An exploration of presentation of female characters in 3 short stories by Thomas Hardy. What does this tell a modern audience about society of the time and the role of women.

The purpose of this essay is to explore the way in which Tomas Hardy portrayed women in his stories. And to see what this tells a modern audience about society of the time and the role of women. I have studied three of Thomas Hardys short stories; The Son Veto, The Withered Arm and The Distracted Preacher. All these stories where set in the rural county of Wessex. A county mad up by Thomas Hardy himself. They all feature women as the pivotal characters i.e. the catalyst of the story, the story wouldn’t work if they weren’t in it.

All three of the stories feature strong independent women that are dominated by men. (Sophy Twycot, Rhoda Brook and Lizzie Newberry) this fits strongly with the idea of the time that women should bow down to men and do as they are instructed.

The Withered Arm

One of the stories we studied is “The Withered Arm”. This features Rhoda Brook. A single mum living with her son as the pivotal character. Rhoda son is from Farmer Lodge who Rhoda works for as a milkmaid. From the very beginning you realise that Rhoda has been rejected from the rest of the milkmaids and even the rest of the villagers.

Rhoda and her son both live on Egdon Heath. A dark ghostly place, which I think, is meant to reflect the personality of Rhoda. This is a key point because many of the villagers think that Rhoda has connections to witchcraft and superstitions.

Rhoda is a very proud woman who becomes obsessed with Gertrude Lodge. The new bride of Farmer Lodge. Rhoda wants to know everything about Gertrude and what she is like. She even gets her son to spy on her. Although he doesn’t think this is right he does it. This is important because it shows that he respects his mother even though no one else does. Rhoda starts to compare herself to Gertrude because she thinks she is better than her. Because she is taller than Gertrude she thinks that she has power over her. When Gertrude wakes up with a mark on her arm Rhoda starts to change her opinion about her. She doesn’t feel jealous off her anymore just starts to feel sorry her. She tries to help her by taking her to see conjurer Trendol. After this visit Gertrude seems to change. She starts to become obsessed with superstitions and potions. She becomes concerned that if her appearance changes then Farmer Lodge wont love her anymore. I think that this obsession was the downfall to her death. Rhoda talks in a local dialect. This shows she hasn’t been educated and comes from a lower class family. On the other hand Gertrude Lodge has been educated and speaks grammatically correct. Because she comes from a higher-class family she hasn’t worked in her life and I think this cause more jealousy between her and Rhoda. Rhoda works hard everyday and isn’t given any respect where as Gertrude is just because she correct English.

The Sons Veto

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The Sons Veto

The sons Veto is the second story that we studied. It tells the story of a young lady called Sophy Twycot living in a small village in the north of Wessex. She is a very pretty lady, which spends many hours braiding her hair. She works as a parlour maid for the reverend of the village. As the story goes on you find out that Sophy has a bad accident and spends most of her time in a wheelchair. The reverend feels sorry for Sophy and asks her to marry him. Although the revered feels sorry for her but he realises that if he stays in the village he loose all of his respect and status within the community because he is marrying a lower class women. I think this how important status was to people at the turn of the centaury. Because of this the decide to get married in secret and then move away to London when then can start a new life together. Leaving behind everyone that they know including Sam who was Sophys first love. Sophy and the priest have a son called Randolph who is brought up to be like his farther. Sophy becomes very unhappy and spends most of her time longing to be back home with Sam. She feels out of place in London and thinks she should be back in the countryside with people of her own kind e.g. the same social status as her. Many years past and sophys husband dies but leave’s her a small house in central London. By this time Randolph is grown up at is at university. Sophy desperately wants to move back to her village to be with Sam. But Randolph wont let her. This is a major example of her being dominated by men. One-day sophy is looking out the window when she sees a figure that look likes Sam going past in a van. Over time she speaks to him and accompanies him on a trip to Covent Garden market. This is a total change in sophys personality. Its as if she is young again. He asks her to come back home with him to help run a village shop that he owns. She desperately wants to but she can’t because she thinks she will loose her son. Sophy ends up dieing a very unhappy lady.

When sophy was younger she was a big flirt and enjoyed the company of men. But as time went on and she got married she became very withdrawn from the community. When she meets Sam again you she a change in her personality. She becomes flirtatious again and acts like a teenager would.

Sophy is the catalyst of the story because it revolves around her and it wouldn’t work without her in it. But just like many women of this time she ends up being dominated by men.

Sophy speaks in a local dialect but this is total different to the way in which both her husband and son speak. Randolph speaks grammatically correct English and is embarrassed by the way in which his mother talks. Sophy feels as if she doesn’t fit in, in because of the way she talks. She is looked down on because she doesn’t speak grammatically correct. When sophy meets same Sam again she reverts back to her local dialect. They speak in the way, which is appropriate to their social status.

The Distracted Preacher

The final story that we studied was “The Distracted Preacher”. This features Lizzie Newberry as the catalyst of the story. She is a widow who lives at home with her mother. Her mother is very elderly so she has to look after her as well as run the family bed and breakfast .Mr Stockdale a reverent comes to the village to help the local people. He stays with Lizzie in her bed and breakfast. What no one in the village knew apart from Stockdale was that Lizzie was a major hand in the smuggling of alcohol into the country. Over time Stockdale and Lizzie became closer and closer and I think they fell in love.

Lizzie speaks in a local dialect and acts like a man. All of the men treat her with respect this is un-usual because men of the time usually looked down on women. Stockdale speaks grammatically correct English but doesn’t look down on Lizzie because of the way in which she speaks.

In the three Thomas Hardy stories that we studied there are a number of similarities and differences. The main similarity is that they all have a woman as the main character. And all of these women are the catalysts of the story. Another similarity is the way in which all three women speak. All of the women have a West Country dialect. This dialect fits their social status (lower class). Because they speak like this they are treated differently to someone like Gertrude Lodge. She is treated with respect and isn’t looked down upon. In two of the stories men dominate the women. In “The Distracted Preacher” Sophy is dominated by her son, Randolph. Even though at the start of the story Randolph is only twelve he corrects his mother about the way in which she speaks. In “The Withered Arm” Farmer Lodge dominates both Rhoda and Gertrude. Gertrude becomes obsessed by her looks. This is because she thinks that if she looses any of her beauty farmer Lodge wont love her anymore. Lizzie is totally different to this. She wont be dictated by men. She knows what she wants from life and she fights for it. Even when Stockdale asks her to stop the smuggling trade she wont. She doesn’t follow the trend of what women where like at the turn of the century.

Original readers

I think that readers of the time would have felt the same way about the women in the three stories. I think that men of the time would have thought that Rhoda and Sophy were both un-grateful for what the men had done for them. Both Randolph and her husband both wanted the best for her and looked after her. And all she did was moan and think about going back to the village to be with Sam. Also Farmer Lodge gave Rhoda a job and left her money to look after their son. Also when he dies he left her some money but she refused to take it. I think that most men would’ve have thought she deserved everything she got.

On the other hand women would’ve had sympathy for both of the women.

“The Distracted Preacher” is totally different though. I think both men and women would have respect for the determination for Lizzie.

Modern readers

Modern readers would have a totally different opinion on the women and in the way that they acted. I am a modern reader and even though I think that they should’ve been grateful for what the men did for them they should’ve stuck up for themselves more. They shouldn’t have let the men in the stories dominate their lives. They should’ve been more like Lizzie and should’ve known what they wanted form their lives.

Conclusion

Thomas Hardy portrays women in many different ways during the stories. He gives the audience a good idea of how women were viewed at the turn of the centaury. Women were meant to do as they were told and show respect towards their husband. All of the stories show the social divide between the higher and lower class people.

Thomas hardy presents women with a lower status in life to men. Hardy tries to make women seem, as they should be equal to men. He does this by making the audience feel sorry for his female characters.