Tony appears to be manipulative. When Unity Sallet, a “handsome” old flame is sat in the wagon with Tony, they approach Milly Richards- Tony’s fiancé. Tony uses emotional blackmail in order to get his way with unity.
“Will ye lie down in the back part of the wagon, and let me cover you over with the tarpaulin till Milly has passed?…Do!-…and perhaps I shall put a loving question to you after all, instead of to Milly.” (Page 15)
For the time, this was an outrageous thing to suggest for a woman to do, but Unity agrees in the hope that Tony will become betrothed to her.
We see another example of this persuasive blackmail when Tony and Milly spot Hannah, a “much more dashing girl than Milly”. Again, Tony suggests to hide in the wagon. However, before he asks this of Milly, he reminds her of their relationship.
“Now, Milly, would you do me a favour- my coming wife, as I may say?” (Page 16)
Milly also agrees, because she loves him. So she does as he asks, as she is desperate to have Tony Kytes as her future husband.
In the story “Ticket’s Please” by DH Lawrence, John Thomas appears to be similar to Tony Kytes. The narrator describes John Thomas as being “good looking” and “tall and agile” (Page 21) Here, the narrator has emphasised his physique, to show how desirable he really is.
We are also led to the conclusion that John Thomas is like a hunter. His ways of enticing the female conductors, and walking home with them in the “dark night” has given him a reputation. DH Lawrence gives evidence of his flirtatious, predator- like ways when he describes how John Thomas “flirts and walks out with the newcomer, always providing she is sufficiently attractive” (Page 121). Like Tony Kytes, John Thomas has high standards.
The narrator proves that John Thomas is capable of being manipulative.
“Who should be the first to greet Miss Annie on the showground but John Thomas…Instantly, like the gallant he was, he took her on the Dragons…He made her stay on for the next round. And therefore she could hardly for shame repulse him when he put his arm round her and drew her a little nearer to him, in a very warm and cuddly manner.” (Page 123)
Here, John Thomas is pretending to be the opitimy of a gentleman, yet in the end gets his way with Annie. DH Lawrence has shown John Thomas to be very alike to Tony Kytes in this respect.
DH Lawrence portrays John Thomas in an arrogant light. An example of this is the line “A fine cock- of- the- walk he was” (Page 122). This shows that John Thomas is similar to Tony Kytes, as after the five girls discover each other in his wagon, Tony declares that Hannah is “as sound as a bell for me”.
DH Lawrence tell us that Annie is a working woman. “The step of that tram car is her Thermopylae” (Page 120). In the 20th Century, people were beginning to realise that women too could perform what were traditionally men’s tasks. After World War One, women began to work as a result of the men going to fight in the army. Their social status changed; they were becoming less dominated and more dominating. The women were regarded as being equal. In “Tickets, Please” we see an example of this.
“So Annie walked out with John Thomas, though she kept her own boy dangling in the distance.” (Page 125)
This proves that Annie is also capable of being manipulative. However, I think that the male characters are more manipulative. Tony Kytes persuades all three women to remain in the wagon with him by using emotional blackmail. He does this because he has not yet met up his mind which female he would like to marry. He wants to keep his options open. This proves Tony to be very selfish. He has a great lack of thought for others and wants the best for himself. We are given evidence of this when Hannah Jolliver is sat with him in the wagon.
“The more he looked at her the more he liked her, till he couldn’t for the life of him think why he had ever said a word about marriage to Milly or Unity while Hannah Jolliver was in question.” (Page 17)
Tony has found Hannah to be the most attractive woman, and decides to marry her.
“I haven’t quite promised [Milly] and I think I can ask you that question you speak of.” (Page 18)
He appears to be very superficial and shallow, as he is with Hannah because of her looks.
From the above revelations, I get the impression that if Tony Kytes had been living in the 20th Century, he would not have got married at all. Because of the time, it was frowned upon to do anything intimate before marriage. We can see an illustration of this fact when Tony is speaking to his father.
“Don’t go driving about the country with Jolliver’s daughter and making a scandal” (Page 19)
Here we are shown that such things are immoral. It is very different compared to “Tickets, please”. This story was wrote in the 20th Century, when men and women were allowed to socialise together. The relationships in this story are also much more physical.
“And, after all, he was so warm and she fitted in to him so softly. After all, she wanted him to touch her lips.” (Page 124)
This would not have been acceptable in the 19th Century. The most physical Tony gets to any of the three women is when they are sat in the wagon, “closer and closer, their feet upon the footboard and their shoulders touching”. I think that one of the reasons Tony agrees to marry any of the women is because he wants an intimate relationship. To him, it does not really matter which girl he chooses, which is why he opts for the most attractive woman. While Tony can not do anything with his girlfriends, John Thomas can get what he wants without being married. The courtship in the 20th Century was much freer, and certainly a great deal more physical.
DH Lawrence set his story in more racy, urban setting, while Thomas Hardy set his in a rural setting. Setting it in an urban area adds to the intensity of the story. The sense of activity also increases the exciting atmosphere. In addition, the use of language such as “plunges”, “dare devil” and “leaps the rails” makes the story more powerful. Lawrence’s story would feel less modern if it had been set in a rural area. I think that Hardy chose to set his story in the countryside because it adds to the old fashioned feel. Readers would not expect the characters to be sophisticated, or very well educated. As the women in this story are supposed to be economically dependent on men, it seems more appropriate to set it in a bucolic area.
In the 19th Century, women such as Milly Richards were the type you were meant to have as a wife. Hardy describes Milly as being “a nice, light, small, tender little thing”. These feminine qualities were greatly admired back then. Men expected women to be petite and frail- the sort that would not cause trouble. At the time, women were supposed to be modest and ladylike. Annie Stone, when compared with Milly, appears to be very forward and pushy. DH Lawrence describes her as being sharp tongued.
“Annie was something of a Tartar, and her sharp tongue had kept John Thomas at arm’s length for many months.” (Page 122)
Annie is also described as being a “fearless young hussy”. From these images, we can see that Lawrence is portraying her as a stereotypical feminist of the 20th Century times.
From the descriptions of the two male characters, I am able to draw the conclusion that John Thomas and Tony Kytes are both very similar. Both are shown to be arrogant men, who manipulate the women around them in order to fulfil their own personal interests. I have not found them to be exceptionally daring characters, or to be weaker than the female characters. Both DH Lawrence and Thomas Hardy sympathise with the male characters throughout the stories, even though the males are dishonest and manipulative. I think that this is because they are both male writers. A woman would certainly frown upon the immorality of their actions. The writers both draw the same conclusions at the end- presenting the women to regret their control over the men. Although there were differences in the stories, and they were both set in different centuries, their moral is the same. The stories tell us that men should always be in control, and that if a woman tries to reverse this situation, it will end up as especially complicated and chaotic.
