the ruined maid Flashcards
essence of the poem
Hardy satirises the idea of the ‘fallen woman’ by dramaticising a chance meeting of 2 women from the same village. One impresses by clothes, jewellery, vernacular etc. The other wants what she has but is not ruined.
Thomas Hardy
- a Victorian realist, critical of the social constraints in society
- born in 1840 and died in 1928 so he experienced life in high Victorian decorum and the awful destruction and devastation of WW1
- explores deep divisions of class and gender
- critics have described his work as a ‘bridge between Victorian attitudes and modernism’
Title
‘The Ruined Maid’
- oxymoron, maid = chaste
- pejorative adjective
- repeated throughout poem, her identity all comes back to her ruination
‘O ‘Melia, my dear, this does everything crown!’
- ‘O’ orates an emotive expression
- ‘Melia’ her name literally means better or improved
‘And whence such fair garments, such prosperi-ty?’
- hyphen creates disparity as it highlights class divide in vernacular
- 1st speaker dominates the conversation
‘O didn’t you know I’d been ruined?’ said she.
- rhetorical question
- expects it to be common knowledge, unashamed
- seems like something that happened to her, not something she took part in
‘You left us in tatters, without shoes or socks,
Tired of digging potatoes, and spudding up docks;
And now you’ve gay bracelets and bright feathers three!’
- images of poverty rife in England
- listing allows to draw comparisons of Amelias life before vs now
- suggestion of abandonment in search of a better life
- Amelia went looking to be ruined, fed up with the harshness of rural life
- feathers associated with flying away + freedom, is not restricted by ruination - it is her salvation
‘Yes: that’s how we dress when we’re ruined,’ said she’
- Amelia is haughty and curt
- ’:’ creates pause, talks down and belittles her friend
‘At home in the barton you said ‘thee’ and ‘thou’,
And “thik oon”, and “theäs oon”, and “t’other”; but now’
- barton vs town
contrast in physicalitys of life - presence of the country language makes the speaker seem more authentic and personal than the sterile responses of Amelia
‘Your talking quite fits ‘ee for high compa-ny!’-
‘Some polish is gained with one’s ruin’, said she’
- enjambment emphasises the distance with her former life
- new state of elegance
‘Your hands were like paws then, your face blue and bleak
But now I’m bewitched by your delicate cheek,
And you little gloves fit as on an la-dy!’
- sub-human status, extent of poverty and country life
- ‘bewitched’ has connotations of a spell, not genuine
- ‘delicate cheek’ and ‘little gloves’ contrast to earlier images, a restoration of her femininity
- ‘You used to call home-life a hag-ridden dream,
And you’d sigh, and you’d sock; but at present you seem
To know not of megrims or melancho-ly!’
- metaphor emphasises the difficulty of rural life, filled with witches
- shift in tone, sibilants brings bitterness to her voice and annoyance at indifference
- megrims = migraines
‘True. Ones pretty lovely when ruined,’ said she
- her ruination has brought her the opportunity to experience life at its fullest
-‘ I wish I had feathers, a fine sweeping gown,
And a delicate face, and could strut about Town!’
- elongated pause = condescending tone
- fricatives = disdain, unimpressed by Amelia’s behaviour despite praise and admiration for her improved appearance
‘My dear - a raw country girl, such as you be,
Cannot quite expect that. You ain’t ruined,’ said she.
- increase in Amelia’s speech - peak of annoyance?
- slips out of register into old, country vernacular
- ‘raw’ creates disparity, implies she is too ‘country’ to ever transform her life
