Lizzie goes out at night to warn the smugglers “there is danger tonight for our venture.” and helps “to burn the lugger off.” Lizzie knows that her livelihood is not the only thing that depends on the smuggling and that if she did not take part, “life would be so dull.” She is one of the ringleaders of the smuggling. She helped to select the men they used to carry the barrels. She is not afraid to take part in the “liquor runs – staying at the top of the cliff as look out and when things started to go wrong with the run, wants to help the men”.
When the customs men seize the contraband, Lizzie does not let it rest. She sabotages the wagons and harnesses, “there ain’t a horse in the place that has got more than three shoes”. Lizzie also ensured she was witness to the retrieval of the contraband and had no regrets at disobeying the laws of the land: “my conscience is clear”.
Lizzie is a very independent character and would not allow a man to alter her life’s course. She expects Mr Stockton to alter his life to fit into her own. She allowed the “love of her life” to leave as he would not change and she only showed her true weakness at the end of the story. Two years after Mr Stockton left, he returns because he hears how Customs have caught up with the villagers and everything goes wrong including Lizzie being shot in the hand.
Lizzie’s character changed in the finale to being a weak woman, with deep regrets, who submitted to Mr Stockton and took up learning to be a minister’s wife “with praiseworthy assiduity”. This is not the original ending to the story but in may 1912 the “adventurous antecents” forced him to change it to this from her sticking with Jim the smuggler and emigrating with him after their marriage,
The other story in the collection of which I read and studied was “The Withered Arm.” The main female characters in “The Withered Arm” are Rhoda and Gertrude. They are both portrayed in very different ways.
The first character we are introduced to is Rhoda. We are told she works in a milking parlour. She is the mother of farmer lodge’s son who she sends out to spy on the newly wed Mrs Lodge when she gets back from her honeymoon with Farmer Lodge. This mainly because she is both curious and jealous about anyone who becomes a companion with Farmer Lodge, especially when everyone in the milk parlour talks about her
Because of all the jealousy Rhoda feels towards Gertrude, she stayed up thinking about the information she had found out about Gertrude her arrival. Rhoda was still thinking about Gertrude when she went to bed, this caused her to dream of the young wife dressed in “a pale silk dress and white bonnet”, but she had features shockingly distorted and wrinkled as by age. In the dream Gertrude was sitting upon her chest with her blue eyes peering cruelly into her face. In the dream Rhoda felt suffocated by Gertrude who was sitting on top of her and so she grabbed “the confronting spectre by its obtrusive left arm, and whirled it backward to the floor.” Rhoda awoke at this point in the dream, not believing that it was only a dream. When she went into work the next day the milk that she drew quivered into the bucket because she is so shocked and scared her hand were still shaking.
Rhoda remains scared for a long time not knowing whether the dream was a dream until a couple of weeks later when Rhoda’s worst fear comes true. After a meeting with Rhoda’s son, Gertrude came over with some gifts. She sat down and had a chat with Rhoda and the matter of health arose into the conversation. Gertrude mentions “One night when I was sound asleep, dreaming I was away in some strange place, a pain suddenly shot into my arm there, and was so keen as to awaken me _ _ _.” This of cause scares Rhoda, as she knows that it was connected to her dream and was worried about her own sanity and that she was in fact a witch “the moment she heard of her having been mentioned as a reference for this man, that there must exist a sarcastic feeling among the work folk that a sorceress would know the whereabouts of the exorcist”. When others told Gertrude that Rhoda was involved with witchcraft, Rhoda is approached to ask where Gertrude might find Conjurer Trendle. This scares Rhoda and before she realises what she was saying she was volunteering to accompany her to meet Conjurer Trendle.
Although, Gertrude’s character changes as we go through the story. At the start of the story she is a confident and independent young woman.
Gertrude tries hard to make her own friends like Rhoda the milkwoman instead of using her title of being the local farmer’s wife. She also takes it upon herself to help out by doing charitable work: “she gives away other things to other folks in the mead’s besides us,” says Rhoda’s son.
She understands her responsibilities of being the farmer’s wife and reacts to them well. Being Farmer Lodge’s wife is one of the important roles in the village, as it involved taking care of the parishioners, which she seems to fulfil very well.
After Gertrude gets the withered arm we do not see this side of her as much. The withered arm causes Farmer Lodge to lose interest her this causes her to becomes upset and put down, as she feels unattractive.
Hardy uses the ‘judgement of society’, effect when she gets the withered arm. This is when a woman is judged by her appearance and that she must be physically attractive to men. Gertrude loses all of her self-confidence and emotions. Gertrude feels that Farmer Lodge thinks she is unattractive and that he does not love her “he loves me less.” She becomes obsessed with getting rid of the withered arm and therefore hoping to retrieve his love once again. This causes her to revolve all of her thoughts and actions around him.
Hardy shows Gertrude to be a very determined lady who could overcome many hurdles to achieve her final goal, even if it was something completely out of character for her and the idea of it disgusted her. The story concludes with Gertrude returning to her “weak lady like ways as she when she collapsed when she realised that the dead body was the son of Rhoda and Farmer Lodge. “Her delicate vitality sapped _ _ _ (pg. 69) and Fragile young Gertrude died”
Rhoda still appears the stronger character at the end of the story and admits to Gertrude that she had a vision about her “this is the meaning of what Satan showed me in my vision.”
After reading both “The Withered Arm” and “The Distracted Preacher”, I feel that Thomas Hardy likes his female characters to show two sides to their character – typically timid females who rely on men and then a strong, independent character. In both stories the women end up relying on their weaker side, “toeing” the line by obeying menfolk.
