The burns Edmond Willowes sustains as a result of his heroism make him even more of an outcast. He is described as “sadly disfigured” and “fearfully burnt”. His wife rejects her “adonis”, seeing only the “human remnant” he has become, and ironically Edmond’s attempts to improve himself for Barbara result in her ultimate rejection of him. Barbara leaves Edmond purely because of his looks, when she first saw him “a quick spasm of horror passed through her.” This leaves Edmond feeling very self-conscious due to the reactions of those around him and his own feelings about the way he looks. He wears a mask to cover his face that reflects his isolation from society.
Barbara herself becomes a misfit when she marries Edmond Willowes. There are many reasons for this, one being the physical distance this brings between her and her family, which in turn results in an emotional one. This means she becomes outcast from her peers, but she also becomes an outcast in her marriage. This is because she doesn’t know Edmond very well; she is estranged from her husband, as she was only attracted to his physical appearance. When his beauty wanes, and Edmond becomes “too horrible an object even for [her] to bear,” Barbara casts Edmond away.
In Barbara’s second marriage to Lord Uplandtowers she again becomes a misfit. This time because of unresolved feelings for Edmond and Lord Uplandtowers cold, appetitive approximation of love, which proves not to be enough for Barbara. The statue of Edmond that Barbara commissioned shows that she has a nostalgic longing for her times with him. All these issues make Barbara a misfit within her social class and her two marriages.
In “The Withered Arm” Conjuror Trendle is presented as a misfit in the story due to his dabbling in the occult, something that was still very taboo in Hardy’s days. He was different because it was said that “he had powers other folks [had] not.” He was also very secretive about his powers, as “he did not profess his remedial practises openly.” This led to rumours being spread about him, which adds to his social ostracism. Conjuror Trendle gained notoriety among local people for these reasons.
Conjuror Trendle lives as an outcast and is comfortable living this way. He has distanced himself from others perhaps as a pre-emptive move to save him the suffering that “normal peoples” rejection may have caused him. He lives “5 miles” away from civilisation, which is quite a distance considering he may have to walk this distance whenever he needed to go to the village.
Rhoda Brooks is described as “thin”, “worn” and “fading”, descriptions that present her as a misfit. Her previous relationship with Farmer Lodge alienated her from those who she worked with. She is said to do her work “somewhat apart from the rest.” This is because Rhoda Brooks is of a low social class, while Farmer Lodge, being well off, is of a good social standing. People were also suspicious of her illicit affair with Farmer Lodge for this reason. There were rumours that she was a witch, again due to her unlikely relationship with Farmer Lodge, but also because of his new wife suddenly being taken ill once she befriends her – “She knew she had slyly been called a witch.” She lives away from society with her son, which adds to her outcast status. Rhoda is vilified and gossiped over after she supposedly “over-looked” Gertrude, which again draws her to the attention of the other villagers. She and Gertrude Lodge both become misfits because they become involved in scandals, so they are further excluded from the social lives of others in the village.
Gertrude Lodge is a misfit for a multitude of reasons; socially she is of a higher class than most of the village, so although she can, at first, associate with her husband, she cannot with anyone else in the village. Once Gertrude’s arm mysteriously becomes withered her husband rejects her much as Barbara rejects Edmond in “Barbara of the House of Grebe”. She becomes friends with Rhoda Brooks because of her shared relationship with Farmer Lodge and their joint association with the occult. All this adds to her being thought of as a misfit. After visiting Conjuror Trendle about her arm she has to act against her beliefs, which are widely the beliefs of the rest of the villagers, making her more of an outcast.
In conclusion, all the characters are misfits partly through the ignorance of others, and the prejudice innate in humanity, and also through their own fear of being rejected and inability to cope with their abnormalities, which causes them to isolate themselves to a certain extent. In both Thomas Hardy’s short stories “The Withered Arm” and “Barbara of the House of Grebe” the misfits dramatically influence the lives of each other and whether they mean to or not cause a lot of harm in each other’s lives.
