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Analysis Of The Ruined Maid By Thomas Hardy

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“The Ruined Maid” by Thomas Hardy is a satirical poem which uses closed form and anapestic lines to emphasize the importance of complying with society’s ideals while the tone and meaning oppose conforming to society. The closed form and anapestic lines within “The Ruined Maid” follow the guidelines of their forms closely, creating a feeling of submission to rules. Hardy uses a rhyme scheme of AABB, from which he never falters. This relates to how one might behave if they follow all of the society 's ideals; never veering from the given standards. However, due to the satirical nature of this poem, one can see that Hardy does not fully agree with the restrictions that have been placed on women by society during the Victorian era. The belief of society was that women who had sex out of wedlock were ruined; although, the poem demonstrates how deviating from the values of a society can present options that would not have been available otherwise. This is evident within the tone and title of the poem. “The Ruined Maid” has a conversational tone which suggests …show more content…

‘Melia was a farm girl with little to her name, but by going against the norm, she improved her life. Each stanza of the poem compares her life to before and after her choice. One example of this in stanza four discusses the outward physical appearance of ‘Melia, “Your hands were like paws then, your face blue and bleak/ But now I’m bewitched by your delicate cheek…” However, while breaking the ideals of society may work for some people, it may not work as well for others. Hardy touches on this idea at the end of his poem saying, “My dear- a raw country girl, such as you be, / Cannot quite expect that.” Not all personality types can make the choice to ignore society like ‘Melia did, but there are other aspects of life which can be

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The word ruined sets Melia’s tone as insightful of her situation; on the other hand, the country girl’s tone is extremely naive. In lines 21-22 the country girl states, “I wish I had feathers, a fine sweeping gown,/ And a delicate face, and could strut about Town!” The author includes this line to show the naivety that Melia herself probably had before her transformation. The author is aiming to establish a contrast in the tones of the two characters in order to establish

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The society of that time had ideas and expectations on how women should behave. They were expected to be humble, pure, innocent, good wives and mothers. Furthermore, they were seen as inferior to men in almost every aspect. Feeling himself as a 'misfit ', Hardy was always in a disagreement with editors and critics, thus he had to edit his texts to conform the Victorian Society. In this way, he identified himself with the suppressed classes.

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