The Ruined Maid

Question 1

Time period

Answer 1

19th century

Victorian

Question 2

Form

Answer 2

Conversation
Direct address

Question 3

Message

Answer 3

Melia has undergone a change and is now ruined as despite her having all these nice things she can never be married. The last line highlights how she hasn’t completely changed.

Ruined is ambiguous so it could be referring to the other lady whose life is more of hardship as she is part of the lower-class

Question 4

Methods

Answer 4

Dialect
Exclamatory
Hyphen
Juxtaposition
Simile
Metaphor
Facade

Question 5

Context

Answer 5

Hardy was criticised for being too pessimistic and preoccupied with sex

Explores a fatalist outlook against the dark, rugged landscape of his native Dorset

Rejected the Victorian belief in a benevolent God

A traditionalist in technique

Highly original style, combining rough-hewn rhythms and colloquial diction with an extraordinary variety of meters and stanzaic forms

Question 6

Themes

Answer 6

Social class and love
Love and gender