Zusammenfassung der Ressource
The ruined maid
- Big Idea
- The ruined maid
is an ironic
commentary on
the limited
opportunities
country girls had
in the nineteenth
century
- Hardy satirising
Victorian society and
moralities
specifically sex and
women
- Themes
- Passing of time
- Identity
- Women
- Prejudice
- Form
- Dramatic Dualouge
- A conversation between two
people which tells a story and
reveals things about both
characters
- The story highlights that Melia's life is
like a fairytale however in every fairytale
there is always the good and the bad
(Melia's life)
- Structure
- Line length
- The brevity of Melia's lines
compared with her friends
- Suggests an indifference or
detachment from the conversation
- Melia allowing her appearance to do
most of the talking paralleling the public
perception of prostitutes
- Ceasura
- 'My dear-'
- Breaks the expected
flow of a final couplet
- Suggests a lack of self
assurance underneath the
facade
- Language
- Dialect
- Contrast of friends dialect and
Melia's standard english
- Specifically broken
at the end by
Melia-'ain't' and 'you
be'
- A deliberate
reclamation of
her true self and
refusal to be
ashamed
- OR it could be a deliberate
mistake to emphasise her
lack of concern over her
friends opinion because
she is unaware of her
situation
- Interrogative and
excalamtive sentance
moods
- Tone of surprise
highlighting Melia's ruin
is common knowledge
- Tone of surprise
from the friend to
show her
excitement over
Melia's surface
appearances
- Could hint posible jelousy
- Repetition of 'Said she'
- Creates an emphatic tone
- Highlight Melia's consistent
lack of remorse
- Imagery
- Similie-'like paws'
- Contrasts with 'gloves'
- Highlights her
refinement and the
positive effects of
being 'ruined'
- OR could suggest elements of secracy
linking to the negative effects of
prostitution
- Contrast between
nouns and
verbs-'delicate' and
'strut'
- Suggestions that the
friend thinks Melia is
arrogant for all she has
implying that she
possibly doesn't
deserve this live
because the friend
cannot live it herself
- Tone
- Condescending-'cannot quite
expect that'
- Possible annoyance