Compare and contrast some of the short stories by Thomas Hardy paying particular attention to his depiction of & the role of women in the stories.

Mr Jolliver has asked his daughter if she is pregnant.

One woman who may have tried this tactic is one Rhoda Brook, she fell pregnant to Farmer Lodge and then it seems he didn't want her. Rhoda is a much stronger character than any of the women in Tony Kites. She has tried to get a steady life set up for her, she wanted a steady income a house and family, via a man but it didn't work out and now she is worse off, she has to work hard labour for a living and support her son. She's constantly thinking about Framer Lodge and when he gains a new wife she becomes obsessed with someone she's never seen, because she is a social outcast. The reason she is a social outcast is because she had a child out of wedlock and in this time period this was deemed to be wrong, because she is outcast she gets stereotyped as a witch and when anyone asks about sorcery in the town they get directed to her.

The Farmer's new wife, young Gertrude Lodge, is described as a vision of beauty and she is very concerned with her personal appearance. This is how most women were seen by men e.g. Tony Kites the women a very partial to there looks, Hannah feels hard done by when she gets a scratch on her face because it might hinder her chances of getting another man, "I have spirit and I do refuse him! Says Hannah partly because her father was there, and partly, too, in tantrum because of the discovery, and the scar that might be left on her face.". This shows how much she cared for her looks.

As Gertrude's looks deteriorate she becomes more desperate and goes to greater measures to find a cure, earlier in the story she laughed off the suggestion of a sorcerer but later on as she finds that her husband is being put off by her illness she considers the cure of a sorcerer and goes to Rhoda looking for help, when Rhoda is found out to be the "cause" of the illness she moves town. Now if you think that in the story of old Mrs Chundle she lived four miles from the church and the pastor didn't know if she was alive or not, to move house would be a really major thing and you would have to be a very strong and determined woman to do so. Think about it she has had herself settled into her lifestyle where she lived and then to move away must have been a massive feat.

In Old Mrs Chundle we see an elderly woman who is obviously knowledgeable is still an outcast from society and very set in her ways she is still a strong character though. She is set in her ways in the sense that she won't take money from anybody and you get the impression she has been through a lot. Maybe this is the old and retired Rhoda Brook, who also was on the outskirts of society and was strong-minded and very lonely, due to the fact that she lost her only son to a hanging and the father of the son to old age.

The pastor character we meet in Old Mrs Chundle is in some ways like that of Farmer Lodge, He looks down on the woman lead role and has preconceived ideas of her, whereas the women both look up to the male figures see themselves as being of a lower class to that of the male.

Mrs Chundle has come to realise that men are the more dominant species and I get the feeling that she thinks that whatever a man suggests might be right for her, the same goes for the women in Tony Kites, they believe that whatever Tony says is the best for them, but I get the impression that the women in Tony Kites are using Tony to get at his vast wealth, Tony may not be the best looking man in the world but he is in the trading/farming business which means that he does have substantial wealth, which means that they should have a comfortable lifestyle.

Overall the women of Hardy's time were dependent on men but I fell that they did still looking out for number one, they were strong but were not yet accepted into the workforce yet so a man with wealth was nearly vital but as Rhoda proved they could survive without men.

Henry Deazley

1n

Mr Hollywood.