Farmer Lodge remarries ill-fated Gertrude who is presented as a ‘saint’ and Rhoda, who is his previous partner, is portrayed as a ‘sinner’. Their physical attributes help to endorse this point, with Gertrude’s fair hair and her angelic quality whereas Rhoda bears her illegitimate child and has dark features. Rhoda is described “though the paler of the two, there was more of the strength that endures in her well-defined features and large frame…”
Drawing back to Victorian time, the lacks of understanding of women lead to gossip and false notion. This is passed over to ‘The Withered Arm’ where Rhoda is repressed by superstition, how “she knew she’d been slyly called witch” and eventually she believes this about herself when her dream turns into reality. Despite Gertrude belonging to a higher social hierarchy, she is neglected by Farmer Lodge and claims that her disfigured arm “makes [her] husband dislike [her], - no love [her] less”. Gertrude desperation to remain attractive and innocent leads to her tragic downfall and her obsession to heal her withered arm. She ultimately dehumanises the young man who is to be hanged as she refers to him as “it” doesn’t care if he is “guilty or not”, losing any sense of right or wrong. This is a dramatic change from when she began in the story as a caring and angelic young woman with “rosy-cheeks”, bringing Rhoda’s son new boots. All she craved was “renewed love, through the medium of renewed beauty” but this lead to her becoming selfish, anxious and an “irritable, superstitious woman” which eventually leads to her death.
Rhoda and Gertrude are inextricably linked throughout the story however it is Rhoda, a social inferior, endures her suffering and this is emphasised by a moment of revelation as she “shrieks” when she discovers Gertrude by her dead son. The depth of this language also accentuates the violence of their emotions. Hardy addresses the social inequality as the “young fellow deserved to be let off” and how people fail to gain any justice at this time.
Hardy presents both Gertrude and Rhoda without judgement. Also he presents Rhoda’s son as innocent but to be hanged through a failure in the legal system. Hardy simultaneously points a finger of accusation to guide our emotions by presenting the characters in a different light.
Finally, the story ends as a circular narrative, returning to Rhoda having refused any financial support from Farmer Lodge, enduring the rest of her life as she learns to bear with the unbearable. Rhoda’s acceptance creates admiration and the reader is left with the imagery of the “rhythm of the alternating milk-streams” as the illustration of the “rhythm” of her life continuing unchanged.
Dickens similarly emphasises the need for social responsibility and explicates how people of a lower social status suffered during Victorian times. However it seems the mystifying woman in ‘The Black Veil’ is more repressed by her tragic events that have controlled her life overall, than Rhoda in ‘The Withered Arm’. “The upper part of her figure was carefully muffled in a black shawl” is symbolic of the women’s repression, as well as helping to create a faceless, mysterious woman in mourning, with no identity.
Dickens uses a variety of strong vocabulary and language to imply suffering is present. His descriptive language of “hysteric sobs”, “weeping bitterly” and “unbearable” support the emotional instability of the mourning woman.
A naive young medical practitioner is employed as the main protagonist to help create sympathy for the nameless woman. He genuinely wants to help her and his social authority as a doctor and a representative of the general public maintains confidence for the reader. The doctor’s attitude towards his fiancée and “how happy it would make [her] if he could only tell her that he had found a patient at last” shows how he wishes to provide a home for her, and she will “gladden his lonely fireside, and stimulate him to fresh exertions”.
‘The Black Veil’ can be easily compared to ‘The Dream Women’ by Collins, which also applies a medical practitioner. Again, this provides the story with authority and confidence, which could otherwise be seen as an unbelievable and extraordinary narrative. Nevertheless, Collins appears to have a much less sympathetic view of women. “[Isaac] has no wife and children to increase his anxieties and add to the bitterness of his various failures in life.” There is a sense of misogyny in Collins’ attitude when presenting his female characters as saints of sinners. The phrase “every house had it’s Angel” is applied to Isaacs mother however there are similarities to Gertrude in ‘The Withered Arm’ with Rebecca Murdoch in ‘The Dream Women’, as they both appear to be saints, but eventually become sinners.
Returning to ‘The Black Veil’, Dicken’s choices of settings are an expressive way to highlight the difference between classes during that time. The woman’s “desolate”, “unwhole” and “damp” home draws a large contrast to the living conditions of the doctor, whose is “comfortably housed at home”. The woman relates to Rhoda’s life in poverty as they both endure a life of poverty and to some extent, “solitude”.
Ultimately, the woman ends up becoming entirely dependant on the doctor’s generosity because of her poverty and the loss of her son. Dickens intended to make the reader feel the sympathy that the doctor felt for the women. The doctor’s good deeds are repaid a “thousand fold-spiritual”. However, Rhoda makes an insufficient living but preserves her dignity by refusing help from Farmer Lodge.
Hardy and Dickens appear sympathetic to characters who have fallen victim to the inequalities of Victorian society, however in ‘The Dream Women’, Collins presents a warning to men not to be fooled by women as they have the potential to ruin them. They were important as writers as they did bring about social changes.
