In the story ‘The Sons Veto’ the author introduces the female character in the first sentence. He represents the female character, Sophy, as an intriguingly beautiful woman. As Sam the gardener looks up at Sophy he describes her as “ A kitten like, flexuous tender creature.” This quote shows that Hardy has represented this woman as alluring to men, like a magnet, and very intriguing. As well as being intriguingly beautiful the reader is led to believe that Sophy has an interesting past. The reader is led to believe this when the narrator says, “ She was generally believed to be a women with a story.” This quotation suggests that Sophy has an almost mysterious past that nobody knows of. The use of the quotation will have engaged the audience and kept them interested in the story, so that they would be able to find out about her “story”. So far Hardy has represented Sophy as different from other females because she is intriguingly beautiful and she has a mysterious past. He also represents sophy as different from other women by hinting at her social status when Mr. Twycott, a priest, marries her. The difference in social status can be seen in the quotation “ He had committed social suicide by this step, despite Sophy’s spotless character.” The quote shows that Mr. Twycott, who was of a higher social status than Lizzy, made a choice to marry a woman with a good character but it was frowned upon to marry a woman of a different social status regardless of her character. This exemplifies the fact that Sophy is different from other females.
Although Sophy was different from other females, in the second story ‘The Distracted Preacher’, there are a number of similarities that can be seen between the female characters. Lizzy the female character of ‘The Sons Veto’ is also described in the story as being beautiful. As Stockdale, a priest, sits down he sees “ A fine and extremely well made young woman.” This quote shows that Lizzy is attractive to the opposite sex, like Sophy. Hardy has again represented an alluring woman. As the story progresses the reader learns that Lizzy is also contemplated against because of her social status. This can be read on page 117, “ A fascinating young woman, but as a ministers wife she was hardly to be contemplated.” The use of this quote suggests that even though Lizzy has a great character, like Sophy, she is not the ideal priests wife because of her social status. It also shows that in both stories the priests have broken the rules because they love the females for their characters and personalities and not because of the social status the women hold. Finally, Lizzy also posses an intriguing past similar to Sophy’s. As Stockdale suggests a way of removing some tubs from a tower, Lizzy replies, “ ‘No I’ll show you’ said his interesting companion.” In this quote Hardy has represented Lizzy as being more knowledgeable about something, which a man should already know. Therefore this hints that she knows something that this male character does not and has something hidden from him and has most probably learnt it in the past. This is similar to Sophy because she also had an intriguing past
Although the author represents Sophy as intriguingly beautiful, he also represents her as physically incapacitated. This can be read on the third paragraph of the story, which states “ She was a young invalid lady … sitting in a wheeled chair.” This quotation shows that Hardy is representing a disabled woman. By representing Sophy like this it will make the reader feel pity for the paralysed woman. To make the reader feel more sympathy for Sophy, Hardy also represents her as helpless and dependant on others. After spending a long time braiding her hair, the narrator says , “She had no maid, and it was almost the only accomplishment she could boast of.” The use of this quote shows that the character is helpless without a maid and doing her hair was almost the only thing she could do. This suggests that she is dependant on other people if braiding her hair was the only accomplishment she could boast of. One would think that if Sophy was so unprivileged to be incapacitated and dependant on other people that she would be loyal to her family, but she is not. After meeting her ex-love Sam, Sophy thinks deeply about meeting him again, finally “ She gave way to the temptation of going with Sam again.” This quotation shows that Hardy has represented a female character as an unloyal family member, who wants to meet her ex-love Sam even though she is a widow and her son detests it. Hardy has represented a female character of many conflicting sides. For example, She is beautiful but incapacitated or she is a lonely widow but trying to rekindle a love life from the past.
Although Sophy and Lizzy share similarities, Lizzy contrasts from Sophy’s ugly side. For example, Lizzy shows great loyalty to her family opposed to Sophy. When Stockdale, who has just found out about her cousin Owlett hiding tubs on her premises, says he will roll the tubs down hill the next time Owlett tries to leave them on her premises Lizzy replies, “I would not … do anything that would be so likely to put poor Owlett into the hands of the Customs-men.” In this quotation the author has represented a female who would stay loyal to a cousin even though he is breaking the law and putting her at risk. This contrasts the female character of ‘The Sons Veto’ because Sophy is unloyal. Lizzy is not bound to a wheel chair, sat down doing nothing but braid her hair, instead she is represented as a brave female. Whilst telling Stockdale of the ordeal, they had getting Owlett out of the country away from the customs-men, she says “ It is a miracle I was not killed. I was shot in the hand.” This quote shows that Lizzy does not just wait for things to happen but she is brave and helps her friends and family, unlike Sophy who needs help from her friends or family. It also supports the previous statement that Lizzy is very loyal to her family if she will take a bullet for one of her cousins.
Thomas Hardy’s collection of short stories ‘The Wessex Tales’ represents women in different ways. He represents an incapacitated lady as a worse person than a woman who smuggles tubs of liquor. Hardy surprises the reader by the way he represents his females because the stereotype of a disabled woman does not fit what we read about Sophy. Hardy also surprises the reader by making them grow close to a criminal which is not expected either. Hardy represents females as the oppressed sexes, who are constantly picked on whether it is about their social class or the decisions they have made in life. Finally, I think the author represented women who were different from other females, females who have stories, but he did not represent them unrealistically.
