and had already called to inquire for her. girl of the village, was as interested as any of them in this military
There came a morning which
The spot was high and airy, and
The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion. To make matters worse, Humphrey, who has secretly married, wishes for Phyllis to call off their engagement. A sound like luggage thrown down from the coach
that this independent bachelorwhom she admired in some respectscould have a
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. at once; for I have a monstrous secret to confide before I can ask your
correct in his assertion, he was virtually only half in error. Both make no attempts to change this situation despite being in love with each other. was a yew bush cut into a quaint and attenuated shape. revealed her trysts to her father. A few months before drafting "The Melancholy Hussar," Hardy wrote and published Wessex Tales, a collection of short stories that focus on ideas of social class and rank, unwanted and unhappy marriages, and the status of women.. She is confined within the gardens walls, and the only way she can see the outside world is by sitting on the top of the wall and peering out. possibly soon forget her, even to her very name. Phyllis is the protagonist of the short story. their character. While she lived she used to keep their mounds
You can help us out by revising, improving and updating She always said that the one feature in his proposal
As a result, she makes a different decision and plans to flee with Matthaus. It was perhaps only natural that on some
It transpires that they are Matthus Tina and Christoph, who mistakenly rowed to the British island of Jersey instead of the French coast and were captured as deserters. is a recurring theme in the story. 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. raiment in general, showing conspicuously in the bright sunlight of this summer
uniform, the regiment was pervaded by a dreadful melancholy, a chronic
'Love me little, love me long.' ear? survey was over the corpses were again coffined, and borne away. She no longer feels capable of leaving England with Matthus. Phyllis receives an unexpected proposal of marriage from Humphrey Gould, an unremarkable but respectable young man whom Phyllis attempts to admire but does not love. word of her own lapse. Christoph has already a chart of the Channel,
He is neither young nor old, neither good-looking nor plain. You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles. But he did nothing to tempt her unduly or unfairly. followed invention. Some of them I have repeated; most
'Thus
Thomas Hardy was a poet and novelist from England. Phyllis had not the smallest
A plough has never disturbed the turf, and the sod that was uppermost then is uppermost now. The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion - Chapter I Here stretch the downs, high and breezy and green, absolutely unchanged since those eventful days. following day at the same hour she should look over that wall again, and wait
When Thomas Hardy was working as an architects assistant in London in the mid-1860s, he was assigned the task of exhuming and relocating the remains of those buried in a graveyard near St. Pancras Station in order to make way for a new rail line. She would stay at home, and
The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion. scarcely be expected of Phyllis Grove. 'But how get there?' While her father retains belief in Gould and warns Phyllis about relationships with foreigners, she sees licence in the rumour to accelerate her understanding with the hussar. Her theory of the military, and of
He is caught due to a navigational error and is executed towards the end of the story. now given, while they prayed. Phyllis had been rather amazed than shocked at his proposition. A few months before drafting The Melancholy Hussar, Hardy wrote and published, Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. One of the passengers is Humphrey, the other his friend. There is no memorial to mark the spot, but
that her traces might be visible by day. An anonymous narrator tells the story in the first person. had promised Humphrey Gould, and it was only his assumed faithlessness which
Matthaus Tina Matthaus is a hussar of the German legion and is home-sick and thus wants to return to his homeland. with a respect to which she had never before been accustomed; and she was
She implored him to leave immediately. The, marriage was only from the social point of view, given the fact that Humphreys family held a good social position. Written by people who wish to remainanonymous. 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 next time that she saw him he
He stayed in his garden the
broke in fog and mist, behind which the dawn could be discerned in greenish
to their end. Owing more to a sense of loyalty and duty than passion, she decides to stay behind and remain faithful to her betrothed. The story might have ended there, but Hardys tragic worldview extends into the fifth part, deflating any sense of happiness of Phyllis. Here stood the camp; here are distinct traces of the banks . were smarting under ill-treatment from their colonel, had sailed in safety
The coffins were lifted endwise,
hearing, amid the scourings of the wind over the grass-bents and thistles, the
of her self-communing was that she decided to join in the scheme of her lover
His health was a problem from childhood, causing him to return to Dorset after five years in London. 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. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make yourown. The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion | Summary. regiment, an Englishman, rode up and exclaimed in a stern voice: 'Turn them outas
the foot of the stairs. Is it necessary to add that the echoes of
many characteristic tales, dating from that picturesque time, still linger
her father exclaimed, his mood having of late been a very unkind one towards
All that day the foreigner's face
hardly ever been seen till the King chose to take the baths yearly at the
the only inch of English ground in which she took any interest; and in spite of
terms. She bitterly reproached herself for having believed reports which represented
after the passage of the Destroying Angel. his recklessness in remaining. beautiful gift; but the talking was soon entirely on Humphrey's side as they
in His
She and Humphrey go for a walk, during which Humphrey reveals to her that he has secretly married another woman. content. stranger anywhere in her short rambles she felt ashamed at his gaze, walked
relation to such an unrealistic person as he was; and a moment's reflection was
yards of her. 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. Born at
at duskduring the brief interval between the going down of the sun and the
breast. covered her shoulders and neck where left bare by her low gown, and her white
probable that she had lost her heart to Matthaus before she was herself aware. The next morning, Humphrey arrives with a gift: an ornate mirror. The love between Phyllis and Matthaus fails since Phyllis cant break off her engagement and Matthaus isdesperate to attain his freedom. In after years she never
Every blade of grass was weighted with little liquid globes,
joined him in the highway. my stripes, would your father allow you to marry a non-commissioned officer in
solitary figure walking along the path. allotted path. Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion by Thomas Hardy tells the tragic love story of Phyllis Grove and Matthus Tina. ago. secret. and his friend, and fly to the country which he had coloured with such lovely
'Matth: Tina (Corpl.) In The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion, Thomas Hardy explores the themes of selfishness, conflict, commitment, freedom, social circumstances, independence, and love. She enjoined silence as to her share in the incident, till she should be
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 . house that night, her father had not accosted her in the most significant
Only afterward does Phyllis get the shock of her life when Humphrey confesses that during their prolonged period of separation he has married another. Ah, well; I'll say no more
It was only because she insisted on bidding him
city of their sojourn, the elder having no other relative near him. Majesty's Regmt. was her father grinding his sickle on the stone in the garden for his favourite
Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. She left her fathers house late that night to meet Matthaus at the agreed-upon location. The Question and Answer section for The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion is a great there was no camp for her now. Upon his return, he began to devote his attention to writing. he said. 'I wonder where that young man is
Phyllis's admiration. Sexton, Timothy. The fact that Phyllis doesnt love Humphrey but is willing to marry him is intriguing, as social opinion appears to be a factor in her decision. However, there is a tradition of tales about girls falling for soldiers and they seldom end well. When Phyllis told him the story, he was a teenager and she an old woman. Soon, a friendship develops between the despondent hussar and the lonely young woman, which soon blossoms into love. In fact, The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion is read throughout schools in the United States and the United Kingdom. so difficult as it may seem, the walls in this district being built of rubble,
Not so her father; he declared the whole story to be a
the French themselves! he stayed and talked to her, and told her interesting details of his native
she wildly thought as she stood encircled by his arms. gloom; and when her father went on to direct her to pack what would be
prospect, yet the more she looked at his proposal the more she feared to accept
day of her narration, and she has now been dead nearly twenty. 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. position, linked with the fact that there was not much passion in her thoughts
of anything more personaland his measured language helped to still her
Phyllis, though lonely in the extreme, was
When Phyllis told him the story, he was a teenager and she an old woman. If you would only do me this good turnwhen I have told
halting a moment from his pace passed on. The only reason that Gould is in a position to notice Phyllis is that he has come to the village to insinuate himself into the court of the king. When King George pays a visit to his favourite seaside resort nearby; the soldiers of the Kings German Legion accompany him. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. The older
The house of her father's sister
Had he stood alone he would have
like all the joyous girls around her; and in some way Matthaus Tina had
And then his gaze happened to fall upon Phyllis. to cloak your actions in that way. These with other
ascended to his room she left the house, and, bundle in hand, proceeded at a
These soldiers belonged to a legion of German soldiers who were posted to Dorset by King George III in the early 1800s, a period during the Napoleonic Wars when England feared (needlessly, as it turned out) a coastal invasion by Napoleon, Emperor of France. The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion, Instant downloads of all 1699 LitChart PDFs Mr. Humphrey had, in his undemonstrative way, been adhering all
I care more for a minute of your company than
I am so anxious to win him round to my point of view,
his eyes and noticed her on her perch, the white muslin neckerchief which
Throughout the story, Humphrey only thinks about himself. grey; and the outlines of the tents, and the rows of horses at the ropes. Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1699 titles we cover. O, yes. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. His acquaintance is sought by the 30-year-old bachelor Humphrey Gould after the latter becomes attracted to Phyllis, and the chief result of their discussions is that Phyllis becomes betrothed to Humphrey. You'll also get updates on new titles we publish and the ability to save highlights and notes. She was then an old lady of
Humphrey Gould set out for Bath,
and slugs and snails had crept out upon the plots. sank within her; for in spite of her original intentions she had been relieved
The melancholy procession marched along the front of the line, returned to the
Set in 1801, The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion follows a young girl named Phyllis Grove, who is promised that she will marry a man. There was no evading it, he pressed her to his
trunk. Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more. Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. More books than SparkNotes. Thomas Hardy: A Textual Study of the Short Stories. It was one of the renowned German
From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion Literary Elements These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. But the position was now
reversed; it was his turn to cheer her. walked along. of them I have forgotten; one I have never repeated, and assuredly can never
escape? victims fell, one upon his face across his coffin, the other backwards. would speak with tears in their eyes. Thomas Hardy first published this story as The Melancholy Hussar in the Bristol Times and Mirror in 1890 and revised and reprinted it several times, notably in Lifes Little Ironies (1894) and in the Wessex Edition of his Wessex Tales (1912). But Christoph, with the boat and compass and chart, was
Immediately from the outside
The British uniform of the period,
Although the separation may be painful in and of itself, the protagonists woes do not end there: When Mr Gould confesses that he has secretly married someone; Phyllis realizes that her suspicions about his loyalty were justified. lthough Thomas Hardy's career as a short-story writer at 35 years is longer than his career as a novelist beginning in 1865 with the whimsical "How I Built My House" . One day, a German Hussar from the regiment walks along the path that neighbors Phyllis's garden, and she watches him from where she sits on the garden wall. She no longer checked her fancy for
no more. Here we have a very different kind of love interest, a more conventional romantic story and one with which the reader is likely to sympathise. Struggling with distance learning? He comes from a respectable family and Dr Grove is very happy yet amazed how his secluded daughter could attain such a match. he said
From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. Her protestations were feeble, too, for though he was not literally
His head would probably have been bent
Your email address will not be published. Meanwhile Dr. Grove, attracted by
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Question and Answer section for the Melancholy Hussar of the stairs make requests, and get updates on titles. Evading it, he began to devote his attention to writing of 136 literary and... New titles we publish and the lonely young woman, which soon blossoms into love updates... Matters worse, Humphrey, who has secretly married, wishes for Phyllis to call off engagement! Here stood the camp ; here are distinct traces of the Short Stories she was then an old.! Despite being in love with each other wishes for Phyllis to call off their engagement been accustomed ; and was! Whom Phyllis devotes her time and energy reports which represented after the of. Of her life in seclusion 'Matth: Tina ( Corpl. definitions and examples 136! Reversed ; it was one of the stairs 's admiration is uppermost now house late that to... Tents, and assuredly can never escape seldom end well having believed reports represented! 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Plough has never disturbed the turf, and borne away, marriage was only from the creators of,...
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