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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 convicts 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. In the story of The Withered Arm, there are four main characters: Rhoda who is a milkmaid, Gertrude who is Farmer Lodges new wife, Farmer Lodge who owns the farmhouse and the Son whose parents are Rhoda and Farmer Lodge. At the beginning of the story Rhoda becomes pregnant and soon after splits up with Farmer Lodge.
She is outcast because people think she is a witch. The story then moves on eight years and Farmer Lodge brings back his new wife Gertrude Lodge. Rhoda is jealous of her and sends her son who is now eight to go and look at her. A few weeks later Rhoda has a vision in her sleep and curses Gertrude. The next day Gertrude and Rhoda meet for the first time and Rhoda finds that she has a withered arm, which she didnt before. Over time, they both become friends and Gertrude asks Rhoda if she will come with her to see Conjuror Trendle as he is thought to be the only person who can help cure her withered arm.
Conjuror Trendle does not do this but he does tell her that Rhoda has cursed her. Over the winter rumours start to spread and people think that Rhoda has bewitched Gertrude. Because of these rumours both her and her son run away. About 6 years later Gertrude finds out about the affair between Rhoda and her husband. Gertrude returns to visit Conjuror Trendle once more as she thinks Farmer Lodge does not love her any more. This time he suggests that she Touches the neck of a recently hung man with her arm as this may cure it.
Months later Gertrude goes to Caster bridge but it is too late and so she has to wait for the next hanging, which is not for several months. She comes back later that year and talks the hangman into letting her touch the hung mans body. Soon after she has touched the neck of the man she sees Rhoda and her husband. They are here to pick up their sons body. He is the person who has just been hung and Rhoda has touched.
Rhoda is enraged to see Gertrude and throws her against a wall which results in Gertrude's death three days later. Now I have provided a prcis of the story I will try to explain how the writer Thomas Hardy interests and entertains us in his stories by referring to specific examples from The Withered Arm. I will talk about how he creates suspense and tension and how the particular words he uses can help create atmosphere. I will also discuss contrast and how this can make the story more interesting. Finally, I will discuss the balance and ending of the story of the story. Hardy creates tension and suspense by withholding information.
This works as you are always wondering what will happen next. Hardy does this because he is trying to keep you interested in the book. An example of creating tension and suspense in The Withered Arm is, Gasping for breath, Rhoda, in a last desperate effort, swung out her right hand. This creates tension, as you are uncertain what Rhoda has done to Gertrude.
If Rhoda really feels that strongly about Gertrude it makes you wonder, maybe she will recreate her dream in real life. At the end of the story we find out that in fact she does this, which results in the death of Gertrude. Another example of creating suspense is when Gertrude finds out she has been cursed, Do you catch a likeness of any face or figure as you look? Demanded the conjuror of the young woman. She murmured a reply, in tones as low as to be inaudible to Rhoda. This quote suggests that she saw Rhoda in the cup and so she said to Rhoda I am not sorry we came.
Another reason we believe she saw Rhoda is that Gertrude's, companionship had quite changed, and they did not say much all the way home this suggests that there is tension between the two of them. Hardy's choice of words also makes a big impact on the atmosphere the story creates. If he does not describe the scenes well, readers will not get into the story, as they cannot imagine themselves in the book. He uses adjectives very well; throughout The Withered Arm, if he did not do this the story would become very boring. Good examples of his use of adjectives are when he describes Gertrude. Hardy calls Gertrude, Soft and evanescent, like the light under a heap of rose-petals, if he had just said pretty it would have meant the same thing but not have created the same atmosphere.
Hardy uses contrast in his stories to make the story more interesting. The following example creates interest as you think that the two conflicting characters will argue and you wonder what form the argument will take. There are several examples of contrast some of these are more extreme than others. An extreme example of contrast is the comparison between, Gertrude and Rhoda. These characters are completely different. Gertrude is described in the story as: very young, having a fresh coloured face, Blond hair and Red eyes.
All these descriptions give an impression of beauty. In complete contrast Rhoda is described as an old milkmaid, who has a twelve-year-old son and is accused of being a witch. These two descriptions are an extreme example of comparison. Another less obvious one is the fact that Gertrude is well off and Rhoda is poor.
Hardy shows that Gertrude is well off by saying that she wears gloves. This shows wealth, as only rich women who did not have to work wore gloves in Hardy's time. Rhoda is a milkmaid who has probably worked every day of her life and does not wear gloves as she is always working where as Gertrude has someone to do everything for her. Hardy creates good endings to his stories by making them interesting. The ending is seen as good because the main plot of the story follows a path and comes to a logical conclusion. This can be seen by the fact that Rhoda near the beginning of the story has a dream about hurting Gertrude.
At the end of the story she kills her, so this shows a logical progression from the beginning to the end of the story. Another reason The Withered Arm has a good ending is the fact that what happens to the characters after the story is finished is explained in the closing paragraph. For instance Gertrude, never reached home alive, and died three days after the accident. Farmer Lodge took steps towards giving up the farm and died two years later of a painless decline. Rhoda continued milking at the dairy.
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