Thomas Hardy's "On the Western Circuit

Who is the victim in Thomas Hardy's "On the Western Circuit?"
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Who is the victim in Thomas Hardy's "On the Western Circuit?"
Literary pieces are often a simulation of real-life situations and how various societal cultures view various subjects. One of the most interesting societal topics is gender inequality, specifically the position of women in society. Women have been viewed as inferior and whose role in the family set up is to perform almost all household chores besides not having a decision-making voice. "On the Western Circuit" is an exciting short story written by Thomas Hardy. It highlights the societal position of women in matters of love, marriage, and relationship. Women are the victims in Hardy's "On the Western Circuit." Society oppresses them by giving men the most power to make decisions related to love, marriage, and relationships.
"On the Western Circuit" has a straight and easy-to-understand plot. Anna, a naïve countryside girl, is working as a maid in the house of a sympathetic mistress living in Melchester town. Anna is picked by Charles Bradford Raye, a gentleman from London, one day when he visits the western legal circuit. Unfortunately, Anna cannot write in English and her mistress, Edith Harnhan, mediates the communication between Anna and Raye by writing letter responses on her behalf. Mrs. Harnham falls in love with Raye in the process of frequently writing and replying romantic messages to him on Anna's behalf. At the same time, Anna gets pregnant from the frequent meetings with Raye. The letters were well written. Raye liked them and decided to marry Anna only to find out after formalizing the marriage that Edith, the mistress, wrote the letters and not Anna as he believed.
Women are victims of culture and the male gaze. Most societies subject women to unconscious discrimination, especially when choosing a marriage partner. When Raye first meets her, Anna is in a merry-go-round. Raye gets attracted to her despite not knowing her. He only judges her from her physical appearance (Hardy, 2020, p. 1). Although getting attracted to a person is not a crime, men mostly use sexual attraction to judge a woman's appearance. Raye looks at Anna's physical appearance prompting him to begin a lifelong relationship with her. This makes women victims because they do not have the freedom to face men who they admire as men do. Women wait for men to initiate the process.
Women have a challenging task impressing a man to maintain a long-term relationship. Men's pleasure appears to take a short time and fades away if it is not continuously impressed. This pressurizes women making them struggle to impress men and maintain the relationships initiated by men (Ferguson, 2018). In the short story "On the Western Circuit," Anna goes through hard challenges maintaining her ties with Raye. First, she cannot write, but she would not give up. Instead, she uses her boss to mediate the communication between her and Raye. Anna never believes when she receives the first letter. Excitement mixed with disappointments and the fear of losing Raye for her illiteracy makes her cry when she faces her mistress about the letter. Ultimately, Anna asks...