Compare the portrayal of men and women in Turned and in Tony Kytes, the arch -deceiver :: Charlotte Perkins Gilman Thomas Hardy

‘Turned’ by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and ‘Tony kytes, the arch-deceiver’ by Thomas Hardy, are both short stories. They are about the relationships between men and women. ‘Turned’ is a more severe story. It is about a man called Mr Marroner going abroad for work, and his wife finding out that Mr Marroner had slept with their servant Gerta. Gerta then becomes pregnant and, consequently Mrs Marroner tells Gerta to leave. However, Mrs Marroner soon realises that it was Mr Marroner’s fault, and therefore Mrs Marroner and Gerta leave before Mr Marroner returns home. ‘Tony Kytes, the arch deceiver’ is a more light-hearted story. Tony is a man that likes a lot of women, and there are a lot of women that like Tony. Tony is supposed to be engaged to a young women named Milly, however on a journey home from town he meets two other girls. Both are previous girlfriends and they start flirting with him. Tony ends up with two girls hiding in the back of his wagon and one sitting beside him. He gets in a bit of a muddle. However he ends marrying Milly. This story is about a man who is unsure about how he feels towards his fiancà ©. Mrs. Marroner from ‘turned’ was a well educated, high society woman. She lived in Boston, an upper-class suburb, had a Ph.D. and once lectured at university. A woman being highly educated was very rare for the early 20th century. Because of her suburban upbringing and education she was a confident, free thinking and independent women who relied on no one. She was the more dominant person in her marriage. We know that she has interesting life as the author says ‘her well-filled, well-balanced mind, her many interests.’ This proves that she has an interesting life and has many interests. Mrs Marroner’s feelings for Gerta change a lot throughout the story. When she first found out that Gerta was pregnant, she was devastated, very emotional. She could not believe that something like this could happen because Gerta was almost like a daughter to Mrs Marroner. When Mrs Marroner had thought about what had happened her feelings for Gerta changed again, she re alised that it was Mr Marroners fault. She then decided to forgive Gerta. Many women would put up with a bad husband rather than have no husband, however, Mrs Marroner isn’t like this. She leaves her husband to take care of Gerta.