Wessex Tales How the characters are effected

Charlie Hatt 10S Candidate No. 5175 Centre No. 13327 Wessex tales

Wessex Tales

This essay is about the times and the society of the 19th Century and how Thomas Hardy’s characters were affected. The five stories I will be writing about are:

The Withered Arm
The Son’s Veto
Tony Kytes the Arch Deceiver
Absent Mindedness in a parish choir
The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion

In the 19th century there were a lot of divisions between people eg. Class. A girl from a high class could not marry a boy from the middle class. ‘Not what you call a gentlemen’ (The Son’s Veto). Also it was like a sin if you married someone from a lower class than you. ‘It was social suicide if a parson was to marry his maid’ (The Son’s Veto).

They were also very superstitious in those days. A lot of people believe in witches and magic. ‘Well-they say-they used to say he had powers other folks have not.’ (The Withered Arm). They even believed in the devil ‘it is as if some witch or the devil himself had taken hold of me there. (The Withered arm).

Women did not have many rights. Also if they did not marry they would put shame on their family and were called names like spinsters and have no security in the future or any money, some women were seen as witches, so no one would want to marry them. Some women would do anything to get married like chase after their ex-boyfriend. ‘I should have made ‘ee a finer wife and a more loving one to’ (Tony Kytes). In the 19th century women had a lot of pressure on them because men were more interested in pretty women, men didn’t care about their personality as long as the wife to be was pretty. ‘If I had no notion that it makes my husband-dislike me-no love me less. Men think so much of personal appearance’ (Withered Arm). This is all shown in Tony Kytes and The Withered Arm with Farmer Lodge using and abusing Rhoda Brooks.

A woman could not do anything disloyal like commit adultery but a man could commit adultery and no one would say anything. ‘I have privately married a young dear belle’ (Melancholy Hussar). Age difference did not really matter then a man could marry a woman half his age. ‘Years younger than he’ (Withered Arm). And ‘More like 40’ (Withered Arm).

People of the 19th Century were very religious. They feared God and would not take his name in vain. ‘This is an insult to me, my family, my visitors and God Almighty’ (Absent Mindedness in a Parish Choir). The stories were set in farms or small villages where a high-class person would be a farmer (Farmer Lodge-Withered Arm) or a Parson (Mr.Twycott-The Sons Veto).

There were not many facilities available in the 19th Century for example: Their transport facility was a horse and cart or they used wagons. The poorer people had to walk it to the places they wanted to go. ‘Driving home the waggon’ (Tony Kytes). ‘It was a long walk’ (Withered Arm).

The churches were quite poor because they had no source of heat. ‘This afternoon we’ll have something in our insides to make us warm’ (Absent Mindedness in a Parish Choir). Which means they will drink brandy to help them keep warm because there were no heaters. Also bands/choirs used to sing in the churches because they did not have organs because they were too expensive. ‘ That very week he sent for a barrel-organ that would play two-and-twenty new psalm tunes’ (Absent Mindedness in a parish Choir).

The law used to be quite strict then they had harsh punishments like hanging for arson. ‘And only present by chance when the rick was fired’ (Withered Arm).

Hardy’s tales were set in the rural parts of Wessex (now known as Dorset). They were mostly set in farms or villages. The Withered Arm and Tony Kytes are set in a farm.

The Son’s Veto, The Melancholy Hussar and Absent Mindedness in a Parish Choir were set in the village or a small town.

The Withered Arm is set in a farm with the richest person as a farmer, which owns it. We get evidence from the story that it is set in the farm because they have farm animals like cows. ‘It was an eighty cow dairy’. Also the owner’s name that owns the farm is Farmer Lodge.

This is a preview of the whole essay

The language isn’t too different but there are few words that are different or have letters missing like: ‘Tis as a meaning for it is’ also ‘He ha’nt used instead of he hadn’t’ and ‘What d’ye want here for what do you want here.’ The language isn’t necessarily dialect it is more to show an accent like Scottish and very informal.

This story Tony Kytes and the Arch Deceiver is also set in the farm there is also evidence here with the language from the text that this story is set in a farm because their form of transport was a waggon. ‘Driving home the waggon’. One of the girls thinks that Tony is carrying corn in his wagon so he has probably just grown it and is now selling it. ‘Why you’ve been carrying corn.’

The language is very farm like and some of the words are shortened like: ‘Tisn’t which means it isn’t’ and ‘Ee which is supposed to mean Thee and also ‘Mayn’t’ meaning May not.

The Son’s Veto is story is set in a small village we know this because they say: ‘there stood a pretty village with its church and parsonage.’ The language isn’t very different, because the live in a village they speak more formally and speak in Standard English. ‘Has dear mother not have’ which shows the lower class people did not know how to speak formal English. Also the boy is calling his mum Mother which shows he is posh or comes from a high class/rich family telling us that higher class people went to school.

This story is set in a church we know this because in the story they have a parson and a squire so we know that they work in church soothe story must be set in a church. Again the language in this story is different and some of the words have letters missing like The Withered Arm and Tony Kytes the Arch Deceiver: ‘Pa’son which is meant o be Parson’ and ‘Forgi’ed meaning Forgived’ and ‘Twas which is supposed to mean it was; and also ‘Wi’ meaning with’

In The withered Arm there are 3 main characters that are affected by the 19th century (the times and society). The 3 main characters are Rhoda Brooks, Her Son and Gertrude Lodge.

In the story Rhoda Brooks is known as an outcast and has no friends. She does not join in conversations between people ‘The thin woman who had not spoken’ Sometimes people talk about her while she is sitting there alone. ‘He ha’n’t spoken to Rhoda Brook for years.’

She is seen as a bad person within the town because she is not married, but has a child so she is bringing up a ‘Bastard Child.’ Everyone knows this so they look down at her and they also know that it is Farmer Lodge’s son which makes it worse because they are 2 different classes so it is like social suicide for farmer lodge to have a baby with someone from a lower class but this is not meant to be public knowledge because Farmer Lodge will get a bad name by the whole farm but he is not looked at as the bad guy Rhoda is.

She is made to work hard to bring up her son so she can provide him with food and a place to live. She works all day at the dairy milking cows and then when she goes home she has to cook for her son.

Although she tries her best to provide her son with the important thing in life there is no affection shown for him. This is shown in the story by her son not having a name this proves to us that he is like a burden to her because he is a bastard child. Also it makes him seem like a slave because he has no name to be called by. I think she is making him pay for the way she was and still is treated by Farmer Lodge.

Rhoda feels empty inside because she has no one to love and no one to love her, she also knows that she will never be loved again because she is a single parent.

When Farmer Lodge first returns after his wedding a lot of jealousy is shown towards Gertrude because Rhoda is making her son chase around his father to find out what his new wife looks like. Rhoda is comparing herself to Gertrude so she can build a picture up of her. ‘Is she Tall’, ‘what colour is her hair and face’ ‘Her eyes then are not dark like mine’ This shows that she wants to know exactly what she looks like but is too scared to see for herself.

When Gertrude arrives hatred is shown towards her straight away and Rhodas life seems to get harder, especially when she sees the finger marks on her arm and when Gertrude starts becoming friendly with her-because she doesn’t want to mix with her much because some guilt is being shown.

Rhoda starts getting scared when Conjurer .Trendle is bought up because she knows she is going to be seen as a witch. ‘It is as if some witch or the devil himself had taken hold if me there’. With this remark made by Farmer Lodge it makes Rhoda feel like a witch because after all she did grab hold of Gertrude there and in those days they were very superstitious so they probably would have killed her.

After their visit to conjurer Trendle Rhoda is forced to leave the town in case of any rumours but Gertrude’s life doesn’t get any better…

In the first few chapters jealousy is shown towards Gertrude because she is the new young wife of farmer Lodge. ‘They say she’s a rosy cheeked, tisty-tosty little body enough.’ This tells us she is young fair and very pretty. Gertrude really had a reputation to live up to because in those days men only married you if you were pretty so Gertrude knew she had to stay pretty so her husband would stay with her.

She does not know about Farmer Lodge’s past life so she does not know about his son. Her life all of a sudden gets twists upside down 3 weeks after her marriage

When Rhoda has a vision of Gertrude and leaves her finger marks on her arm. Her husband now loves her less because of her arm ‘If-if I had no notion that it makes my husband –dislike me-no love me less. Men think so much of personal appearance.’ Rhoda’s jealousy has lead to ruining Gertrude’s life.

In the story Gertrude’s relationship builds up with Rhoda and she now sees Rhoda as a friend. When she goes to see Trndle she is horrified to find out that her arm being ruined was ‘the work of an enemy’ she is even more shocked to find out that someone she saw as a friend saw her as an enemy and did this to her. Rhoda’s guilt drove her to confess in the end that she did it.

Later on in the story after finding out that Rhoda could be a witch Rhoda leaves-but even with Rhoda gone the arm still got worse and worse. Farmer lodge’s and Gertrude’s relationship seems to get worse as well they hardly even speak to each other. ‘Mr and Mrs Lodge’s married experience sank into prosiness and worse.’ is showing just because of her arm they don’t talk anymore or do anything together.

Gertrude is desperate to get her marriage back on tracks so goes to see Trendle again and this time he gives her advice and she is told to go and put her withered arm on the neck of a man that has just been hung. This shows how badly her husband not loving her because of the way she looks affected her.

In the story Rhoda’s son is not given a named and he is treated really badly in the story. He doesn’t have any friends and no one to talk to. He lives with his mother and works for her like a slave. He is not openly loved by his mother and no one wants to no him because he is a bastard child. His father knows who he is but ignores him and pretends not to know him. This boy is not shown any affection by anyone and is just seen as a slave. ‘One of the neighbourhood. I think he lives with his mother a mile or two off.’ This is showing how the son is being ignored and not being acknowledged by his own father.

I think the boy feels more wanted when Gertrude starts taking notice of him and sees him with no boots so especially goes and buys him some. She feels sorry for him and his lifestyle even though she doesn’t know who his father is.

I think the 3 main characters affected in Tony Kytes and the Arch Deceiver are Milly Richards, Hannah Jolliver and Unity Sallet.I think these characters are more affected in the story because they need to get married so they don’t bring shame on their families. Even though they have all been in love with Tony and they know what he is like- two-timing and can’t make his mind up between the girls. Tony is the type of man who goes for looks, so all the girls in the town have a reputation to live up to. They all have to be pretty and stay pretty.

The girls want to get married to him so they can have a stable life and live in proper houses. Tony has charm and knows how to get on the right side of girls, but when he does wrong he can’t admit to feel guilty. This Story is set in a farm soothe other reason these girls want to marry him is because their options aren’t open.

The girls are desperate to get married to Tony and you can tell by the way the girls talk to him and the jealousy in their eye. ‘Tony why did you desert me for that other one?’ this is showing the jealousy and you can tell there is more jealousy because she can’t say the other girls name she says the other one. ‘Prettier than she?’ This girl wants to be compared to another girl and again instead of saying her name she says she. This shows a lot of friction between the girls and the atmosphere is very tense between them. So these are the characters that I think are affected. Also despite everything Milly still wants to get married to Tony because she doesn’t want to end up a spinster or put shame to her family.

The characters affected in this story are the band members who are: Nicholas Pudding, Timothy Thomas, John Biles, Dan’l Hornhead, Robert Dowdle, Mr Nicks and The Parson.

I think the 6 musicains were affected because they sang the song of the devil in a church. In those days people very religious and it was seen as a sin to play a devils song in church. I don’t think it was their fault because they were cold and had no heating because of the lack of facilities. Because of this problem they drank brandy to keep warm. ‘This afternoon we’ll gave something in our insides to keep us warm, so

he bought a gallon of hot brandy and beer.’ This is telling us that to keep warm they had to drink alcohol so they would obviously get drunk and do silly things without noticing they are doing it.

The parson went mad and kicked them out of the church-this must have made him feel disgusted with the band. ‘Never such an insulting, disgraceful thing-never!’ Is showing the disgust and rage in both the parson and the squire. This all shows us how strongly they felt about God in the 19th Century it also shows us superstition because they are scared of God so they probably believe in harsh punishments.

The Parson is affected because he has a feeling of guilt in him for letting the band play in the church.

In The Sons Veto Sophy is really the only character affected by living in the 19th century affected.

Sophy is affected in this story because of class structure in the 19th century. She is in the lower class working as a parlor maid for a parson. It is about her getting stuck in the middle of two men one lower class and one higher class. She chooses the higher class because she has respect for the higher class. For the parson this was ‘social suicide’ to marry his parlor maid. After they have their son I think Sophy feels put down because as he grows older he starts getting better education so he get cleverer and starts putting her down by correcting her all the time if her sentences are wrong. ‘Has dear mother not have.’ The way he is saying dear mother sounds like he is being rude towards her.

Near the end of the story she realises the mistake she has made by mixing classes, she knows that she would have been better of marrying the lower class because they would have the same lifestyle and have the same knowledge also because she had people to talk to in her own class but her moving into another class makes her feel loney because she has no-one to talk to.

I think another reason she is affected in this story is because after her husbands death her son turns dominant and doesn’t let her live her life. She isn’t free to do what she wants but the only reason for this is because he wants to keep up his reputation of being ‘a real gentleman.’ I don’t think he understood what his mother was going through and didn’t try and understand how she was feeling. I don’t think he realised that he was from two different backgrounds he was just trying to take the role of an aristocrat.

In The Melancholy Hussar story I think Phyllis was affected because of women’s rights and The Hussar was only a little bit because of class structure.

In this story Phyllis was affected because of women’s rights and the division between men and women. She is in love with Humphery.There engagement is fixed by letter because he goes to bath for a few days. The day he is supposed to come back he doesn’t come back he stays for longer but every single time he was supposed to come back he didn’t come back. Phyllis had a feeling something was going on.

Phyllis had fallen in love with the Hussar but forced herself not to fall in love with him so she couldn’t be disloyal to Humphrey.

Phyllis carries on meeting the Hussar until one day her heart is broken because Humphrey comes back and tells her he is married. He forces Phyllis to be happy for him so he wouldn’t feel guilty.

This is showing us that if a woman was to have an affair she would be dealt with immediately and would bring shame upon her family, whereas a man can have an affair and his ex-lover has to be happy for him when all this time Phyllis could have married the Hussar. This story is very strong and shows us how much power a father has over his daughter because Phyllis did not want to originally marry Humphrey but she did it to make her father happy.

Conclusion

I think that the 19th century was very; very different from the way we live now. People can marry whom they like, they can choose who they want to marry-there are not many class distinctions. Personally I think that Sophy from The Son’s Veto was mostly affected by the times and society in the 19th Century.

She had to learn a whole new lifestyle and her son was dominant over her. Even though she was married with a son she felt like a child because the family/class she got married into were clever and bright whereas she didn’t go to a proper school and she comes from a poor family.

I think this was a good story especially to show the superstitions from that time. It shows the laws of the day with Rhoda’s son being hanged for Arson. It shows witchcraft with Rhoda seeing the vision and it show the powers people has with helping Gertrude curing her arm and finding the cause with Dr.Trendle.

It shows us about farm life with people having no transport but walking but the main owner had a horse and cart.

Overall I think Sophy from the Sons Veto was affected by the times and society she lived in, because she gave up a lot just to make a lonely man happy feel sorry for Sophy because she had a lot of regrets in the story like marrying Sam instead of the parson. She is later in the story put down and made feel small by her son because she didn’t grow up in the high class so didn’t get the right education.