The Life of Women in The Withered Arm and Other Wessex Tales by Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy was a writer in the late 19th century. He lived in Dorset
for most his life. Most of his stories were set in Dorset and other
neighbouring counties. Hardy got most of his ideas from his parents
and grandmother. They used to tell him stories and tales of things and
events that had once taken place. He also got his ideas from things
that he heard from the locals and things that happened in his village.
The stories he wrote were aimed at magazine readers so he could not
always write an ending that he wanted to, rather he had to put endings
his readers were expecting like in "The Distracted Preacher" he wrote
an ending the readers were expecting rather than the one he wanted to.
In "The Withered Arm and Other Wessex Tales" all the short stories
have sad endings apart from "The Distracted Preacher" which has a
happy ending. All the short stories are written as if they were being
spoken or narrated to someone like in "Tony Kytes the Arch Deceiver"
Thomas Hardy writes "he reached the foot of the very hill we shall be
going over in ten minutes" which tell us that the narrator is
somewhere near the place where the story took place.
In the late 19th century, women were not considered as men's equals so
they weren't expected to work unless were of the lower class and the
working class where they had to work to survive. The kind of work
women did was work in a house, work as milkmaids, work as parlour
maids, all women worked under someone and it was very unusual for
women to be smugglers like Lizzy from "the distracted preacher" or be
in charge of something other than the household or to run a business.
Women who did not work would sit at home like Sophy from "The Son's
Veto".
The character of women in Thomas Hardy's "The Withered Arm and Other
Wessex Tale" is in many ways different and in many ways similar to
Men and Women in The Withered Arm and Other Stories by Thomas Hardy and Men and Women in Turned by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Some say women can get the worst out of a man, but in The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer in 1485, proves it. The tales were originally written as a collection of twenty four tales, but has been narrowed down to three short tales for high school readers. The three tales consist of “The Miller”, “The Knight”, and “The Wife of Bath” along with their respective prologues. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer shows the weak but strong role of women throughout the “The Knight’s Tale” and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” to contrast different human characteristics and stereotypes on the spectrum of people.
In The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer, the stereotypes and roles in society are reexamined and made new through the characters in the book. Chaucer discusses different stereotypes and separates his characters from the social norm by giving them highly ironic and/or unusual characteristics. Specifically, in the stories of The Wife of Bath and The Miller’s Tale, Chaucer examines stereotypes of women and men and attempts to define their basic wants and needs.
The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume 1c. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print. The.
Clements, Victoria. Introduction. A New-England Tale. By Catharine Maria Sedgwick. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
The nineteenth-century woman was defined by her adherence to submission and resistance to sexuality. She was portrayed by most writers as a naive, accepting figure with strong concerns about living up to the prescribed societal ideals for a respectable woman. The women in Jane Austen's novels offer a clear representation of the nineteenth-century woman. Austen refuses these women any sexual expression and focuses more upon their concern with marriage and society. Thomas Hardy resists Austen's socially accepted depiction of the female with his radically independent heroines.
Leeming, David Adams. “The Anglo Saxons.” Elements of Literature, Sixth Course: Literature of Britain. Ed. Kristine E. Marshall. 1997. 10. Print.
Reisman, Rosemary M. Canfield. "A Feminist Perspective On The Canterbury Tales." Critical Insights: The Canterbury Tales (2010): 45-55. Literary Reference Center. Web. 15 Dec. 2013.
Throughout the ages, the story of the original sin is used to explain the struggles of women and why they are inferior to man. Eve “took of [the forbidden tree’s] fruit and ate” (Genesis 3:6), and as punishment, God made it so “[her husband] shall rule over her” (3:16). As an important text during the lifetime of the characters who tell the collection of stories that compose the Canterbury Tales, most of the pilgrims were familiar with this scripture and believed that the Bible’s word was law. For that reason, the popular belief of the time was that women were inferior to their male counterparts. However, a couple of characters in the tales challenge this viewpoint and show that women were also capable of making their own choices. As the pilgrims struggle with the issue of where women belong, their view of Eve in the story of original sin is altered as well. From mild indifference to intimate involvement, each pilgrim has a different attachment to the story of the Eve, and their views on women in society are reflected in their connection to the story.
113- The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. of the book. Vol.
seems to be dull and boring. She works as a milk maid, then when she
Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English author who considered himself mainly as a poet. A large part of his work was set mainly in the semi-fictional land of Wessex. In 1898 Hardy published a collection of poems written over 30 years, Wessex Poems his first volume of poetry. Emma Lavinia Gifford, Hardy’s wife, whom he married in 1874. He became alienated from his wife, who died in 1912; her death had a traumatic effect on him. He remained preoccupied with his first wife's death and tried to overcome his sorrow by writing poetry, he dictated his final poem to his first wife on his deathbed.
The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. Christ Carol T., Catherine Robson, and Stephen Greenblatt. New York: W. W. Norton, 2006. Print.
Hardy originated from a working class family. The son of a master mason, Hardy was slightly above that of his agricultural peers. Hardy’s examination of transition between classes is usually similar to that of D.H. Lawrence, that if you step outside your circle you will die. The ambitious lives of the characters within Hardy’s novels like Jude and Tess usually end fatally; as they attempt to break away from the constraints of their class, thus, depicting Hardy’s view upon the transition between classes. Hardy valued lower class morals and traditions, it is apparent through reading Tess that her struggles are evidently permeated through the social sufferings of the working class. A central theme running throughout Hardy’s novels is the decline of old families. It is said Hardy himself traced the Dorset Hardy’s lineage and found once they were of great i...
Thomas Hardy was a famous author and poet he lived from 1840 to 1928. During his long life of 88 years he wrote fifteen novels and one thousand poems. He lived for the majority of his life near Dorchester. Hardy got many ideas for his stories while he was growing up. An example of this was that he knew of a lady who had had her blood turned by a convict’s corpse and he used this in the story ‘The Withered Arm’. The existence of witches and witchcraft was accepted in his lifetime and it was not unusual for several people to be killed for crimes of witchcraft every year.