By Olivia Scurr, Esme Flamson,
Rebecca Pauli and Sarah Lawson
 Ruined
suggests that the Maid is ‘sexually
impure,
 If you turn ‘Maid’ into ‘Maiden,’ this could
interpret the virginal sense which may
lead us to think that this ‘Maid’ isn’t
married and has pre-marital sex because
she is sexually impure and possibly a
‘Maiden.’ This could then lead to
interpreting that the ‘Maid’ could be a
prostitute.
‘
O ‘Melia, my dear.’ This is a greeting which
implies that there is intimacy between the
speaker and the Maid, but later on the poem
reveals that there is little affection between
the two characters.
 The first speaker dominates the poem.
 The Maid didn’t work in the town when they
used to know each other, does she have a
new job?
 'Melia, when
she was at the farm, used to
have only the most basic clothing and now
she's dressed very well and even has
jewellery.
 Rhyming Couplets demonstrate the
happiness of the first speaker
 The images of hardship reflect the poverty
in Victorian England
 Repetition of we, emphasises the two
speakers
 The
newer introduced dialect implies the
speaker adopts air and graces
 Dialect contrasts with the more eloquent
language of the 3rd line in the stanza,
almost as if its sarcastic
 Ruin, is repeated in various forms which
intensifies the fact that it is ironic
 Both
women are made by society into
witches; farm workers (appearance),
prostitutes (evil)
 The hyphenation in ‘la-dy’ may reflect the
pomposity of the first speaker. It also sets
up a rhyme which is resisted by the
second, creating tension.
 Hardy
invites the reader to consider
whether the farm or being a prostitute is
a harder job / lifestyle.
 The repetition of different forms of ruin
are used once in every stanza
A
very Victorian, almost gothic, summary
of how glamour, riches and fun can also
come with a hypocritical veneer of
deviousness, deception and exploitation
of others. The woman has sold her
innocence for a life of expensive clothes
and glamour appears to be non the
happier for having done so, even though
she has theoretically sold her soul to the
devil
 Where
would 'Melia have been better
off? On the farm in "tatters", with hands
like "paws", a "face blue and bleak" and
with a "home-life a hag-ridden dream"
but with her honour still intact? Or as a
woman who is much more financially
comfortable, better fed and clothed but
working as a prostitute?
Why do you think another expression for
working as a prostitute was being
"ruined"?
 This
poem is a 'dramatic dialogue' - a
conversation between two people which
tells a story and reveals things about both
characters.
 It
is set out as six, four-line stanzas (a
four-line stanza is also known as a
'quatrain') with a regular 'aabb' rhyme
scheme. The 'bb' rhyme (lines 3-4 in each
stanza) is always the same as the last
word in each stanza is "she".
 The
regular rhythm and rhyme help
make it sound like a light, playful ditty,
almost nursery rhyme in quality. There is
a happy, musical lilt in lines three and
four of each stanza as Hardy emphasises
the 'ee' sound very clearly. This adds
significantly to the irony when we realise
the main character is a prostitute.
In most of the stanzas, the language and imagery
used in the first part is then contrasted by that
which follows it, eg:
 'You left us in tatters, without shoes or socks,Tired
of digging potatoes, and spudding up docks;And
now you've gay bracelets and bright feathers
three!''Yes: that's how we dress when we're
ruined,' said she.
 A pattern arises - the naïve farm worker reminds
'Melia (and informs the reader) how things used
to be for her and then comments on how much
better things are now.

 Another, even
more obvious pattern of
language is in the last line of each stanza,
'Melia tells her friend that she's "ruined".
Whilst her friend is praising her, 'Melia
constantly reminds her that although on the
face of it she is doing well, it has come at a
massive, personal cost to her and in some
ways, she is worse off than her friend. The
fact she is now a prostitute, however well
she might look, is always present and
inescapable.
The role of women in society: Is this the only way a
lowly maid could achieve independence in Victorian
Britain? Is the farm worker right to admire 'Melia? Is
'Melia a victim or in control of her own destiny?
 Money isn't everything: The farm worker admires
'Melia's new found wealth (which is probably not
much anyway, just more than it used to be) but 'Melia
herself knows that money isn’t everything. The price
she has had to pay outweighs the material wealth.
 Morals: The poem throws up a lot of questions about
'right' and 'wrong'. Hardy used to condemn those
men who would publicly criticise prostitutes whilst
being their customers in private.
