Thomas Hardy Essay Examples

‘Tony Kytes The Arch Deceiver’ is set in the nineteenth century and is a Short story about lust and indecision. The story speaks of a country life in a small town, where everyone seems to know everyone else’s business. One man’s decision to marry a certain lady is the common knowledge of the whole town […]

Entry 1 – Today at work, I learned that my son’s father, Edward, will be returning home tomorrow with his new wife. The maids have been gossiping about her, describing her as having a ‘rosy cheeked, titsy-tosy little body’. I know they talk about me too and have asked my son to find out what […]

Writing a good short story is difficult. But Thomas Hardy succeeded in writing excellent short stories. He did this by carefully planning them in order to gain, sustain and satisfy the reader’s interest. I will now be looking at how he manages this in The Distracted Preacher and in The Withered Arm. After reading both […]

What we need to understand is that all is not perfect, however perfect it may seem in appearance. There is always a larger picture to what a person perceives, however well hidden the secrets lie; and the fact that in a married relationship, appearance means nothing at all. In a Victorian society, a lady betrothed […]

In this essay I will compare The Going, Beeny Cliff, The Voice and Your Last Drive by Thomas Hardy. I will discuss the ways in which he presents an image of his late wife Emma. The Going, like most of his poems about Emma, is written in the first person. Hardy is obviously speaking for […]

Thomas Hardy’s short story, ‘the withered arm’, written in the late nineteenth century is ver different from Dear Nobody in that it talks about the same issues, but how these issues are dealt with – and what problems arise from them, differently. The Withered arm is about a lady called Rhoda Brook, who is considered […]

Thomas Hardy, who was born on June 2nd, 1840, in Higher Bockhampton, passed away on January 11th, 1928, at Max Gate, his residence situated on the outskirts of Dorchester. Despite expressing to a friend that he would have solely pursued poetry if it had guaranteed him a livelihood, Hardy is famously recognized as the author […]

This piece of work aims to compare two different stories: “The Withered Arm” by Thomas Hardy, which is a pre twentieth-century narrative set in 1819-1825 and written in 1888, and “The Darkness Out There”, a short story by Penelope Lively that was written during Margaret Thatcher’s tenure as Prime Minister of Great Britain in 1986. […]

“The Son’s Veto” is a story about a mother who sacrifices everything for a son who doesn’t seem to care about her. Originally she had been a servant who worked for Mr Twycott, the local vicar. During her work period she falls down the stairs and becomes disabled. Because of guilt Mr Twycott asks Sophy […]

In both of the poems, ‘At Castle Boterel’ by Thomas Hardy and ‘Piano’ by D H Lawrence, the main idea is the thought of reminiscence for a lost loved one. The two poems show the tragic side of love, especially lost love. Also the two poets have used nostalgia, which means that you are happy […]

Both ‘Tony Kytes’ by Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) and ‘Turned’ by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) explore similar themes but have contrasting messages. ‘Tony Kytes’ delves into how young love can make fools out of people, whereas ‘Turned’ presents a biased perspective against men, portraying them as wicked towards the virtuous female characters in the story. The […]

In this essay, the portrayal of women is analyzed in two short stories: ‘The Withered Arm’ by Thomas Hardy and ‘Odour of Chrysanthemums’ by DH Lawrence. Despite being set in different historical periods – ‘The Withered Arm’ in the 18th century and ‘Odour of Chrysanthemums’ in the early 20th century, both stories share similarities. The […]

The works of Thomas Hardy, including both Tony Kytes and The Mayor of Casterbridge, demonstrate his strong feelings towards the societal roles and statuses of men and women during the 19th century. Through the use of metaphor, Hardy vividly depicts his perception of how men and women were valued in society. The title of the […]

“Survival” and “The Son’s Veto” although are stories of a very different genre and written in different times were both written for the same purpose: for the writers to try to expose difficulties faced by women within their society. “The Son’s Veto” deals with a working class woman who marries a middle class vicar. Sophy, […]

I will compare two stories: ‘Country Lovers’ and ‘The Withered Arm’. Both ‘Country Lovers’, written by Nadine Gardimer and published in 1975, and ‘The Withered Arm’, written by Thomas Hardy and published in the 1870s, explore the themes of couples defying social conventions of their time. These social norms were determined by their respective communities […]

In this essay, my aim is to examine how Thomas Hardy foreshadows events in the opening pages of three short stories. Specifically, I will be analyzing ‘The Withered Arm’, ‘The Son’s Veto’, and ‘Tony Kytes the Arches Deceiver’. Each story will be briefly described. The latter tale centers around Tony Kytes, who is pursued by […]

During the preceding month, we have examined and read two stories from a volume named “Stories then and now”. The initial narrative is entitled “Tony Kytes, The Arch Deceiver” and was created by Thomas Hardy in 1894. The second story is “Tickets, Please” by the author D.H. Laurence, and was written in 1924. Despite their […]

Thomas Hardy was a well-known author and wrote many stories in the 1800’s. He was highly influenced by women from very early on in his life. It was his mother who encouraged him to be educated. His teacher was also female and he became very close to her. His mother, jealous of this relationship, took […]

‘The Withered Arm’, and ‘The Call’, are both ghost stories. ‘The Withered Arm’ was written in the 1800’s, but was set in 1819. ‘The Call’, by Robert Westall, is a much more modern story. The atmosphere in ‘The Withered Arm’ is also older than ‘The Call’, due to the social and historical background. Women’s roles […]

I am going to compare the story by Thomas Hardy, that was first published and set in the second half of the nineteenth century, with a story written by D. H. Lawrence which is set in the early twentieth century in the period of the first world war, to assess the different treatment of women […]

Thomas Hardy’s prose ‘The Withered Arm,’ was written in the nineteenth century illustrating norms and values of the society, which were present where he was living. The society had particular beliefs, which wouldn’t be rebelled against, and if they were, then the public would see the rebellious as an outsider and eschew them. The society […]

In this essay, we aim to present a brief overview of three stories taken from ‘Nineteenth Century Short Stories’, and assess how they depict the status of women during that time period. In this essay, three stories are analyzed: ‘The Unexpected’ by Kate Chopin, ‘A Woman’s Rose’ by Olive Schreiner, and ‘Tony Kytes, The Arch-Deceiver’ […]