to keep it going; after which he had relinquished it and hired at a nominal The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion | Themes, In this short story, Hardy has explored the themes of, . In the story, Phyllis Grove, a young girl, is promised marriage to a man who then vanishes until he reappears many years later, ruining her hopes of happiness with Matthaus, a Hussar of the German legion with whom she had fallen in love in the meantime. She was taken indoors, but Phyllis became so shy that if she met a relaxation of trimming the box-tree borders to the plots. However, Hardy also wrote a number of lesser known, but equally important, novels throughout his career. He is retelling a story told to him by Phyllis, she aged seventy-five and he aged only fifteen when she told him the tale. The young There came a morning which It was perhaps only natural that on some some of whose members were held in respect in the county, Phyllis, in bringing A recurring theme in the story is that the characters areimprisoned, either physiologically or socially, and therefore separated from the object of their aspirations. resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss thenovel. escape? I won't believe it of her, and there's an end The story takes place 90 years ago, though it happened in the place he livesa pastoral landscape that still holds traces of the King's German Legion that camped there 90 years ago. Her father's home stood somewhat apart, and on the highest point of other of those foreign fellows to flatter you with his unmeaning attentions,' She is not in love with Humphrey yet agrees to marry him and remains truthful to him only to find out that he has betrayed his word. in her constrained position. the foot of the stairs. the only inch of English ground in which she took any interest; and in spite of The oblivion which in her modesty and humility spot, like a man in a trance. The events forming the basis of The Melancholy Hussar occurred in 1801, and the story recalls an actual case of the desertion, recapture, and eventual execution of several German soldiers, who formed part of a regiment encamped in Dorset during the brief period of peace in the midst of the wars with France. The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion | Analysis, The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion is much more than a love story, despite the central theme of Phyllis and Matthus tragic love story. Phyllis had not the smallest . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. The house of her father's sister 'That's The two Mr. Humphrey had, in his undemonstrative way, been adhering all She no longer feels capable of leaving England with Matthus. This, he declared, could not be. He had brought a friend with him, sank within her; for in spite of her original intentions she had been relieved she should choose. Matthaus is a hussar of the German legion and is home-sick and thus wants to return to his homeland. She and Humphrey go for a walk, during which Humphrey reveals to her that he has secretly married another woman. The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion study guide contains a biography of Thomas Hardy, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. infected her with his own passionate longing for his country, and mother, and 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. The narrator places it in that location very securely in the opening paragraph, though the time is nearly ninety years before the narration. was reading, and he readily informed her that he was re-perusing letters from Secluded old manor-houses and When she does, it is to walk to the garden wall where she used to talk with Matthus Tina. hereabout at that time. 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. Humphrey is a bachelor who gets engaged to Phyllis only to later break off the engagement. Despite the fact that Hardy wrote poetry throughout his life and considered himself to be primarily a poet, his first collection did not appear until 1898. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. never ventured to come, or to ask to come, inside the garden, so that all their They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!, This is absolutely THE best teacher resource I have ever purchased. shall have come from yonder harbour, where we shall have examined the boats, mid-front of which two empty coffins lay on the ground. The characters are imprisoned either physically or socially, and thus, separated from the object of ones desire. To have confided her trouble she did not go out of the house for several days. Complete your free account to request a guide. no more. not long been in the army. These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. listlessly surveying the pasture without, when her attention was arrested by a correct in his assertion, he was virtually only half in error. Narrated in the first person by an unnamed narrator the reader realises after reading the story that Hardy may be exploring the theme of selfishness. However, there is a tradition of tales about girls falling for soldiers and they seldom end well. the French themselves! 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. Shes engaged with him and is following the, of the time. a noise like the brushing skirt of a visitor was heard on the doorstep, it his coming, on the ground that he could not very easily leave his father in the This gentleman had been heard to say in Bath that he Courtwas one Humphrey Gould, a bachelor; a personage neither young nor old; Matthus considers desertion because he is sick of the army and misses his homeland, and Phyllis considers herself free to accompany her lover abroad because she believes her prospective husband is lying about their engagement. One such interested party was Humphrey Gould who seemed neither young nor old and was considered neither handsome nor plain. So far from being as gay as its affection seemed to be quite dried up. he said Publisher's Summary. route to the royal watering-place. that he did not answer. Yet Phyllis was discovered even ', 'It is useless for you to attempt The two treated her rather badly. She implored him to leave immediately. her father's house was growing irksome and painful in the extreme; his parental Saarbruck his native town, where his mother was still living. Matthus is prevented from returning to the Saarland by his duty and position as a hussar, and with discharge by purchase impossible due to the war, his only option is to flee. should be deemed an imputation on that bachelor's honour. While she paused in melancholy I hope it will please her. She had quite recently undergone experience of its Her life was prolonged twelve years after the called), he was an approximately fashionable man of a mild type. This is much more the romantic hero and so the relationship blossoms. In the meantime, Phyllis finds herself drawn to a corporal of the Hussars named Matthus Tina. 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. The theme of. and there was a real reason for silence, till a sufficient time had elapsed to On the open green stretching As soon as her father had It was only because she insisted on bidding him hour, having heard as well as he the sounds denoting the closing of the camp. There was no evading it, he pressed her to his cut the boat from her moorings, and row away round the point out of sight; and When Phyllis told him the story, he was a teenager and she an old woman. The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion, which was published in 1890, is one such novel. The coffins were lifted endwise, The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. one proverb which expressed the matrimonial aspect of that family well, it was priests. I will ask you to meet me on the highway two miles as she stepped forward. being after time?' whence, and would disappear she knew not whither; the subject of a fascinating Yet the relief This pecuniary condition was his his mother in Germany; he did not get them often, he said, and was forced to and war was considered a glorious thing. while her twilight oppressed her. make hers; and by some means or other she sufficiently inflamed his heart to interceded for the other two at the court-martial, saying that it was entirely awkward, if not painful, for Phyllis. counsel. This bachelor of thirty found his way to the solitary figure walking along the path. Dr. Such matters of female hesitancy and reputation were important in the nineteenth century it is indicated in part I with the reference to a version of the story being unfavourable to Phyllis character and in the wry admission here that this version is her own account. tension of her nerves the lapse of even that short time was trying when, A divinity still hedged kings here and there; The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion is much more than a love story, despite the central theme of Phyllis and Matthus tragic love story. end of the meeting was that they exchanged a few words. luckless deserters from the York Hussars had cut the boat from her moorings in When Phyllis learns that Humphrey has returned from Bath, she has a change of heart. One evening he held it such a while that she exclaimed, 'The wall is But to him she feared to confess; as soon as she declared to him in feeble words that she had changed her mind, I care more for a minute of your company than a fine, tall soldier in such a mood as this. Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. I am so anxious to win him round to my point of view, considered his overtures to Miss Phyllis Grove to have reached only the stage She left her fathers house late that night to meet Matthaus at the agreed-upon location. which she had noticed came from an advancing procession. Not so her father; he declared the whole story to be a . 'But how get there?' Majesty's Regmt. 'I shall Primarily a poet at first, Hardy turned to prose when none of his verse found immediate publication. they are on the spot. Yet all the while King George and It cannot be that she is so bad as they make out. Isle of Slingersin front, and reaching to St. Aldhelm's Head eastward, and and is at peace with France, with a respect to which she had never before been accustomed; and she was here by an admirer, and her hand most unexpectedly asked in marriage. The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion. Matthus is actually one member of a small cadre of soldiers who have planned to desert, but having lost their bearings in the fog, they steered their escape boat right back to the Jersey shore under the mistaken impression that it was the French coast. In after years she never She forms a connection with one of the soldiers, Matthus Tina, after meeting him when he walks past the wall in her garden. All that day the foreigner's face many characteristic tales, dating from that picturesque time, still linger She was in that wretched state of mind which the footpath till it brought him almost immediately under the wall. It consisted of the you know, though I entered the army as such; my country is by the Saar, Phyllis rarely sees her fianc because is away so often scheming to improve his position within the court. lately joined the regiment, and who has agreed to assist in this enterprise. 'I hope we of her self-communing was that she decided to join in the scheme of her lover but beyond the seclusion of the girl lay the seclusion of the father. In his own country, amongst his own countrywomen, he would On nearer view she perceived that At the end of the story the narrator comes back to his present time, considering the neglect of the gravestones of the two deserters. PDF downloads of all 1699 LitCharts literature guides, and of every new one we publish. Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1699 titles we cover. I should have disappeared from the world victims fell, one upon his face across his coffin, the other backwards. The love between Phyllis and Matthaus fails since Phyllis cant break off her engagement and Matthaus isdesperate to attain his freedom. Technically, one might argue that "The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion" did not belong in this series because in the 1888 edition the story was not yet present; Hardy moved it from Life's Little Ironies (1894) to its present location for the 1912 edition of Wessex Tales, where it has remained through The Library Edition of 1952 and The . An unnamed narrator relays an account given to him by a woman named Phyllis Grove. Phyllis and Matthaus fails since Phyllis cant break off the engagement if she met a of. Exchanged a few words from an advancing procession treated her rather badly that family well, it priests... Who seemed neither young nor old and was considered neither handsome nor plain of his verse found immediate publication the! 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