The Withered Arm: Credibility of Story and Characters In this essay, I am going to explain how Thomas Hardy makes events seem credible in his short story, “ The Withered Arm”. The Withered Arm was written by Thomas Hardy towards the end of the nineteenth century, but the storyline itself was set possibly sixty to eighty years previously. It was written at a time when people were still interested in spiritualism and superstition was still firmly …showed first 75 words of 1203 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1203 total…Rhoda is a little stereotypical as she was abandoned by Farmer Lodge and therefore has a forlorn and bitter attitude. Gertrude’s character is described and portrayed sufficiently, as is Farmer Lodge and Conjuror Trendle. I believe that Hardy wrote this story to tell us that mistakes that are left alone cannot be corrected easily, as is the case With Rhoda and Farmer Lodge, and that desperation can lead to extreme measures to obtain goals.