The Ruined Maid Essay

Casey Gonzalez
Professor Paul Niemeyer
English 2323
April 18, 2011
A life without Worries
In “The Ruined Maid” a poem by Thomas Hardy, one may first portray it to be about two women who are contrasting and discussing Melia’s past and now ruined life. In the poem Thomas hardy examines the life of two women, one poor and one rich, debating which women’s life is harder. In the poem Hardy exemplifies melodramatic dialogue between two women revealing the insecurities and ethics of women in the Victorian Era. Moreover the poem satirizes how a prostitute, a woman who may have a ruined life but is still happy, is viewed by the Victorians.
In “The Ruined Maid” the reader has to read between the lines and look at the era the poem was written
to really understand what Hardy was trying to say. How was sexuality and women viewed during the Victorian Era? During this era being a woman was just an ornament to the household, raised to take care of the children and cater to their husbands when needed. If woman would dare to have sexual intercourse with a man that wasn’t her husband she would automatically be considered impure or “ruined.” However, what would happen if a woman would become “ruined” by force some crucial reason? What is there left to do when a woman has no help from anyone and is considered to be unworthy? Being a prostitute or selling your body was the last choice a woman had to continue with life.
Thomas Hardy starts of the poem with Melias character, who was a meager woman working on the field, but who now is “ruined” by selling her body. By being “ruined” she is now rich and dresses like the women of higher society but no matter how rich she is Melia is now considered unmarriageable or dirty. A woman who was considered “ruined” was a fallen woman who had left with a man and had sexual intercourse and a child with them without being married. Since she was now unclean the only choice she had was to sell her body to other men. The Victorian Era was full of men wanting pure woman as their wife and Melia being unworthy was shameful in the eyes of everyone and unwanted by men. Being a prostitute was the only way of her to get money and have a good life.
Furthermore, the poem starts of with a dramatic dialogue between two women who surprisingly run into each other while being in town.
“Who could have supposed I should meet you in Town? / And whence such fair garments, such prosperi-ty’” (Hardy, 2-3). In this line one can read how the other woman Melia runs into is stunted by Melia’s appearance in town. Hardy portrays by the conversation how the woman is surprised by seeing Melia dressed so sophisticated and how much she had changed since the last time she had spoken with her. On the other hand, Melia openly responds,” O didn’t you know I’d been ruined’ “(Hardy, 4)? As the reader reads he/she can tell that the scene Hardy depicts in this stanza is one where this woman, who is a prostitute, was not ashamed of being a “ruined” woman and does not care to be seen in public. Melia had no problem explaining to her how being “ruined” brought her richness and the woman she had become
now.
Yet, as the one keeps on reading the poem he/she can get the mood of hypocrisy when the woman runs into Melia. By seeing Melia dressed with such fine garments and knowing that she became rich without a husband she must have known that she had become a “ruined” woman (Johnson). Although many other readers get the mood of purity, the other underprivileged woman probably was not aware of Melias bad luck and was simply surprised of her change.
Moreover, Hardy reveals by the unnamed woman how the last time she saw Melia she was a meager farm girl who could barely carry herself and who wear dirty rags. “You left us in tatters, without shoes or sock/ Now you’ve gat gay bracelets and bright feather three” (Hardy, 5, 7). Now Melia was dressed with rich clothes and the girl who lacked socks now was covered with fine jewelry. Melia confirms how she had to leave the uniform of the dirty poor farm girl and now wear the uniform of the “ruined” woman she had become. Which is ironic because selling one’s body was not seen a job in the eyes of anyone. Melia boldly responds to the woman by saying, “Yes that’s how we dress when we’re ruined” (Hardy,8). The woman Melia was now had no shame in saying what she did for a living and was not scared of anyone knowing she was a prostitute. Being dressed the way she was meant she got paid very well and also portrayed how dressing sophisticated attracted the men wanting her service, it was the “uniform” of her job (Guz).
Furthermore in the poem as one keeps on reading, stanza three reveals how not only has Melia changed the way she dresses but even the way she speaks now was different. Melia carried herself with higher class. “At home in the barton you said “thee” and “thou”…but now your talking quite fits ‘eer for high compa-ny” (Hardy, 9, 11). When Melia was poor she would speak with an accent and when the unnamed woman is saying all this to Melia it’s as if she is making fun of her and how she was. “Some polish is gained with one 's ruin," Melia responds (Hardy 12). The whole conversation is very ironic because being “ruined” made her become a classy high society woman but all this was gained through the loss of her morals and dignity (Guz). Which being considered high society meant you had ethics and was a respectfully married woman.
Selling her body or being a “ruined” woman meant Melia had no care or worries in life. She lived life getting rich and pleasured by rich men. She was happy and not afraid of show her misfortune had brought her to a great life. "Your hands were like paws then, you face blue and bleak/ But now I 'm bewitched by your delicate cheek,/ And your little gloves fit as on any la-dy!" ( Hardy 13-15). In lines 17-19 Hardy tells the reader how before Melia would complain of how unhappy she was being poor and how hard the labor was, but her in her new life she didn’t have to do any of that. "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!" (Hardy 17-19). Although what she did as a profession seemed to many as shameful and unmoral Melia enjoyed every minute of it and should no remorse of it, for she “[lived] pretty lively” (Hardy 20).
Astonished by Melias new rich life and behavior, and possibly unaware of her new job, the unnamed woman innocently wishes she could live the life that Melia had.
She wants to be covered in jewelry and dress in expensive garments and be able to walk around town as a rich woman (Guz). "My dear - raw country girl, such as you be, / Cannot quite expect that. You ain 't ruined," Melia tells her (Hardy 23-24). In this stanza the reader can see how even although Melia loves her new life of richness, she does not wish it to anyone else, no matter how good her life maybe. Also one can tell that she is speaking to the farm girl that way she did when she was poor by using “ain’t” showing how she has not forgotten where she came from and want to communicate better the other woman. Perhaps even though she is rich and has everything she is still isolated from the “society” she now belongs to, the high society. Even though she became rich to many other people she is still the worthless farm girl she was
before.
In the poem Hardy never explains how Melia became a “ruined” woman, but one can assume the many reasons. For instance, one can conclude that maybe she was raped by a man and forced to sell her body. Or maybe she fell in love with a man who left her and no longer was pure so no other man wanted her. There could be many reasons to Melia’s new life. Many of readers could assume that it was Melia’s fault she became “ruined” by attracting men as if being beautiful was a sin (Johnson).
Being a soiled or “ruined” woman may have had its pros and cons to Melias’s life. Although she lived the life of a rich woman that she always wanted, she had to pay a high price for it. Losing her dignity and pureness brought her to be excluded from everything the rest of society. She might have had everything but she was alone and would never be able to find a decent husband or have a family because no man would ever want a family with a prostitute. Moreover, it’s safe to say that behind the rich life of fancy clothing and eloquent speaking there was a lonely girl who was ashamed of who she had become (Guz). She had no other choice but to brag about her rich life and accept it because all she could be was a prostitute. In this poem Thomas Hardy may have first brought up the discussion about society being feminist. Being an independent woman was not acceptable to many Victorian men because women were only useful to satisfy the husband, and being a prostitute made it even worse.

Work Cited
Guz, Savannah S.“Understanding Thomas Hardy’s The Ruined Maid: Victorian Women’s
Economic Realities and Class Conventions.” suite101.com. N.p. 9 Feb. 2009. Web. 4
Nov. 2010.

Johnson, Frank. “The Ruined Maid poem by Thomas Hardy.” Article Directory. Article Directory, 21 Apr. 2010. Web. 4 Nov. 2010.

Hardy, Thomas. “The Ruined Maid.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature: 8th ed.Vol. F. New York: Norton, 2006. 1872. Print