Mrs Marroner Leaving Her Husband With Gerta example essay topic

This essay is aimed at discussing the differences between the two short stories, called The Withered Arm and Turned. These stories have similar plots and both deliver and contrast these in their very own clever ways. They are both based on the idea of triangular relationships, involving two women and a man. In the story Turned there is a couple named Mr and Mrs Marroner, and their employed young and beautiful Swedish maid who goes by the name of Gerta. In the Withered Arm the relationship is between a lady called Rhoda Brook and a farmer called Farmer Lodge and his wife who is called Gertrude.

This essay will discuss the similarities and differences between the two stories and their characters, I will also discuss the language used, and the way the same image is effectively conveyed in the two stories. The author of the first story Turned is Charlotte Perkins Gilman who was from a poor background and was born in Connecticut, USA, in 1860. The first story she wrote was called The Yellow Wallpaper which she wrote in 1892. She then went on to write her best-known book, which was called Women and Economics. The author of The Withered Arm was called Thomas Hardy who lived from 1840 to 1928.

During his life he wrote fifteen novels including one, which went unpublished. He loved poetry and wrote thousands of poems in his lifetime. He also published four volumes of short stories, which is where the story The Withered Arm is from. He was born into a rich family in Wessex, which is why he loves the area so much and why he based many of his stories there, and many of his characters on some people from his life. In fact Rhoda Brook in this story was based on one of his many partners! The basic plot / storyline to Turned is that a married couple (Mr and Mrs Marroner) decide to take on a young Swedish home help called Gerta.

The couple became very attached to Gerta and she becomes a dear and trusted friend. However she and Mr Marroner have an affair behind Mrs Marroners back and Gerta becomes pregnant. While Mr Marroner is away on business he sends a letter to Gerta and to his wife but he accidentally gets the envelopes mixed up and Mrs Marroner finds out. However she believes that Gerta was taken advantage of and she and Gerta both leave the house and Mr Marroner.

The basic plot / storyline to the Withered arm was that a lady called Rhoda Brook was partners with Farmer Lodge and they had a child together which Farmer Lodge just left Rhoda to bring up on her own. Later Farmer Lodge was wed to Mrs Lodge. Rhoda Brook was jealous because Farmer Lodges new wife was young and attractive more so than her and was also angry because Farmer Lodge was not interested in the son that they had had together. Rhoda had a dream that Gertrude Lodge (Mrs Lodge) came to her house and that she had thrown her to the ground by her arm and had permanently left finger marks in her arm. Later she became good friends with Gertrude and found out that what Rhoda dreamt was actually true. When Gertrude found out who cursed her by a wizard she was shocked and her friendship with Rhoda Brook began to seriously deteriorate and the story continues with Gertrude lodges quest to heal her arm.

In both of these stories it has been a younger woman who has changed the situation. In Turned the young Swede Gerta changed the situation in the way that she was the one that had an affair with Mr Marroner and she got pregnant. This caused Mr Marroners relationship with his wife to deteriorate and eventually to Gerta and Mrs Marroner leaving together and starting a new life with the baby somewhere else. In this story the young person in the storyline has come in and changed the situation by the way that the two women who in those days had done the unthinkable and left the man (Mr Marroner) on his own without any of his previous two partners or his son. It says that Gerta was like a tall rosy cheeked, baby with gold hair and blue eyes. This shows that Gerta was a young and attractive Swedish girl which Mr Marroner took advantage of her just to get what he wanted.

Again in the Withered Arm it was the younger person (Gertrude Lodge) who changed the relationship situation and added the twist in the storyline. It started as Rhoda Brook being in love with Farmer Lodge who we presume was in love with Rhoda Brook too until one day when Rhoda found out that she was to have Farmer Lodges child when Farmer Lodge decided to desert her. When Farmer Lodge moved into the town with his new wife Gertrude Lodge, Rhoda was jealous as Gertrude had hair of a lightish tint and her face as commonly as a live dolls. When Rhoda dreamt that she had cursed Gertrude she thought nothing of it, until the pair became really good friends and found out that this event did actually take place when Gertrude revealed her arm to Rhoda. The story continues with Gertrude quest to heal her arm. She found out Rhoda Brook had cursed her and allowed their relationship to deteriorate.

It eventually turned out that her only chance of healing came from Rhoda Brooks son. It is clear that at first it is the woman outside of the relationship, which changed the situation and forced their way into the relationship. Gerta in Turned forced out Mrs Marroner and had Mr Marroners baby but in the end Gerta left Mr Marroner on his own, and she and Mrs Marroner moved away. In the Withered Arm it was the young Gertrude Lodge who changed the situation of the relationship by her going through the trouble to get her arm heeled and finding out that Rhoda had cursed her. Then the friendship between her and Rhoda deteriorated. This situation change also makes the twist at the end where her arms heeling depends on Rhodas sons hanging.

(The boy who she previously admired and helped out!) It should also be brought to attention that in both of these stories it was the woman outside of the relationship who produced the baby when the woman inside of the relationship was the one trying to conceive. Gertrude Lodge had brought him no child when Rhoda Brook had already given birth to his son. Mrs Marroner said, How they do come where they are not wanted and they dont come where they are wanted. Implying that Gerta had given birth to a baby, who really was not wanted, and how she and Mr Marroner were desperately trying to conceive but were unable to due to the fact of her being infertile. In both of these stories we have tales of deceit and lies between the three members of the individual triangular relationships.

In Turned the biggest lie comes from Mr Marroner deceiving his wife by cheating on her and getting the young and impressionable Swedish home help Gerta pregnant. He appreciated the full innocence, the ignorance, the grateful affection, the habitual docility, of which he took advantage. When he made the suicidal mistake of mixing the letters and sending Gerta letter to his wife, and his wifes letter to Gerta. In his letter he had made more empty promises by lying to Gerta that he will look after and take care of her, but he was subtle trying to get Gerta to leave Mrs Marroner and bring up their child on her own, so that there would be absolutely no chance of his wife finding out. He just promised to send her money for the babys upkeep but he really was deceiving her. That letter, that wretched, cold, carefully guarded, unsigned letter, that bill far safer than a cheque these did not speak of affection.

The same sort of thing happened in the Withered Arm. This story also contained many deceiving lies. Farmer Lodge didnt say anything to his new wife about his past relationship with Rhoda Brook and he also forgot to mention to his wife that she has had his child and is his wifes step son. When Gertrude and Rhoda became good friends Rhoda didnt tell her about the dream even when Gertrude expressed her concerns for her withered arm.

Gertrude didnt tell her husband when she went off to visit Trendle about her arm. When she found out that Rhoda had cursed her she still said nothing to her husband, even when she went off to try and heal her arm. She dared not tell him. Then her husband Farmer Lodge used the same going away on business excuse when he went with Rhoda to collect their dead sons body. So here again the two stories are very similar, this time in the way of the use of deceit and lies. In the two stories there have been many decisions in which the outcome of the story has changed.

In Turned Mr Marroners original decision to have an affair is the basis of the plot where his little accident of getting the letters mixed up happens and he loses out on Gerta, his wife, and his new-born child! His decision to take advantage of the young and impressionable Gerta was a decision for which he had to face some serious consequences. Mrs Marroners decision to leave Mr Marroner with Gerta was very brave, as it was unheard of in those days for a woman to leave her husband. Plus she would also have to support herself and the baby financially, which would be hard to earn money and bring up a baby. She rose and walked, her head held high. This is a sin of man against woman, she said.

This shows how Mrs Marroner still left with her pride intact. She later left her husband a letter, which read: I have gone, I will care for Gerta, goodbye In the Withered Arm, Rhodas decision never to see Gertrude again was taken away from her when Gertrude paid them a visit to bring her son a new pair of shoes, as she saw him in the market place and felt sorry for the boy with an old ruined pair of shoes on his feet In her basket, Mrs Lodge brought the pair of boots that she had promised to the boy, and other useful articles. This shows that Mrs Lodge liked to help out the poor with her wealth. It was because of this that she became a friend with Rhoda. When Gertrude decided to visit Conjurer Trendle it resulted in the breakdown in her relationship with Rhoda Brook as she found out that it was Rhoda who cursed her. The second time she goes to visit Trendle she finds out that she must touch the neck of a freshly hanged person to turn her blood and heel her arm.

She later goes to the hanging and sees her husband with Rhoda Brook there and it turns out that the person whose neck she had to touch was Rhodas son! Rhoda also decided not to touch any of Farmer Lodges money. Absolutely refusing, however to have anything to do with the provision that was made for her. I feel she did this for her pride, as he was never interested in their son in life so why should he be interested in him in death Although in the two stories the storylines are rather similar its weird that the settings are really different. In Turned the story is set in the urban realms of the United States. The background was wealthy as we can tell by the description of Mrs Marroners bedroom.

In her soft-carpeted, thick-curtained, richly furnished chamber. However in the Withered Arm the settings are rather different to that of Turned. It is set in the rural 19th century England in a very poor background, well at least where the main character Rhoda Brook is concerned. It says that Gertrude Lodge was bringing Rhoda and her son gifts, which is how Rhoda and Gertrude became friends. This is interesting as you would expect affairs and adultery to go on in an urban state in the States but in rural 19th century England It was unheard of for that sort of thing to happen! So it just goes to prove a point that adultery can happen in all places and has done for many years and I suppose is just one of those things in triangular relationships that will never be changed, and wont be for many years to come.

These two stories come to a close in very different ways; one ends just how it began where as the other story ended as a completely unexpected twist in the story of what you would have expected to happen. In Turned the story ends with Mrs Marroner Leaving her husband with Gerta to start up a new life with her and his baby. It shows the bravery these women had to leave their rich home and move somewhere completely new where their fortune and well-being was hanging very much in the balance. Later Mr Marroner went in search of his wife and when he found out where she lived, a woman appeared at the door with a younger attractive woman holding a baby, and the woman who used to be his wife said to him What have you to say to us In the Withered Arm the story ended with Rhoda Brook returning to her old job that she had at the start of the story which was the milking of cows, Gertrude became too old and frail and died and Farmer Lodge became a kind, caring and thoughtful man!

Gertrude died three days later in the town Her blood had been turned indeed, too far. After this Rhoda had lost her friend and her son so she decided to resume where she had started where Her monotonous milking at the dairy was resumed. Farmer Lodge on the third corner of this triangular relationship gave up his farms and became a member of the parish after he overcame his remorse and moodiness. He eventually changed for the better, and appeared as a chastened and thoughtful man To conclude this essay triangular relationships happen and always will happen for years to come and it doesnt make any difference about what century it happens in or if it is from a rich or poor background because affairs, unwanted babies and triangular relationships will always happen.