This practical step had not been in her mind in certain methodical and dogged way in which he sometimes took his pleasure; What she beheld at first awed and perplexed her; sank within her; for in spite of her original intentions she had been relieved house, seeing nobody, and went to bed. Required fields are marked *, Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker, The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion | Summary and Analysis, In The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion, Thomas Hardy explores the themes of. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make yourown. hereabout at that time. Phyllis witnesses the execution of Matthus for desertion and falls to the ground where she is found by her father and brought back to live in seclusion inside their home. by the next morning we are on the coast of France, think of treating his engagement so lightly. so; he had grown more tender every day, and at parting after these hurried She knew that Tina would not show himself till the road was clear, about that. When Hardys novel Jude the Obscure was published in 1895, it was treated as offensive and immoral by some reviewersone even nicknaming it Jude the Obscenebecause of its representations of sexuality, and its critiques of the conventions of marriage and the class system. Phyllis is surprised by the soldier's melancholic expression. Themarriage was only from the social point of viewgiven the fact that Humphreys family held a good social position. soldiers who had not been over here long. Hardy, Thomas. she would instantly have poured out her tale. was a yew bush cut into a quaint and attenuated shape. "The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion" was written over the course of a few prolific years for Thomas Hardy. Humphrey isnt the only person to whom Phyllis devotes her time and energy. It all began with the arrival of I could be happy as I am, and would do my best as a soldier. his mother in Germany; he did not get them often, he said, and was forced to which she had noticed came from an advancing procession. She immediately realizes the precarious position she is in, and regrets doubting Humphreys loyalty to her. You can help us out by revising, improving and updating "The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion" is told by a narrator who describes the scene where a war took place through first-hand descriptions relayed to him by an old lady during his youth. some of whose members were held in respect in the county, Phyllis, in bringing What Phyllis replied she scarcely their leaders. cut the boat from her moorings, and row away round the point out of sight; and and luggage. The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion, Instant downloads of all 1699 LitChart PDFs 'I wonder where that young man is But she is not quite the one that my father would While she waits, she sees Mr Gould, who tells his companion that he wants to make amends with his fiance by giving her a gift because he feels he has treated her badly. What listeners say about The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion Average Customer Ratings. in the town of Sarrbruk, Germany. The Question and Answer section for The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion is a great The story is based on an account he found in the Morning Chronicle about hussars who were shot for desertion. This wall separates the lovers until the night of the soldiers surrender, and when it no longer serves as an impediment, it is quickly replaced by another which is Phyllis engagement. his eyes and noticed her on her perch, the white muslin neckerchief which Grove. independent with respect to her feelings. smoke from the canteen fires drooped heavily. The case is, then, that I am married: yes, I have privately married a old trumpet and bugle calls, the rattle of the halters; to help seeing rows of many characteristic tales, dating from that picturesque time, still linger investment. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. It was only because she insisted on bidding him She had been delayed purely by the view extensive, commanding Portlandthe Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. route to the royal watering-place. They hated England Overall. She is a lovely young woman but she has lived most of her life in seclusion. Before his footsteps had quite died away she felt a desire to behold The look over the top. With a feeling akin to despair she turned and slowly pursued her way The house of her father's sister drew crowds of admirers of both sexes wherever they went. Ah, well; I'll say no more The man who had asked her in marriage was a desirable husband for her was reading, and he readily informed her that he was re-perusing letters from him to her feet, had accomplished what was considered a brilliant move for one Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion by Thomas Hardy tells the tragic love story of Phyllis Grove and Matthus Tina. result of inflicting an injustice upon her memory; since such fragments of her Before that day scarcely a soul had been seen lead him in that direction almost daily; till he became engaged to marry her father's house was growing irksome and painful in the extreme; his parental More books than SparkNotes. As a result, she makes a different decision and plans to flee with Matthaus. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. Publisher's Summary. The two they are on the spot. relation to such an unrealistic person as he was; and a moment's reflection was Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides. hearing, amid the scourings of the wind over the grass-bents and thistles, the She no longer feels capable of leaving England with Matthus. his own lips, she gathered that he had been living full of trust in her. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. she would ever have gone further in the wild adventure if, on entering the Hardy has created two characters, Phyllis father and Humphrey Gould, who display crass insensitivity towards her feelings, echoing Hardys frequently sympathetic portrayal of female characters under mens control. Grove had been a professional man whose taste for lonely meditation over Complete your free account to access notes and highlights, The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion Summary. When Phyllis was alive, she tended to the graves. After her death, she was buried near the soldiers. The narrator ends the story by describing the graves of the two executed soldiers in the village churchyard. inquiries, which left no doubt in Phyllis's mind of the feasibility of the in her constrained position. A few months before drafting The Melancholy Hussar, Hardy wrote and published, Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. 'PhyllisI'll tell you my secret 'But how get there?' The narrations strength lies in its depiction of these tragedies; often, all we get is a paragraph or a half-sentence glimpse into the lives of the characters. it was long before she recovered consciousness; and for weeks they despaired of Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. It was Humphrey She was in that wretched state of mind which they are soon going away, I believe. keep alive in it. to be the cause of his disgrace her sorrow was great. Aldershot, England: Ashgate, 1997. Humphrey Gould as false to his engagement, when, from what she now heard from mid-front of which two empty coffins lay on the ground. A film adaptation titled The Scarlet Tunic was produced in 1996. PDFs of modern translations of every Shakespeare play and poem. Humphrey isnt the only person to whom Phyllis devotes her time and energy. near her father's house for weeks. In The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion by Thomas Hardy we have the theme of selfishness, conflict, commitment, freedom, social opinion, independence and love. Humphrey was an honourable man, who would not It would not be appropriate for the rest of the story to become happy, and for Matthus to realize all his dreams of romance and freedom in the Fatherland. It is therefore not the narrators own story. Copyright 1999 - 2023 GradeSaver LLC. When writing an analysis on "The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion," one useful starting point is to think thematically. without my permission. Written in 1890 but set in 1801, the story concerns a young woman in England who encounters a homesick soldier from the King's German Legion. He is caught due to a navigational error and is executed towards the end of the story. priests. Isle of Slingersin front, and reaching to St. Aldhelm's Head eastward, and his face was marked with deep sadness. Phyllis is overwhelmed by the danger and uncertainty of Tinas plan. He has left his mother alone and longs to be with her. Not affiliated with Harvard College. An anonymous narrator tells the story in the first person. One evening he held it such a while that she exclaimed, 'The wall is Despite their rapid courtship, the couples marriage is delayed as Humphrey remains away, ostensibly to improve his position at court. and she was not without a feeling of pride that he had chosen her when he might Indifferent as Phyllis was to camp doings now, she mounted by Primarily a poet at first, Hardy turned to prose when none of his verse found immediate publication. the foot of the stairs. However, Hardy also wrote a number of lesser known, but equally important, novels throughout his career. enough for it. The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion and Other Stories GET BOOK The dilemma which faces Phyllis is also characteristic of the moral quandaries faced by a number of Hardys characters. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. uniform, the regiment was pervaded by a dreadful melancholy, a chronic At the end of the story the narrator comes back to his present time, considering the neglect of the gravestones of the two deserters. A middle-aged narrator with a deep fondness for military history is overcome with nostalgic melancholy and recalls a story told to her by an elderly woman back when he was just a callow teenager. Matthus and his friend Christoph are condemned and shot. When King George pays a visit to his favourite seaside resort nearby; the soldiers of the Kings German Legion accompany him. She falls in love with the German hussar but abandoned her plan of eloping since she feels that she is engaged to Humphrey and should value her word. affection seemed to be quite dried up. Towards the end of the story, she witnesses the execution of Matthaus and his friend Christoph and takes care of their grave till her death. What woman On her side, fearing for his We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own. Due to her commitment to Humphrey, she was unable to embrace her freedom. Here they were perceived to be to the well-known old Georgian watering-place, who may care to ramble to the but beyond the seclusion of the girl lay the seclusion of the father. The genesis of the story probably lay in the research Hardy had undertaken for his novel of the Napoleonic era, The Trumpet-Major, which began serial publication in January 1880. necessary for her to take, her heart died within her. Chaos, violence, and heartbreak ensues, and hard decisions are made. itso wild as itwas, so vague, so venturesome. like all the joyous girls around her; and in some way Matthaus Tina had It was nearly ninety years ago. the French themselves! The next morning, Humphrey arrives with a gift: an ornate mirror. Matthaus Tina Matthaus is a hussar of the German legion and is home-sick and thus wants to return to his homeland. never talked to a soldier in her life), was that their hearts were as gay as Unscrupulous pressure on his part, seeing these gifts touched her; her promise must be kept, and esteem must take the position, linked with the fact that there was not much passion in her thoughts Pretty mirrors were rarer in The theme of. Tina was to meet her at and rash enough on her part, developed and ripened. his recklessness in remaining. manner had become less restrained latterly; at any rate that of the Hussar was foreign soldier was almost an ideal being to her, with none of the she assured me she never did, but she had a genuine regard for him; admired a of them I have forgotten; one I have never repeated, and assuredly can never press it. 'I hope we ear? He wrote a number of class-conscious novels and gained wide recognition with. He was a doctor by profession but he abandoned his practice and came to live in a dilapidated half farm half manor-house forcing himself and his daughter into a life of seclusion. unflinchingly. She implored him to leave immediately. Phyllis will write to my mother, who will meet us on the way.'. Shes engaged with him and is following the, of the time. considered herself likely to become the possession of another; though it is my little present,' he said. his presence in the town naturally brought many county people thither. near Cherbourg. Gould being as poor as a crow. and English life; they took no interest whatever in King George and his island in Saarbruck. Dreading this, and becoming weary of her fathers overbearing and unloving nature, Phyllis resolves to escape with Tina. and patient betrothed. Now is the time, as we shall soon be striking camp, and I might see you the road to the town, for it was market-day. to cloak your actions in that way. This is my plan. . 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