed her mind about marrying Sam just over a mere argument in the first place. This then gave Mr Twycott the chance to realise Sophy’s natural beauty, and also feeling that he was responsible for her being disabled he asked for her hand in marriage. Sophy then said yes, not because she loved him but because he would be able to provide her with a home and food, and, as we know this marriage was just the beginning of Sophy’s end.

Join now!

The phrase “But would he (the son) tolerate the idea and if not, could she defy him?”, the word defy suggests that she is weak, and that Randolph pushed her around and that Sophy was unable to do anything without he Son’s permission.

When Mr Twycott’s wife died and Mr Twycott reveals that one of the maids would need to leave, Sophy, being un-confident and because of her low self esteem, she offers to be the one that leaves, then one of the other maids would not be upset when they lose their job. She also shows ...

This is a preview of the whole essay