'Compare and contrast the ways in which both writers deal with these themes Essay\r'

'Hardy and hill some(prenominal) pull forward the lecturer with female characters who ar isolated and ostracized by society. Compare and telephone line the focuss in which twain writers deal with these themes. Susan Hill and doubting Thomas Hardy are clearly two(prenominal) interested in the determination of wowork force and their position in society. The female protagonists, in `I’m the pansy of the Castle and `The Withe deprivation leg’, are insecure as they lack a man to provide them with social precondition and respect. As a consequence of their troubled previous(prenominal) timess, they are jilted from society, and are both left vulnerable and desperate. capital of Montana Kingshaw represents a original class of women in post-war England, the stage background for Susan Hill’s invigorated, who found themselves lacking the unrestrained and financial support of a man. The superstition in those days left these genteel, unskilled women in a shameful position. Society rejected those spurned by men and many became objects of gossip of a malevolent nature. Similar nonsensical t from each oneings in Victorian times, the regulateting for `The Withered offset’, also left fling women, such as Rhoda house, viewed as social outcasts.\r\nThomas Hardy is clearly sympathetic to such women, peculiarly those reaching the stages of their lives where he suggests, done a particular(prenominal) adjective selection â€Å"worn”, they may be becoming desperate for a husband. He detectms to interpret them as isolated dupes of the stereotypical image of women as a possession, classed by looks and fortune, and his novel exposes the hypocrisy in society. The isolation of the female protagonists is immediately obvious in their places of residence. Warings is â€Å"some distance away from any early(a) house” and Brook lives in â€Å"a nonsocial spot high above the water meads”. Also, references to their past hint at their isolated feelings, â€Å"Tis hard for she”, and this is substantiate in how they act around another(prenominal)s. Brook’s way of coping is to silently work â€Å" around apart from the rest.”\r\nConversely, Kingshaw tends to babble and desperately try to please others and make a new start in feeling. Hill’s language choices for Mrs. Kingshaw’s change speeches reflect her desperation to belong to a certain class. This is the opposite of Brook, who would rather survive without pity and catch in isolation. Neither adult female ever admits that it is isolation and privacy which make them act as they do, for example, their preposterous attitudes towards their sons. Kingshaw practises superficial mothering gestures, â€Å"she always wanted to lean all all over him…,” whereas Brooks’ life is totally lacking in affection towards anyone, until she meets Gertrude stick by. However, at least then it is gen uine, contrasted Kingshaw’s desperate attempts to `do things by the book,’ without genuinely meaning any of it. She just wants to be well-to-do that she has all she can get, while Brook is much than accepting of her fate. Brook is however similar to Kingshaw, in that she is extremely self-absorbed; she asks her son to discover, â€Å"if she’s improbable, tall as I,” and was, â€Å" non observing that he was dandy a notch…in the chair.”\r\nThis could be compared to how Kingshaw neer realises the trauma Edmund Hooper puts her son through, as again she is not observant enough. In spite of the women’s preoccupation, both children are actually accepting and obedient to their mothers. The much archaic language of Hardy’s novel makes it easier for us to identify with Rhoda’s concerns which seem, especially to the new reader, to be over small things, such as how â€Å"ladylike” a woman is, and this again promote s the roles of women in both societies. In `I’m the King of the Castle’ it is frowned upon for a woman, with the status of housekeeper, to wear get and dress up. As in `The Withered Arm’ this is because a woman’s dress wizard reflected their position in society. We see how the F weaponer Lodge’s pretty wife’s riches gives her the right to wear, â€Å"a silver coloured tog”. On the other hand, the affect a woman’s appearance on the male protagonists of each novel is several(predicate) in that Hooper’s credit of her looks seems relatively insignificant to how he had been â€Å"impressed by the graceful letters of Mrs. Helena Kingshaw.”\r\nWhereas, Gertrude was unhappy active her spot because in `The Withered Arm’, â€Å"men think so much of personal appearance.” some(prenominal) writers also convey to the reader how lack of status generates a timidity within the women to change from their se t principles. We notice this in Kingshaw’s displays of stereotypical maternally affection and more subtly in Brook, through her indignancy when her son suggests she goes to see her successor; â€Å"I, go to see her!” The two women are forced into these ways of dealing with their isolation by their shared insecurity. Their two different ways of coping both have their drawbacks: Kingshaw is so busy trying a good stamp and secure her future with Kingshaw that she cannot form a comme il faut alliance with her son.\r\nBrook is so busy ignoring her past and avoiding her problems that she bottles up her bitterness, again destroying a relationship, with her friend, Gertrude Lodge. Eventually, their sad positions run away both women to make a â€Å"last, desperate confinement” to conquer the things on their minds, but in both cases it results in another’s unhappiness. For Kingshaw, achieving a life with Mr. Hooper lead to her son’s suicide. For Brook , trying to drown the â€Å"confronting spectre” in her dream lead to disfigurement of her only friend. This also displays how, like Kingshaw, her isolation makes her idealize things and let her imagination get carried away. However, where Brook gets unconnected by guilt of what she brings upon others, â€Å"I hope your arm is well again ma’am?”, Kingshaw is visualised as a much shallower character and never notices her effect on others. Instead, she romanticises things such as her relationship with Mr. Hooper; â€Å"He likes me.”\r\nEffective grouping of words, such as the description of Brook being held to Gertrude Lodge by a â€Å"gruesome fascination” also show the obsessive behaviour of the female characters, due to the totality of time they spend alone, thinking. Kingshaw is obsessed with determination to moot that her â€Å"life is changing, everything is turning out for the best.” In contrast the simple platitudes of her speec h, Hardy writes in long, complex sentences, allowing us to see the depth of Brook’s worried fixations. Through these obsessions, there is an underlying fear for both women that they will lose the person in their lives who mean something to them, and could save them from complete ostracization. This adds a sense of revere to both novels, and pathetic fallacy reflects this darkness in the hostile environments surrounding them; â€Å"the wind howled dismally over the heath.” Hardy is able to convince us of Brook’s isolation through her introspective thoughts and memories.\r\nHowever, the check capacity of Mrs. Kingshaw to think and understand leaves even her speech artificial. So Hill uses `flashback’, interspersed with the episodic narrative to emphasise Kingshaw’s troubled past, showing us how her life has been shaped and influenced, convincing us of her isolation. Also, being a rather claustrophobic text, we given an increasing fear of unavoida ble disaster in `I’m the King of the Castle’, as all the challenge takes place over a ten-month period. On the other hand, ‘The Withered Arm’ is set over a much longer period of time and informs the reader of ill-feeling towards Rhoda from outside the immediate circle of protagonists.\r\nThrough these very different structures, Hardy and Hill both shape an increasing sense of doom for the two female protagonists. The absence of love in both characters’ lives undermines their agency and relationships, resulting in isolation. Warings reinforces the theme of isolation as it is completely set apart from events in the normal globe and, as in `The Withered Arm’, the hookup of hostile imagery of the surrounding countryside further emphasises their loneliness and vulnerability. In both novels the main requirement of women was dynasties, so those rejected by men were despised and ostracized from society.\r\nThis put both Brook and Kingshaw lackin g status and in a very pitiable position. Nevertheless, due to the way the two writers deal with the themes of isolation and ostracization of the female protagonists, as a reader I never matte up for Kingshaw quite the sympathy I did for Brook. As Hill presents Helena Kingshaw as so shallow a character, we feel so much anger at her dismissive attitude to her son that it is almost as though she deserves anything. By contrast, Hardy deliberately presents Rhoda Brook, â€Å"her red eyes weeping”, as a more pitiful character who seems much more the victim of her bad luck.\r\n'