The withered arm Essay Example for Free

The withered arm Essay In Tony Kytes, Tony comes across as a bit of a player. This is because he asks all three women, all of which have had connections with Tony, to marry him, even though he is engaged to one of them; Milly Richards. Tonys attitude to marriage could be that its not really that important to the men of the 19th century, and that getting married is just to say that they are married. This is suggested when Tony is rejected by Hannah Jolliver and Unity Sallet, but Milly accepts again, just for the ability to say that he is married. However, the womens attitude to marriage was mainly that they had to get married for the social status. This is shown well through Millys acceptance to Tony. When Tony asks Milly, she replies with If you like, Tony illustrating how shes not very keen on marrying him after what just happened, but will anyway because she wants to be married. Unity Sallet comes across as an independent woman, which can be mirrored in todays times. She says take her leavings? Not I! , meaning that she doesnt want to marry someone that was rejected not one minute ago. Because she walks away from Tony, this can symbolise her independence because it shows how she doesnt always need a man there in her life. This links to nowadays because some women never marry in their whole lives, because they believe they dont need a man in it. In The Withered Arm, Farmer Lodges attitude to marriage is that marriage is for having children and carrying on the family name. Proof of this is after Gertrudes change from beauty queen to ugly duckling as Hardy describes Farmer Lodges realisation: she had brought him no child, which rendered it likely that he would be the last of a family who had occupied that valley for some two hundred years. This shows my point because it illustrates how he knows that hes it, that hes the end of the line for the Lodge name, and how he isnt very pleased that his wife hasnt given him a child. Farmer Lodge also bases marriage on appearance. This is implied through beauty was contorted and disfigured because it shows how he has fallen out of love with Gertrude ever since her arm had the curse bestowed upon it. Gertrudes attitude to marriage is very much the same of that to Millys in the Tony Kytes. This is because both Gertrude and Milly wanted to be married for the social status. From both characters, its subtle that they only want to be married for the status, but if you look close enough you can find it. Milly says if you want, Tony as though she only wants to marry him for the status and Gertrude says that lad stared at me!, also comes across as though she is happy with the attention she gets from her new marriage. Both stories have varying attitudes to marriage, but they link together sometimes. For example, Gertrude and Millys attitude to marriage is the same. Both stories attitudes link with todays attitudes to marriage because Unitys character doesnt really need a man so dont need to be married, and neither do plenty of woman in this time, and many men dont see marriage as a big deal, which is like Tonys attitude to marriage.