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

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Hardy also makes Conjuror Trendle and his powers seem credible in which his self-deprecation, in which Trendle “affected not to believe in his own powers”. I believe that this dialect reinforces the impression that the villagers are very simple and that they live in a relatively isolated area. Gertrude’s character is described and portrayed sufficiently, as is Farmer Lodge and Conjuror Trendle. She leaves Farmer Lodge’s manor for Casterbridge to witness the annual hangings and to perform what Conjuror Trendle advised her to do. For example, Hardy uses a technique called “pathetic fallacy”, in which the way the moor is described us the reader in a frame of mind to accept strange occurrences within the story.

The language and techniques that Hardy uses to make the characters and the story in general are varied, but are applied from the very outset.

The language that is used in the dream is important because the dream itself is central to the story. This diverts our attention from concentrating on the credibility of the poem and promotes us to concentrate on the storyline. Eighteen years later, Farmer Lodge then marries Gertrude, an outsider to the village to fortify his social status, along with her youth and beauty. 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. Gertrude’s dialect is mildly different to the common villagers. However, little did she know that the juvenile who was hanged was Rhoda’s son. These events make the reader focus on what is actually taking place and believe that this supernatural event is a tangible occurrence and engrosses the reader, which in turn encourages the reader to find out what happens after this spectacular and strange vision. Two years later, Farmer Lodge dies, leaving his money to Rhoda and a reformatory of boys.

Altogether, I thought that the texts that were used were believable as they were described in such detail, that I could picture certain scenes from the story while reading the text.

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

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