Compare the ways Hardy and Woolf present the behaviour of male
characters towards women – with reference to relevant contextual factors
Woolf and Hardy both have male characters behave in a predatory manner towards woman. Woolf,
for instance, creates the character of Hugh to be oppressive to women. In the novel, Hugh forcibly
kisses Sally ‘to punish her for saying that women should have votes.’ At the time of the kiss, it
would’ve been the 1890s, women had no vote and the idea of women’s suffrage was absurd to men,
but still Hugh felt the need, as a man, to assert his dominance over her by raping her mouth. This is
what Woolf strongly opposed; in her diaries she expressed her distain to ‘any domination of one
over another; any leadership, any imposition of the will’. Hugh is abusing his advantage in the
patriarchy over Sally, thus violating her.
Hugh wasn’t the first to exercise his dominance over a woman, Hardy, with the character of Alec, did
the same. This is shown through his overbearing stature, and manipulative actions towards women.
An example of this being that Alec ‘insisted’ that Tess let him feed her a strawberry to which Tess ‘in
a slight distress’ hesitantly accepted. This tells the reader that Alec is very forceful and makes Tess
uncomfortable and uneasy. Though this instance may not be seen as barbaric, Alec’s manipulative
nature resurfaces later in the novel when Alec essentially rapes Tess. The consequence of this act of
cruelty highlights how uncivilised Alec is as he is unable to see his wrongdoing and feels no shame
for his actions. Similarly, Hardy presents the character of Alec as predatory by showing his assertion
of male dominance over Tess in her workplace at Flintcomb-Ash: ‘this concession had been granted
in obedience to the request of that friend, or enemy.’ This, not only, shows Alec abusing his
influence to get his ‘concession’, but it also shows the impact of Alec’s actions on Tess as she views
him as an ‘enemy’. This apparent hatred or fear of Alec goes to show his villainy in Tess’s mind.
Therefore, both Woolf and Hardy present characters that are predatory.
Alec condemns women and sees men as protectors for women. Hardy expresses this when Alec ‘told
the farmer that he has no right to employ women at steam-threshing. It is not proper work for
them.’ Alec distances himself from women by just saying ‘them’, in a way that demeans women and
it could inform the idea that Alec, as a man, views himself as being above women in status. This
implies, also that doesn’t believe women to be capable of physical strength, as much as a man. Alec
looks down to women as people that need protection. Woolf juxtaposes this through Richard whose
character is much more receptive to women. Richard once stated that Clarissa wanted support; ‘not
that she was weak, but she wanted support.’ Whilst Woolf believes that Clarissa wants support, she
makes it explicitly clear that the want for support doesn’t make a woman less capable in strength or
otherwise. Richard defends women’s strength rather than condemn them to a domestic sphere, like
Alec would. Richard listened to Clarissa in that he respected her ‘a little licence, a little
independence’ in a marriage that ‘Richard gave her, and she him.’
Woolf and Hardy both have characters that are predatory and seek to control and condemn women
to their supposed ‘proper work’, however Woolf also has characters that show a genuine respect to
women, an example being Richard. Hardy’s presentation of male behaviours in association with
women is majorly negative whereas in Woolf’s writing there is a balance of both oppressive and
respectful male characteristics.
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