Thomas Hardy's Love: The Themes Of Orpheus And Eurydice

Orpheus and Eurydice are portrayed as being a tragic love story. Orpheus is deeply in love with his wife whom dies from a bite of a snake. We view how the death deeply affected him. Within Thomas Hardy’s poem he discusses the emotions he felt during the time that his wife passed away. This can come in comparison with Orpheus since he also lost his wife. They become delusional in terms that Hardy feels as though his wife is talking to him within the wind thus in comparison to Orpheus who is willing to do anything in order to see his wife for the last time. Within the essay I will be analyzing Thomas Hardy ‘The voice’ in depth. Within stanza one the poet reminisces the days his wife was alive. “Woman much missed, how you call to me, call to me”

Within stanza one Hardy places emphasis on how he misses his wife. There is a contradiction between the name of the poem and the poem itself. The poem talks about a woman calling out yet she has no voice to speak; thus it is seen as a contradiction. Since the name of the poem is ‘The Voice’

Both poets lose their loved ones. “Can it be you that I hear? Let me view you, then” (Hardy, line 5) this states that the poet hears his wife although she is not here. This creates a link between the dead and the living. This meaning that he was grieving in such a state that he became delusional that he hears his wife. Within comparison to Orpheus whom enters the underworld to see his wife who does not speak to him. The poet calls out to see his wife as if she is there. “When Thracian Orpheus, the poet of Rhodope, had mourned for her, greatly, in the upper world, he dared to go down to Styx, through the gate of Taenarus, also, to see if he might not move the dead” (Ovid, page 482) this states how he was in much pain that he was risking his own life to bring his wife to the living world. Although he does enter the underworld, she does not speak to him. Her being mute symbolizes her absence within the living. This shows that the

Within the second stanza it has a peculiar story line to it. The poet sees his wife but he is not sure if it is really her. He desires for her to appear, he wants to feel her presence. “Can it be you that I hear? Let me view you, then” (Hardy ,line 5) shows that he insists that she shows herself to him. This can come into comparison with Orpheus that he shares the same desire to be with his wife. “reverse Eurydice’s swift death. All things are destined to be yours” (Ovid, page 483) shows how he was keen to feel his wives apparition that he was willing to risk his own life. “Even to the original air-blue gown” ( Hardy, line 8 ) shows how the wind was personified within his delusions. Within the instant he hears his wife speaking to him, although he could not hear what she was saying, but he felt as if she was reaching from the underworld and making her presence known. Within stanza two it spectacles that the wife was speaking to him, although one can view him as being delusional because he was grieving in time. The reader is able to emphasize with the poet since the poet shares with the readers how he longs to be with her; thus in comparison with Orpheus whose character shares a similarity with the speaker within the poet. Stanza three begins with a doubt within the speakers mind. “Or is it only the breeze, in its listleness” (Hardy, line 9) this shows how he came to his senses and realized that he was being delusional. We