Thomas Hardy's The Withered Arm

Thomas Hardy's The Withered Arm

Thomas Hardy's book introduced a lonely beginning with 'The Lorn

Milkmaid'. The book is set in the 19th Century in the countryside and

so it is a rural setting. These times seem to have different

circumstances with things such as insistence of attending church on

Sundays. It appeared as a lonely morning in the milk shed where the

'lorn' milkmaid was milking the cows. There are many other milkers

present but it seems she is 'lorn' as she is isolated from them for

some reason. Later we learn this is because she has had a child out of

wedlock. We see it apparent that this milkmaid has had a relationship

with a known 'Farmer Lodge' (as their names were defined by

occupation) with a higher status due to his name. These two have

obviously parted at some point.

So we have a poor hard working milkmaid who has now come to find that

in her beloved history with 'Master Lodge' she has been replaced by a

new woman in his life who is apparently perfect according to her son.

She then curiously sends her son in to spy on the newly married

couple. After her son's reconnaissance mission and his reporting back

'Rhoda' manages to picture 'Gertrude' and has a dream.

The supernatural is an important theme in this book and this dream

seemed to conjure thought within the class. It was as if everyone saw

it as something more than a book, and before I knew it words like

'supernatural' and 'witchcraft' were flying around the class.

The dream represents Rhoda having perhaps supernatural powers through

her dream and the intensity of Gertrude, the new wife. It appears that

Rhoda sees a decrepit, undesirable vision of 'Gertrude' and grips her

arm and throws her, she claims it was more than a dream and at the

same time, two in the morning, Gertrude wakes up with discomfort in

her arm. She has previously been accused of such 'Supernatural'

doings. It turns out the village people had all ready began suspecting