Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy was born in mid-19th century Dorset. In his lifetime, he wrote many books and poems, and whilst practically all tell a simple story, within them Hardy writes of many themes, such as love/marriage, fate and coincidence, isolation, the macabre, that appear frequently in his texts. He was very interested in communicating to his readers these themes and his interests, including human relationships and what tests them (things like secrecy, trust), strange occurrences, a belief in the supernatural (“necromancy”), failure of marriage, crime and punishment and fate and destiny. He also writes to communicate to his readers about experiences in his lifetime that had an impact on him, like when he witnessed a woman’s public hanging when he was young – his stories are often morbid and feature death in them, as one critic said ‘it stained him for life’.

One of these themes is love and marriage, and must have been very prominent in Hardy’s intentions for including in his stories, as it appears in every story and poem we have studied He may feel strongly about this subject as he himself was married twice, first to Emma Gifford, but his relationship with her was less then a perfectly happy one, as it began to become difficult, and secondly to Florence Dugdale. His difficult love life must have affected him greatly as we can see in his writing, as very often, lovers in his stories often experience danger, worry and frequently end up far unhappier toward the end of his story/poem. We can see this, more than once, in his short story ‘The Withered Arm’. We are introduced to Rhoda Brook, who it becomes clear is Farmer Lodge’s ex-wife. Already we can see that a love relationship started off well, otherwise they would not have married, and failed, because they split up. Farmer Lodge has a new wife, Gertrude Lodge, and the first time they are introduced it seems they are happy newly weds, and Farmer Lodge talks affectionately to her ‘You must expect to be stared at just at first, my pretty Gertrude’. But as Gertrude’s arm becomes withered, Farmer Lodge becomes less affectionate with her, as your wife’s appearance was almost primary concern for a husband in those days. Towards the end of the story, as Gertrude seeks a cure for her withered arm, her husband ends up cursing her, “Damn you! What are you doing here?”. This shows how the relationship turned quite quickly from happiness and affection to resenting and unhappiness. It also shows an example of lovers ending up in a sorry state as their relationship goes badly, as Gertrude dies after receiving the ‘cure’ for her spookily withered arm.

Another example of a happy love relationship ending up miserably is evident in Hardy’s poem ‘The Homecoming. We are told of a newly web couple, like Farmer Lodge and Gertrude, coming to their home, and it is the wife’s first time in it. Again the husband talks affectionately to his wife, ‘Now sit ye by the fire, poppet’. But as the wife enters the house, she is quite shocked by its poor quality. ‘I didn’t think such furniture as this was all you’d own…And great black beams for ceiling…floor o’ wretched stone…nasty pewter platters, horrid forks of steel and bone…monstrous crock in chimney.’ Harsh critical words here emphasise how bitterly disappointed the woman is with her new home. Here things begin to become harder the couple’s relationship, and they start to argue; ‘And if you do feel spitish , ‘tis because ye are over young.’ Hardy gives us the impression this girl is a young and spoilt person, as she has childish habits; ‘don’t ye gnaw young handkercher’ and ‘ keep your little thumb out of your mouth, dear, please!’ and the fact that she is supposed to love the person she marries no matter how rich they are, yet all she is focusing on is his poor house. At this point we really see how the marriage has turned out very badly as the man threatens to leave his wife ‘I’ve half a mind to run away to sea, and leave ‘ee..’ . So Hardy is keen to emphasise through his writing, that marriages do not always turn out the way you want them, and certain sacrifices have to be made to make the relationship work, for example, be prepared for your standard of living to change.

Another example for the theme of relationships and what tests them comes in ‘The Workbox’ where a man makes a workbox for his wife. She dislikes the box because it was made out of the same wood that was used to make a coffin for a man they knew, but supposedly did not know how he died. But Hardy introduces a mysterious, suspicious twist at the end, where it says ‘As if she had known not only John, But known of what he died’. This could leave the reader thinking that maybe the woman had been responsible in some way ...