Everybody must be managed. Queens must be managed. Kings must be managed, for men want managing almost as much as women, and that's saying a good deal.
Thomas HardyRead
- the ethereal, fine-nerved, sensitive girl, quite unfitted by temperament and instinct to fulfil the conditions of the matrimonial relation with Phillotson, possibly with scarce any man.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the struggles of a delicate woman in a society that may not understand her sensitivities, particularly in the context of marriage.
In this quote, Thomas Hardy portrays a girl who possesses an ethereal and sensitive nature, suggesting that her personality is not suited for the demands and intricacies of traditional marital life with her partner, Phillotson. This highlights the broader theme of individual mismatches within relationships, particularly when one partner's temperament clashes with societal expectations and roles.
Themes
SensitivityRelationshipsMarriageIndividualitySociety
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the challenges faced by sensitive individuals in relationships.
More from Thomas Hardy
All quotes βBecause what's the use of learning that I am one of a long row only - finding out that there is set down in some old book somebody just like me, and to know that I shall only act her part; making me sad, that's all. The best is not to remember your nature and your past doings have been just like thousands' and thousands', and that your coming life and doings'll be like thousands' and thousands'.
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But nothing is more insidious than the evolution of wishes from mere fancies, and of wants from mere wishes.
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I wish I had never been born--there or anywhere else.
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Her affection for him was now the breath and life of Tess's being; it enveloped her as a photosphere, irradiated her into forgetfulness of her past sorrows, keeping back the gloomy spectres that would persist in their attempts to touch herβdoubt, fear, moodiness, care, shame. She knew that they were waiting like wolves just outside the circumscribing light, but she had long spells of power to keep them in hungry subjection there.
Thomas HardyRead
The trees have inquisitive eyes, haven't they? -that is, seem as if they had. And the river says,-'Why do ye trouble me with your looks?' And you seem to see numbers of to-morrows just all in a line, the first of them the biggest and clearest, the others getting smaller and smaller as they stand further away; but they all seem very fierce and cruel and as if they said, 'I'm coming! Beware of me! Beware of me!
Thomas HardyRead
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