"The Withered Arm" Reflections

When we read Thomas Hardy's The Withered Arm for class, I was struck by the stunning realism of the tale.  Hardy's style of writing was very simple, and the setting of the tale threw me off guard.  It just didn't seem Gothic enough!  These thoughts provoked this comment, which I left on the class blog:
"I thought the setting of this tale was an interesting choice. Hardy is known for setting his works in a pastoral setting, but nevertheless, a quiet farming town seems an odd choice for a Gothic story. It stands in contrast to the settings of pretty much every other story we have read up to this point. Although some have been set out in the countryside, they tend to take place in creepy mansions far from civilization. “The Withered Arm,” however, takes place in what would appear to be a somewhat close knit farming community. In addition to this, Hardy also uses simple language and very little imagery. This threw me off at first, because it seemed almost too realistic to really be considered a Gothic story. In short, while this story might not be a good example of the quintessential Gothic Tale, it does serve as a good tool to provoke consideration on where we can draw the line on what is Gothic literature and what isn’t."
After further reflection of the origins and evolution of Gothic literature, I revisited the Hardy story.  Armed with the knowledge that Victorian Gothic literature had sprung from an odd union of the Realist movement and earlier Gothic tropes, Hardy's treatment of the tale made a lot more sense.  I could see now, that the story was replete with Gothic elements - curses, guilt, death, and blame, just to name a few - that Hardy had simply transplanted to a more believable locale.  This use of Gothic elements with a realist twist is really what seems to define the genre of Victorian Gothic literature, and is part of what makes it so enthralling.  Ghosts and curses in a spooky castle are one thing, but ghosts and curses in your friendly, everyday farming village are quite another.

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