Which of the female characters in the short story, in your opinion, suffers the most?
Alexander Okill 11E 13th February 2002 The Withered Arm Which of the female characters in the short story, in your opinion, suffers the most? Thomas Hardy, prolific English novelist and poet. Hardy was born in Higher Bockhampton, Dorset, on June 2, 1840. Like in 'The Withered Arm', Hardy grew up in an isolated country region on the edge of a wild stretch of heath. His father, a stonemason and builder, apprenticed him early to a local architect engaged in restoring old churches. From 1862 to 1867 Hardy worked for an architect in London and later continued to practise architecture, despite ill health, in Dorset. Meanwhile he was writing poetry, though with little success. He then turned to novels, finding them more saleable, and by 1874 he was able to support himself by writing. Straight away in the novel we are made to feel sympathetic towards Rhoda the other milkmaid's gossip about her and talk about the farmer's new wife out loud so that Rhoda has to listen "He do bring home his bride tomorrow, I hear". Gertrude is a "rosy-cheeked tisty-tosty" woman, which is a great contrast to Rhoda, who is described as a "thin, fading woman of thirty", and this is one of the reasons why Rhoda is so bitter and jealous. Rhoda is segregated from the other milkmaids the as she is an outcast from her community for having sex outside of wedlock. Looking at this we can tell that Rhoda
How does Hardy create an intense and concentrated short story in 'The Withered Arm?'
How does Hardy create an intense and concentrated short story in 'The Withered Arm?' Hardy creates a strong, vivid story in the 'The Withered Arm.' He starts of writing about a farm. The story ends up on the farm again with everything back to normal. In between the story is a very carefully, dramatic story. It starts up with four main characters: Rhoda Brook, Rhoda Brook's son, Gertrude and Farmer Lodge. The setting is very intense. It doesn't let us move much from initial places such as the farm in the beginning and end. After the dream, the story of the book suddenly became more interesting when Gertrude tries to find how she got the withered arm. The setting changes to the village, and then changes again the goes back to village and so on. Thomas Hardy puts the story in one chapter, 6 years later. He wants everyone to know that everyone has moved on except Gertrude because her arm is irritating her and she has not chance on finding a cure. Rhoda and her son left the village because Rhoda has been found out and she is scared of having people interrogating her and asking her whether she bewitched Gertrude. This part of the story makes it intense when there are bad emotional feelings for Rhoda from her other friends. Thomas Hardy keeps a very tight plot. Most of the story is twisted especially at the part where Rhoda accidentally kills Gertrude by giving her the withered
In William Shakespeare's, Hamlet, the Oedipus complex plays a critical role in the affairs of the young prince.
In William Shakespeare's, Hamlet, the Oedipus complex plays a critical role in the affairs of the young prince. Sigmund Freud's theory states that it is normal for children to have sexual desires for their parent of the opposite sex. He says that it is also normal to have feelings of hatred for the other parent that is of the same sex as the child. Most children experience these feelings at a very young age, after which the feelings are overcome or in some individuals become deeply suppressed. Those that carry on these feelings into adulthood are considered to have an Oedipus complex. These feelings, in some cases, are linked to a physical separation between father and son. This leads the child into a paradoxical state of masculinity, wherein the child spends much of his time solely with the mother, and yet a sense of guilt or femininity, because the mother is significantly older. This sense of guilt and femininity also prevents Hamlet from identifying with women their own age, a societal norm. Furthermore, Hamlet's Oedipal feelings have been buried within him since his childhood. These feelings were hidden during the life of Hamlet, Sr. because the two had a strong connection. However, the death of King Hamlet and hasty marriage to Gertrude by Claudius sparked jealousy within Hamlet. He felt no connection to Claudius, nor felt guilty by having feelings for his mother. It was
Discuss Hardy's Portrayal Of Women In "The Withered Arm"
Discuss Hardy's Portrayal Of Women In "The Withered Arm" "The withered arm is a short story about two women who live in the English countryside. The two main women in the text are portrayed negatively by the author, Thomas Hardy. The story was written in the 19th century and thus it was acceptable to portray women negatively in this patriarchal society. At the beginning of the text Hardy's attitude towards women is made clear. The women are only given low paid menial jobs such as milking cows. The milkmaids are all working under the control of the dairyman. The dairyman has to stop the women from gossiping when he says "get on with your work or 'twill be dark afore we have done". His authority over the women brought an end to their conversation. Rhoda is portrayed as jealous in the first part of the story. She is very curious about Farmer Lodge's new wife and gets her son to report back to her on Gertrude's appearance. She tells her son "you can give her a look, and tell me what she's like". The women talk with lower class, common dialect showing that they are less educated than Farmer Lodge who speaks standard English. Rhoda shown as poor in the description of her house: "It was built of mud walls. The surface of which had been washed by many rains." This contrasts Rhoda's poverty with Farmer Lodge's wealth, emphasising male dominance. Her appearance is described as
Compare and contrast Hardy's presentation of the two women throughout 'The Withered Arm'.
Compare and contrast Hardy's presentation of the two women throughout 'The Withered Arm' Hardy is very successful and skilful in controlling the reader's response to "The Withered Arm". In the very first chapter, we can see how Hardy focuses our attention in order to control our response. We can see that Rhoda Brooks is a lonely figure set aside, but Hardy's skills make us want to know more about her and why she is lonely when the other milkers refer to her. The first chapter is intriguing. We constantly want to find out more about the mysteries character of Rhoda Brooks, who we notice is sitting apart from the other workers, and later find out also lives apart from the other workers. By the end of the chapter, we assume that Rhoda is a rejected girlfriend of Farmer Lodge. We deduce this from the clues in the language used by Hardy. At the time that Hardy was writing, the life of a poor woman was harsh. They were thought of as second-class citizens and had poorly paid jobs such as milkmaids and wee dependant on their men, which Rhoda had lost. Most women married men such as Farmer Lodge for security and money, also most rich men married women because of their good looks so they could show them off. And that's exactly what Rhoda's first impressions were to Farmer Lodge's marriage with Gertrude. When Rhoda sends her son to spy on Gertrude, we begin to see how jealous and
The dream sequence in Chapter 3 of "The Withered Arm".
The dream sequence is chapter 3 is caused by the relationship between Rhoda and Gertrude and Mr. Lodge. The relationship is complex, even though Rhoda has never met Gertrude. They love the same the man. However, Rhoda’s experience with Mr. Lodge is deeper since she had already with him. Rhoda could know him better then Mrs. Lodge. Mr. Lodge’s courtship of Gertrude could have been very short. Gertrude may barely know Mr. Lodge. However, Rhoda may know him better. Rhoda had a child out of wedlock with him. Maybe Rhoda has also dreamed about having a happy life with Mr. Lodge. The appearance of Gertrude put an end to this dream. Now it has been replaced with a nightmare. The nightmare is a life alone, with no one to support The dream sequence her, and no hope of a husband. In the dream, Gertrude is sitting on Rhoda’s chest. This is a metaphor about their different social classes. Gertrude is part of the well off rich class, while Rhoda is a poor milkmaid who has had a child out of wedlock and has no support from the father. The upper class is always on top of the lower class, pressuring them, torturing them and not pitying them. Rhoda pictures Gertrude in the dream with a wrinkled face. This could mean that she is picturing Gertrude as an old woman in the future. This would mean that in Rhoda’s lifetime, it will always be the case that she has nothing and
The Withered Arm.
The Withered Arm The opening of the story, among the milkmaids, is much more innocent in terms of the tension and terror than the plot turns out to be although tension is shown here because of the mystery. This is similar to many of Hardy's other novels. Terror is mainly brought out in the end when everyone passes away except Rhoda who may be the most evil character in the plot. In most of Hardy's short stories written he uses unexpected twists to create terror and tension. This may link to the sort of life style in those times. Rhoda wants her mysterious unnamed son to observe the new Mrs. Lodge as Farmer Lodge and Rhoda have had a certain relationship. At this point of the short story the reader is bought to ask what type of relationship they had; we gradually learn that they have had a son together. Gertrude Lodge is much prettier than Rhoda, therefore Rhoda wants to know what type of person she is and how she had been bought up. Rhoda does this by sending her son for the second time to inspect her hands to see if they were rough, if so that would mean she would have done some work before. If Gertrude did not work this would mean that she would have been raised from a rich family who employed people like Rhoda to do the work for them. "You never told me what sort of hand she had," Tension is created by the fact that she is so inquisitive about Gertrude but she
Love and Jealousy within'
The Withered Arm Coursework Love and Jealousy Love and Jealousy within' "The Withered Arm" becomes a very appetent and large factor in the novel. I believe the essay title "Love and Jealousy are powerful emotions means and shows how love can often form the evil and selfish jealousy, and how it easily it can change people and make them paranoid furthermore make then act out in a outlandish behaviour this is why I feel the essay refers love and jealousy to be some what of 'powerful emotions.' Brief Summary of the story Withered arm is a story of love and jealousy, the basic plot of The Withered Arm is that Rhoda a middle aged woman once had an affair with a rich farmer known as Farmer Lodge. After sometime after of the affair ending Farmer Lodge meets a young and beautiful woman called Gertrude and ends up marrying her. Rhoda and Farmer Lodge have a son which they have to keep secret to hide up their previous relationship. Rhoda finds out about Farmer lodge new love and uses his son to gain information about her, as soon as Rhoda finds out about the beauty of Gertrude, Rhoda becomes exceptionally jealous of Gertrude as she is young and beautiful and everything Rhoda isn't now, furthermore she knows any hope of Rhoda getting back together with Farmer Lodge had vanished when Gertrude appeared of the scene, this jealousy had come to such a breaking point that to the result
How does Hardy create sympathy
How does Hardy create sympathy for Rhoda Brook in his short story 'The Withered Arm'? 'The Withered Arm' is a story highlighting the rigid class distinctions and social barriers that dominated English society in the 1800's. It is about a thin, fading woman who has a relationship with an upper class gentleman, which results in a child and she suffers the consequences of her forbidden actions. The introduction of Farmer Lodge's new wife causes many problems and it is then that the story starts to unfold. Hardy uses several techniques to create sympathy for Rhoda Brook. In Chapter One, we are introduced to Rhoda Brooks the milkmaid and her son. The reader witnesses the other milkmaids talking about her and how Farmer Lodge's new wife is coming to the village. We immediately sympathise with her, as "'Tis hard for she". Rhoda Brooks is not named at the beginning and is just refered to as 'she', instantly making us feel compassion for Rhoda, as she is a person, not just 'she', which is impersonal. It highlights her isolation from her peers and the community. Rhoda is epitimised by her own house, creating sympathy for her immediately, as a "rafter showed like a bone protruding through the skin", emphasizing the fact that Rhoda is starting to become weathered, worn and thin. The lonely position of the house evokes compassion for Rhoda, as well, as they are both segregated from
How does Hardy elicit sympathy for the three main characters?
How does Hardy elicit sympathy for the three main characters? Thomas Hardy has an extremely clever way of obtaining sympathy for a character. Hardy has specific ways to elicit sympathy by varying the level of sympathy he gives to character. He either gives sympathy to someone or takes it away from a character so more sorrow seems to be on another. He also uses powerful language to strengthen his points and finally he shows sorrow from a character's point of view. He uses these techniques on the three main characters (Rhoda, Farmer Lodge and Gertrude) exceptionally well. We first see Farmer Lodge in his gig while bringing his new wife Gertrude to Holmstoke. He sees his son but completely ignores him: "One of the neighbourhood. I think he lives with his mother a mile or two off." (Page 4) Gertrude asks Farmer Lodge who the boy is but he totally disregards his son and does not even acknowledge the child. He does not even tell his new wife that the child is his son. We give him no sympathy for this cruel act as he should have at least greeted the youngster. In comparison, Farmer Lodge's son looks up to him: "Mr Lodge, he seemed pleased, and his waistcoat stuck out, and his great golden seals hung like a lord's" (Page 70) It seems his son wants to get to know his father and holds him in high regard as his description of Farmer Lodge is rather flattering. Hardy has
