The attitudes and beliefs which influence the outcome of the story 'The Withered Arm' by Thomas Hardy

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Anna Boast 11L                

The attitudes and beliefs which influence the outcome of the story

‘The Withered Arm’ by Thomas Hardy

The Withered Arm is a novel based in a 1800s agricultural society. At the beginning we are introduced to the talk of the poor milk maids and men who gossip about the richer members of their community, the main person being Farmer Lodge, a rich land owner who is bringing his young new wife back to Holmstoke. They also talk about one of the milk maids called Rhoda. She has an illegitimate son by Farmer Lodge; she is isolated from the main group as she is suspected as being a witch. From the story it is very apparent to how class divisions were set. Each person knew their place in society. The story is almost a microcosm of society at the time.

Throughout the story, the very different attitudes towards men and women are made clear. Men desire to be respected, they want an heir. It is almost as if they have their wives as a trophy. This can be seen from when Gertrude first goes to Holmstoke, Farmer Lodge says to her “You must expect to be stared at just at first my pretty Gertrude”. Men didn’t marry for love, more for convenience and their own status; however women such as Gertrude want to be loved by their husbands. When Gertrude’s arm is getting worse she says to Rhoda “I shouldn’t so much mind it if I hadn’t a notion that it makes my husband dislike me, no, love me less. Men think so much of personal appearances.” A lot can be decided from this statement. Men were more commonly the head of the house and gave out orders to their wives, which their wives normally would follow without questioning it. Farmer Lodge expects a woman to almost worship him and to do what ever he says. He treats the women he is with, with a lack of respect. He broke up with Rhoda Brook because she fell pregnant with his child. This shows when a woman has a baby outside of marriage they will be looked down upon and suspected as being a witch, as Rhoda is, however the father can carry on life as normal, he can remarry and not be looked down upon. When Farmer Lodge’s wife Gertrude arm becomes disfigured he starts to find her ‘disgusting’. He does not sleep with her and there is nothing to their relationship, showing he was never truly in love with her.

Now the way Farmer Lodge treated his women would not be acceptable. Nothing would be thought of if a woman has a baby out of wedlock and they are also given benefits to help. Disfigurement is not something for which people are discriminated against. Today men and women are equal and it is very different to when the novel was written. Now attitudes to illegitimacy have changed drastically. Many people are born out of wedlock and they are not in any way looked down upon or treated differently because it is so common. The father is now also expected to help support their child by paying child maintenance.

A child born out of marriage was not a known common occurrence when this novel was written. It was not encouraged and severely frowned upon. This is shown from when we are introduced to Rhoda and Farmer Lodge’s son. Rhoda looks after and lives with her son, he knows who his father is, however they do not talk. We know of how their son came about because of gossip and talk from Rhoda about Farmer Lodge and how he calls Farmer Lodge father. When Farmer Lodge brings Gertrude back to the village Rhoda sends her son to look at her and compare herself with her. Farmer Lodge sees his son and appears not to know him, ‘The farmer, though he seemed annoyed at the boy’s persistent presence, did not order him to get out of the way…the farmer trotted on with relief in his lineaments – having taken no outward notice of the boy whatever.’ Farmer Lodge wants this secret to be kept quiet as it was a mistake he made. When his marriage is seriously failing after six years of being with Gertrude he ‘thought of Rhoda Brook and her son; and feared this might be a judgement from heaven upon him’. This proves the religious beliefs of the time and that illegitimacy was a large sin. Farmer Lodge in no way financially supports his son or Rhoda, while they live in their run down house and poach rabbits, Farmer Lodge lives in his big house able to afford nice clothes.

Rhoda and her son are very low working class. They have little money, a poor standard of living and cannot afford any luxuries. Rhoda and Gertrude should not be friends because of their different class. Gertrude and Farmer Lodge are upper middle class. Gertrude wears nice clothes and looks very pretty, as told when Rhoda’s son goes to look at her when she goes to church. Gertrude is wearing a white bonnet and a silver coloured gownd. Mr Lodge wears a waistcoat with great golden seals hanging down off it like a lords. Gertrude and Rhoda are friends because of many reasons. Gertrude likes Rhoda and has pity on her and her son, she buys the son a pair of shoes because his are in such a dreadful state. It was believed then that social classes should not mix as friends this is why Gertrude is forbidden to see Rhoda by Farmer Lodge. Gertrude would never have given Rhoda’s son a pair of boots if he was upper class, it was almost expected of her social class to give a bit of charity. Lower social classes were used as examples for the law, as Rhoda’s son was, he was seen as unimportant because of his social class, if he had been upper class he would never have been hanged.

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Gertrude becomes obsessed with her arm because she knows that the way she looks results in how much Farmer Lodge will love her too. She said to Rhoda “Men think so much of personal appearances” and she is right. Farmer Lodge starts to find her less and less attractive because of her withered arm. She is so desperate to get it back to normal because she wants to be loved and be a good wife. She wants respect from her husband, she fears he will look down on her and think of her as a lower classed citizen. At ...

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