The Kingdom of the West Saxons (Wessex) and Dorset has a very strong sense of history, which Hardy illustrates in "The Withered Arm" and "The Three Strangers", due to a history extending back to the pagan times. Parts of "The Withered Arm" draw on the ancient superstitions of the country people of these times - Rhoda and Gertrude go to visit a Conjuror to find a cure for Gertrude's diseased arm. This also highlights the beliefs that are prevalent beneath an ostensibly modern society. Hardy constantly reminds us of the ancient history of Wessex - in "The Withered Arm", Gertrude and Rhoda go to visit Conjour Trendle and pass over a heath "not improbably the same heath which had witnessed the agony of the Wessex King Ina, presented to after-ages as Lear." This has the effect of the characters being

The way the second stranger is dressed makes us feel that he is more important than the first character. "He wore a suit of cinder gray shade, large heavy seals." He also had a face "that was not without power."

'Not quite that - further up the country.'

The ancient dialect also gives the reader an idea of the history of the place. Hardy uses idiosyncrams and archaisms to define characters and gives us a realistic example of the type of speech that characters would have used. In "The Withered Arm", Conjuror Trendle is said to be a dealer in furze (turf)". In "The Three Strangers" different words are used to describe the vegetation of the landscape "the long, grassy and furzy downs, coombs, or ewe-leases, as they are called according to their kind." Couths and colds are described as "wuzzes and flames". Hardy gives us this dialect that the inhabitants use to directly link the characters to the land in which they were born. Hardy also uses old saxon words to give us a sense of history "the erection of these forlorn dwellings."

"The Three Strangers" has a comparison between the isolation outside the cottage where the christening was held, to the inside of the lonely cottage. "For that cheerful rustic was entertaining a large party in glorification of the christening of his second girl."

The community defines its character externally. In "The Three Strangers", people are named according to their jobs. All the 19 guests at the Christening have a clearly defined social status. "Charley Jake the hedge-carptener, Elijah New the Parish Clerk and John Pitcher, a neighboring dairyman, the shepherd's father in law". People are reliant on each other's good opinion "absolute confidence each other's good opinion beget perfect ease".

Conjuror Trendle is also feared in the community, as he does not fit the social mould, the norm, which is considered acceptable. The community does not even acknowledge what he does as a job. "He did not profess his remedial practices openly, or care anything about their continuance." People strive to fit in and those who don't are feared. The community also show great interest in the arrival of Gertrude in church - she is judged on her outside appearance only, as clothes were meant to signify a person's situation in life." All eyes were fixed upon her...the atmosphere was full of the subject (Rhoda's troubled affair with Mr. Lodge) during the first days of Mrs. Lodge's arrival."

Hardy personifies the landscape, which makes it seem like another character. In "The Withered Arm", Rhoda's house is described as being "built of mud-walls, the surface of which had been washed by many rains into

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Approximate Word count = 1779
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)