The Ruined Maid
Thomas Hardy (1840-1920)
Overview
This poem is ahead of its time and presents quite an empowering message about the way women are judged.
Two old acquaintances, who knew each other from earlier days on a farm, have a chance meeting in town. The first speaker is amazed by the changed that has taken place with the other, who is now richly attired and speaking in an elegant manner. This transformation has happened as a result of her becoming a mistress, the bit on the side for a well to do chap, and as such society looks down on her and regards her as a ‘ruined’ lady.
She doesn’t seem to be doing too badly from the decision though.
Context
Thomas Hardy was an English poet and novelist. You’ve almost certainly heard of one of his novels, such as Jude the Obscure, Tess of the D’Urbervilles or Far From the Madding Crowd, but he is also considered one of the greatest poets of his time and his work inspired many other big names: Robert Frost, Dylan Thomas and Philip Larkin.
This poem is a little unusual as it came from the beginning of his career in 1866, before he’d had any of his novels published and 32 years before he would publish his first collection of poems.
Even at this tender age of 26, his work showed a clear focus on societal issues. Here he criticises the hypocritical societal values of the day, where women were condemned for engaging in sexual relationships outside of wedlock, while men were almost expected to do it.
“O ‘Melia, my dear, this does everything crown!
Who could have supposed I should meet you in Town?
And whence such fair garments, such prosperi-ty?” —
“O didn’t you know I’d been ruined?” said she.
— “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!” —
“Yes: that’s how we dress when we’re ruined,” said she.
— “At home in the barton you said thee’ and thou,’
And thik oon,’ and theäs oon,’ and t’other’; but now
Your talking quite fits ‘ee for high compa-ny!” —
“Some polish is gained with one’s ruin,” said she.
— “Your hands were like paws then, your face blue and bleak
But now I’m bewitched by your delicate cheek,
And your little gloves fit as on any la-dy!” —
“We never do work when we’re ruined,” said she.
— “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!” —
“True. One’s pretty lively when ruined,” said she.
— “I wish I had feathers, a fine sweeping gown,
And a delicate face, and could strut about Town!” —
“My dear — a raw country girl, such as you be,
Cannot quite expect that. You ain’t ruined,” said she.
Mini Glossary
barton – small farm
spudding up docks – weeding
megrims – depression
Themes
The big thing here is the focus on gender roles and class. Hardy presents us with a direct comparison between the life of a girl who has played by the rules and one who has defied societal expectations. Though Amelia is considered to be tainted or ‘ruined’ by society, she has improved her lot by becoming a mistress, while the other speaker is stuck in poverty with her reputation in tact.
Content
The poem is a dialogue between two old friends with a shared origin of working as farm labourers. Hardy does this in order to provide a direct comparison between the impact of their life choices.
The opening speaker represents the desired societal values placed upon women. Whereas Amelia represents those who have fell into wicked sin and promiscuity – naughty, naughty. However, we see immediately that the first speaker recognises that her old chum is now better dressed than her and in subsequent stanzas we see this is not just a nice outfit, but also accessories, jewellery and some snazzy gloves. It’s not just what she’s wearing, but her speech is now more refined and she seems happy.
All this is contrasted with the first speaker’s description of her (and Amelia’s former life), which is depicted in terms of ragged clothes, hard labour and misery.
This transformation of Amelia is breezily explained to be a result of her becoming ‘ruined’. The word implies spoiled, never to be suitable again and relates to the idea of non-chaste women being seen as being unfit to be wives and being ostracised by society as a result of their loose morals. However, Hardy has Amelia wear this as a badge of honour and even looks down upon her former friend in the final stanza.
Language and Techniques
Let’s start with the title. Hardy uses an oxymoron here as the word ‘ruined’ conveys a sense that Amelia is no longer fit for any society and an outcast, but conversely ‘maid’ conveys notions of youth, innocence and chastity. Losing one’s virginity would normally disqualify someone’s claim to be a maid, but here Hardy challenges the reader and the audience of his time with the idea that a girl/woman who has engaged in sexual relations outside of marriage is still worthy and should not be condemned by society. This societal shunning and attitude was applied equally to those becoming mistresses and those being forced to sell their bodies as prostitutes. The other thing the title does is it centres the readers’ focus on Amelia as opposed to the first speaker.
Moving into the poem, we have a juxtaposition of a semantic field of finery related to Amelia’s new condition with the imagery of her previous poverty. The first depiction of her improved condition is presented by Hardy with the anaphora of ‘such fair garments, such prosper-ity’, which serves to emphasise just how radical a change this has been, so much that the first speaker can barely believe it. Note that ‘fair’ here holds the Victorian meaning of fine or beautiful rather than the modern sense of being okay or average.
This semantic field continues with ‘gay bracelets and bright feathers three’, ‘little gloves’ and ‘a fine sweeping gown,/And a delicate face’ fully establishing the dramatic and positive transformation of Amelia from impoverished peasant girl to someone who has risen in the world.
Hardy’s juxtaposition of this and her former life is stark. She was in ‘tatters, without shoes and socks’ shows this is not just about being more refined, but previously she was barely able to survive, not even being able to provide the basics for herself. We see this also in the imagery of her ‘blue and bleak face’, which creates this image of her unable to find warmth or to feed herself sufficiently. Even more than this though, there is an absolute lack of dignity and Hardy shows this through the zoomorphic simile suggesting her ‘hands were like paws’ implying she was little more than a beast of burden, an animal rather than being regarded or living with human dignity.
So, while the poem is nominally focused on the ‘ruined maid’, Hardy actually takes a broadside at society for the existence of such of such poverty amongst the working class who are barely able to survive. This also is a way of attacking the notion that women should be condemned for turning to prostitution or being mistresses, as this is a very sensible way to survive or to better their circumstances.
Hardy further shows this ideas of dismissing the societal stigma towards women forced to make these decisions through the use of the repetition of ‘ruined’ at the end of each stanza from Amelia’s lips. Rather than being ashamed and trying to hide the source of her improved conditions, Amelia presents it in a blase manner ‘didn’t you know I was ruined?’ In the following stanzas, Hardy presents a matter of fact association between being ruined and dressing well, not having to work and living a more lively life. There is no sense of shame and Hardy wants to get across to the reader that women in this position are making sensible decisions.
Consider that Amelia’s improved condition is a result of her being a kept woman. There is no suggestion of marriage as this would remove any sense of stigma, so this is an extramarital relationship from some better off man. However, Hardy mirrors society in ignoring the role of the man in this situation as men were allowed and almost expected to cavorted outside of their marriage, while women were condemned for being cavorted with. By not mentioning the man at all in this poem, Hardy draws attention to the hypocrisy as we no he must exist and yet there is no condemnation for his immoral act, while for Amelia she has taken a sensible decision to improve her lot in life from abject misery to prosperity.
In the final stanza, Hardy has the first speaker ‘wish’ she could lead the life of Amelia and this sums up the message of the poem. Would you rather be poor, but pure or better off, but sullied. An easy answer for Hardy.
Structure
This is a what’s called a dialogue poem where Hardy uses the two different speakers to represent two different perspectives on an issue. In this case, the morality of women. On the one hand, we have the first speaker who represents what society expects of women and the conditions of her life can be directly seen in her depiction of Amelia’s former poverty. Hardy uses this as a device for critiquing society’s imposed morality on women as it is simply a means of keeping them down in the dirt and they gain nothing from being pure and chaste.
On the other hand, Hardy shows that ‘ruined’ women are not immoral monsters, but rather they are pragmatic and looking after their interests in the best possible way they can.
The regularity of this poem, with the six quatrain stanzas, featuring two rhyming couples, helps reflect the calm and steady nature of Amelia’s position. There is no shame, high emotion or struggle that we might have seen in a poem about her former abject poverty.
We also see this sense of calm and control through the structure within the stanzas. The first speaker poses questions, while Amelia has the answers. These answers are direct and matter of fact, suggesting she is both comfortable that she has made the right decision and in control of her life.
Tone
The nature of the poetic form is that we have two distinct tones. As mentioned above, we have the questioning and sense of amazement from the first speaker who simply cannot believe the transformation. This is then contrasted with Amelia’s calm, measured answers that show she has made the right choice, regardless of society’s condemnation.
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