Sympathy in The Withered Arm

ESSAY ON THE WITHERED ARM HOW DOES HARDY ELICIT SYMPATHY FOR THE THREE MAIN CHARACTERS: RHODA, GERTRUDE AND FARMER LODGE? In the opening chapters of Withered Arm, Thomas Hardy tends to elicit sympathy for Rhoda Brook, rather than Farmer Lodge and his wife, who come into the story later. For example, even the title of chapter one suggests that Rhoda has been miserable. “A Lorn Milkmaid”. Lorn is a word that comes from forlorn, to …

…just the story but also the style of writing. The phrases and particular words Hardy uses are sufficient to gain our sympathies. And in the end, he is even able to elicit sympathy for Lodge, the person whose actions have brought about a good deal of sympathy for the other two. The way he makes things happen and links things together shows us that Hardy successfully manages to elicit sympathy for his three main characters.