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Compare and contrast the main female characters in The Withered Arm

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Compare and contrast the main female characters in The Withered Arm and Turned. You should also refer to the position of women at the times these stories were written.

The position of women has changed greatly over time, but women were, and still are seen as the weaker more inferior sex. ‘The Withered Arm’ was written in the 19th century by Thomas Hardy, and the story is set in the English countryside. The story reflects the different attitudes expressed against women in the biased society of that time. There are two main female characters, which are totally different from each other. Gertrude Lodge, is a character that represents Madonna, on the other hand there is Rhoda Brooks who is seen as the whore. Society at the time …show more content…

Daughters were seen as a burden to their family and this meant that the pressure to marry was intense. Women were not seen as individuals in their own right but as property that belonged to their husbands, they were in a vulnerable position where even the law failed to protect them properly. Up until recently a women could not legally be ‘raped’ by her husband even if they had been separated for several years.

Poverty has always bred abuse and working class women had far fewer choices than their wealthy counterparts. A woman’s ability to work was severely restricted and women were employed in factories, in industry, as sales girls and servants. However, they were only employed until they remained unmarried, when they married it was seen as a woman’s duty to stay at home and serve her husband. In the 19th century women had no choice in many matters.

Things changes in the 20th century and although society was still totally dominated by men, women did have more choice. Male dominance was not merely social, but it was reflected through laws, through work, through culture, and in this through all walks of life. Feminism was linked very strongly with lesbianism and unnatural behaviour. This meant that although women had the choice to make them selves known if they did they were ridiculed. There was simply not a culture in
British society which allowed women to speak out or defend themselves.
An important

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