The withered arm - credibility

A detailed Summary of The withered arm - credibility

In this essay, I am going to explain how Thomas Hardy makes events seem credible in his short story, " The Withered Arm".

The Withered Arm was written by Thomas Hardy towards the end of the nineteenth century, but the storyline itself was set possibly sixty to eighty years previously. It was written at a time when people were still interested in spiritualism and superstition was still firmly rooted in their beliefs.

The story is set in a fictional rural town in Wessex called Holmstoke during the early nineteenth century, with a small farming community. "Farmer Lodge" is the most respected man in the village, as he owns the majority of the land within the area and is the main employer of the village. Many of the villagers who worked at Farmer Lodge's Farm were known as "Milchers", as they mainly worked within the dairy on the farm. Hardy gives the locals a common southwestern dialect to add to the credibility of the characters. "Rhoda", another main character, is a common milkmaid and is also described as a milcher and carries this typical dialect, albeit in a bittersweet persona. The local healer, known as "Conjuror Trendle" also has a local dialect, and is well respected

The moral attitudes of the villagers are relatively common, with normal interests such as men-women relationships and the usual foolishness, which frequently occurs in a community that is closely knit. This diverts our attention from concentrating on the credibility of the poem and promotes us to concentrate on the storyline. The story of The Withered Arm is that Farmer Lodge gets Rhoda pregnant in a relationship that was kept secret to the villagers. In a hasty bid to keep his social credibility, Farmer Lodge rejects Rhoda and leaves Rhoda to look after the child alone. Rhoda becomes isolated form the community and is considered to have become a "witch". Eighteen years later, Farmer Lodge then marries Gertrude, an outsider to the village to fortify his social status, along with her youth and beauty. However, when Rhoda and Gertrude share the same "dream", Gertrude's arm slowly becomes disfigured and Farmer Lodge Starts to reject her over time. Over the years, she searches for a cure for her mysterious ailment, with her desperation increasing over time. A period of six years passes by, with Gertrude's arm in an increasingly ugly condition, with Gertrude finding out about Farmer Lodges previous affair with Farmer Lodge. She visits Conjuror Trendle who suggests touching the neck of a recently hanged man to cure her arm. She leaves Farmer Lodge's manor for Casterbridge to witness the annual hangings and to perform what Conjuror Trendle advised her to do. However, little did she know that the juvenile who was hanged was Rhoda's son. Rhoda and Farmer Lodge then caught Gertrude performing the ceremony (Conjuror Trendle calls it the "turning of the blood"). Gertrude was so shocked that she fainted shortly after she was caught, and then mysteri

Some common words found in the essay are:
Hardy Rhoda, Farmer Lodge, Conjuror Trendle, Rhoda Gertrude, Farmer Lodge's, Thomas Hardy, Farm Milchers, Withered Arm, Lodge Starts, farmer lodge, Lodge Rhoda, conjuror trendle, withered arm, farmer lodge's, rhoda gertrude share, characters believable, gertrude share, nineteenth century, story withered, respected village, rhoda gertrude, story withered arm, rhoda farmer lodge,

Approximate Word count = 1178
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English