Poem the Ruined Maid by Thomas Hardy - Essay Example

?Thomas Hardy and Gwendolyn Brooks Thomas hardy’s poem The Ruined Maid explains the assorted reactions of two young ladies and is presented as the form o f a dialogue. Poet presented his characters as the representatives of working class people that were experiencing a continuous state of exploitation by the aristocratic power brokers. Reader can find Sadie and Maude by Gwendolyn Brooks also reveals the story of two young ladies. Sadie and Maud are sisters and poet presented them as the exponents of different attitudes. Both Hardy and Gwendolyn successfully practice some literary devises and techniques to convey their ideas to the readers. Analyzing the rhetorical elements of Hardy’s The Ruined Maid and Gwendolyn’s Sadie and Maude, reader can find the fact that both of them have practiced various rhetorical features like pathos, ethos and logos in different forms. Both Hardy and Gwendolyn Brooks depict the story of two sisters and allow the readers to capture the tragic elements of both poems. The image of ‘Fallen woman’ in Hardy’s poem The Ruined Maid permits the reader to think about the possibility of pathos in this poem. The girl who speaks first is a farm- hand and she feels surprise when she met her friend Amelia accidently and notices her changes. Amelia informs that she was ruined or fallen. Having s strong feeling of frustration, reader understands she is a prostitute. The city girl never gets that chance to find a husband and lead married life. Savannah Schroll Guz observes; “In this context, ‘ruined’ means that she has crossed the Victorian-era morality line by selling herself.” Here, Poet changes the character of Amelia as a person who breaks the existing social system. Through the character of Amelia, Hardy reveals his strong feelings or frustration towards the loss of innocence and the hypocrisy of town people. When she was a village girl, Amelia kept some respect perhaps like an animal, with rough and dirty hands. The village girl wonders; "Your hands were like paws then, your face blue and bleak/But now I'm bewitched by your delicate cheek”,(The Ruined Maid, 13-14). Through the use of various phrase like ‘bracelets and bright feathers three’, ‘delicate cheek’, and ‘strut about Town’ Poet peruses the reader to make positive attitude towards the village girl. In the fifth stanza, Hardy analyses Amelia’s life having different perceptive. Before she reached in town the girl felt unhealthy and frustration. But when she became a ruined girl she lost her unhappiness and anxieties. Now she enjoys the life as a prostitute. Poet expresses his anger and frustration about the Victorian hypocrisy and a reader can easily notice the elements of ethos in the fall of Amelia. Hardy permits the reader to think about the logical backgrounds in Amelia’s misfortune and pathetic end. Reader can understand a conscious effort from the part of the poet to blame the character of Amelia. Hardy tries to establish the fact that the influence of Victorian aristocracy misleads the people and poet find justification in Amelia’s tragic end. Hardy criticizes city life and its luxuriousness and one can notice poet’s attitude towards the character of Amelia through the following lines; “but now Your talking quite fits 'ee for high compa-ny!""Some polish is gained with one's ruin," said she”. (The Ruined Maid, 11-12). Here, one cannot escape from accepting Hardy’s sincere effort to give logical background in Amelia’s misfortune. Amelia’s transformation from innocence to guilt is visible in her words, attitude, way of speaking, and life style. Aristotle defined it logos which reveals reader’s logical reaction against a particular situation. The poem Sadie and Maude gives the chance for reader to compare the lives of two sisters Sadie and Maude Poet portrays Maude as a smarter girl who got college education. Sadie is a village girl who spent her life in the village. The irony is that if Maude is smart, educated and follows modern lifestyle; she leads a lonely and miserable life in her ending. Unlike Hardy’s The Ruined Gwendolyn Brook’s Maid ,Sadie and Maude explores the tragic end of Maude and with strong sense of feelings from the part of the poet. It is significant to notice that, Reader often fails to find the fatal flow or fault from the part of Maude’s character. Sadie stays in village and she got the opportunity to lead a comfortable married life with her husband and children. One cannot admit the fact that Maude is a person who deserves a miserable end. Poet avoids circumstances to blame Maude and one can find contrast in the nature of two sisters. The end of the poem poet says; “Maude who went to college/ Is a thin brown mouse” (Sadie and Maude, pp. 15-16). Here the phrase ‘thin brown mouse’ exposes the real tragedy and reader feels pity for the character because of her misfortune A comparative study between Hardy’s The Ruined Maid and Gwendolyn’s Saidie and Maud permits the reader to evaluate the similarities and differences in the use of some literary devices. One feels some similarities in the characterization of Amelia and Maude. Reader can comprehend the unhappy ending of both Sadie and Maude with a feeling of pity and fear. If one observes the Aristotle’s views about pathos, he or she can find some elements of pathos in both poems. The difference is that Hardy reveals the misfortune of Amelia without a strong feeling of repentance but Gwendolyn Brooks poem Sadie and Maude presents the sufferings of Maude having a strong sense of frustration and pain. Another significant fact is that reader cannot find a serious fault from the part of Maude except her to gain education. Therefore, one can say that Hardy gives enough justification or logical base for the fate of his character Amelia, but reader often fails to find justification in Maude’s pathetic end. As Derick Ariyam comments; “There is no clear source of Maud’s fault or any explanation for why she ended up with such a bleak future” (Ariyam, 2005). In case of author’s emotional status, Hardy uses his character’s misfortune as an effective way to criticize the evil of Modernization and Victorian Aristocracy. So reader can find the deference in the way which explores the misfortune of Amelia and Maude. Here, Hardy portrays Amelia’s inflictions as a part of poetic justice. We cannot find a sense of worry from the side of Hardy and in this respect, Joanna Devereux rightly comments that; “The maid of this poem, Amelia, like Tess , has been “ruined”, but unlike her Amelia has made the best of her bad luck and now struts about town in a fine gown, gloves and “bright feathers three” (Devereux, 2003, p.114). Hardy moulds his character Amelia as a person who has made the best of her bad luck and one feel difficult in finding this kind of attitudinal changes in Maude’s character. To conclude, it is evident that poems like The Ruined Maid by Thomas Hardy and Sadie and Maudeby Gwendolyn Brooks allow the reader to comprehend the use of some rhetorical features. Hardy’s poem reflects the evils of Victorian hypocrisy while Brooks poem reveals the fate of a city girl. Reader can find similarities in Amelia in The Ruined Maid and Maude in Sadie and Maude. One feels pity towards Amelia and Maude in different level. Hardy permits the reader to find justification in Amelia’s misfortune. Unlike Hardy, Brooks forces his reader to keep sympathy towards his character Maude. Hardy’s character deserves such a punishment while one cannot find mistake in Maude’s character. References Devereux, J. (2003). Patriarchy and its discontents: sexual politics in selected novels and stories of Thomas Hardy. Routledge. Guz, S.S. (2009 ). Understanding Thomas Hardy's The Ruined Maid. Suite.com. Retrieved 26 July 2011. from http://www.suite101.com/content/understanding-thomas-hardys-the-ruined-maid-a95854#ixzz1TEJAlkFs- Ariyam, D. (2005). Sadie and Maud, a Critical Analysis. Retrieved 26 July 2011. From http://www.ariyam.com/docs/SadieandMaud.html- . Read More