Compare and Contrast Turned and The Withered Arm

With Particular Reference to the Relationships Between Men and Women,

Compare and Contrast the Two Short Stories Turned and The Withered

Arm.

The two short stories by Thomas Hardy and Charlotte Perkins Gilman

both share similarities in plot, characters and the relationships held

by men and women. They both show, in a cyclical structure, the

betrayal of men and the jealously held between people, although Gilman

takes a more feminist view, largely due to the difference in era of

the two short stories. They simultaneously show the strengths and

weaknesses of women without men and the role which men have upon their

lives. Hardy's era leads him to incorporate ideas of witchcraft and

the paranormal and crime also proceeds the beginning of each story

with two women becoming illegitimately pregnant.

"The Withered Arm" by Thomas Hardy introduces its main character,

Rhoda Brook, an emotionally strong woman who's appearance contradicts

this. She is described as a "fading woman of thirty" although she was

once radiant as Hardy writes of her "dark eyes, that had once been

handsome". Rhoda Brook is also shown and portrayed as a lower class

woman, living in basic accommodation, " built of mud walls", with her

illegitimate child. Hardy creates an image of a weak, long-suffering

woman in the first chapter of his short story. This is similar to the

image that is formed by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in her short story

"Turned".

She tells of Gerta Peterson, a physically strong woman who in

character was relatively weak and ignorant. Her chamber was "poorly

furnished" and basic, although she lived in the same vicinity as Mrs

Marroner. Perkins creates and emphasises this contrast by placing both

these vivid descriptions a...

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...ir ideas of

relationships between men and women in reflection to their eras and

beliefs. Gilman adopts a more feminist view and she also establishes

and communicates her ideas of men. Hardy, a male writing in the time

of superstition and witchcraft, has outlined important concepts

concerning how women have been perceived by people due to situations

which also involved the actions of men. He also shows his vies on how

women are weak and rely on the concepts of witchcraft to guide them.

The language between both narratives is different and highlights the

difference in era. Both authors create strong concepts which could be

considered as controversial today and which contrast each other

greatly, however both leave us to examine the fact that there are

indeed many similarities in the ways that the relationships between

men and women formed and were perceived.