The Withered Arm

""The Withered Arm"" is a short story written by Thomas Hardy, a renowned English author of the 19th century. The story is set in a rural village in England and revolves around the life of a woman named Rhoda Brook, who is a milkmaid. Rhoda is a lonely and isolated woman who lives with her young son and works hard to make ends meet. She is haunted by a terrible dream that she has had about a woman with a withered arm. Her dream becomes a reality when she meets Gertrude Lodge, a beautiful young woman who has just moved into the village with her husband. Gertrude's arm is withered, and Rhoda is convinced that she is the woman from her dream. As Rhoda becomes more and more obsessed with the idea that she has caused Gertrude's affliction, the story takes a dark turn. The themes of jealousy, guilt, and superstition are explored throughout the story, and the reader is left to question the nature of fate and the consequences of our actions. Hardy's writing is masterful, and the story is a haunting and thought-provoking exploration of human nature.She did nothing for months, and patiently bore her disfigurement as before. But her woman's nature, craving for renewed love, through the medium of renewed beauty (she was but twenty-five), was ever stimulating her to try what, at any rate, could hardly do her any harm. 'What came by a spell will go by a spell surely, ' she would say. Whenever her imagination pictured the act she shrank in terror from the possibility of it: then the words of the conjuror, 'It will turn your.blood, ' were seen to be capable of a scientific no less than a ghastly interpretation; the mastering desire returned, and urged her on again.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.