Essay Corner Blog

The ironic twist in “The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion”

Posted on October 2, 2021 Updated on July 2, 2022

(859 words)

In the following essay, I will be explaining the way the tragedy of The Melancholy Hussar story works and how an ironic ‘twist’ contributes. Phyllis Grove, who is the female main character, is treated oppressively by her father. She needs a way out of the Wessex Downs where she lives in a secluded world in their ‘small, dilapidated, half-farm half manor house’. The story tells of her struggle for love and which man is right for her. The story, we are told is an injustice on Phyllis’ memory.

Phyllis is portrayed as a girl brought up in the country to a father who has lost his business through his own fault. The picture the reader develops is of a father frustrated with himself.  Beyond the seclusion of Phyllis, lays the seclusion of her father and his darkness. He takes out his troubles on her. He does not seem to have a wife which leads the reader to think that he wants Phyllis to be at his beck and call. This corresponds with her feeling shy. Phyllis is a girl with her whole life in front of her, and her father is making her unhappy through his annoyance of life.

It is not surprising that Phyliss is unexpectedly asked to be married. Phyllis is unromantically pursued by Humphrey Gould, an unreliable-looking bachelor of 30 from Bath. It is her father’s wish for her to marry this man who is within her father’s perceived social level. The reader feels that Phyllis is looking for a reason to get away from her circumstances. Phyllis was willing to leave her father as she felt little love towards him. She disliked the way he behaved towards her. It also may be the case someone showed attention to her for once. Mr. Gould flattered this lonely woman, telling stories of himself to be a fashionable man although he is ‘poor as a crow’. Mr. Gould actually shows no regard to this person he has just asked to marry him. Making an excuse for his ‘pecuniary’ condition, he has left her in the lurch. At home, Phyllis is with her father, this man has come from nowhere asks her to marry her. This woman with nothing really happening in her life is left thinking of happiness that Mr. Gould cannot really deliver.

Though her husband, to be, sends her letters Phyllis says she does not love him in the truest sense. This leads the reader to believe that Phyllis was asking him to get her out of her poor situation. The reader can see how Phyllis’ concentration is quickly turned to the one of the York Hussars. Phyllis sits on the wall outside her house ‘listlessly surveying the pasture’. Her attention was drawn to a ‘solitary figure’.  Thus, Phyllis begins an unusual but earnest courtship with Matthäus Tina who is one of the York Hussars, the King’s German Legion. They communicate. There is an effect on her consciousness as Matthäus’ face ‘haunted’ her mind. The reader almost thinks Phyllis is waiting for another man to come along and take her away. There is a contrast between this man and Mr. Gould. Phyllis again is enlightened by the stories of another man; his stories of Germany.  Matthäus is her romantic hero. There is no feeling that Phyllis ever thinks of the unpleasant side of leaving her home, and of what might await her. The only thought is for her present relationship with her father that is ‘irksome and painful’.

The tragedy for Phyllis is that she does not know which way to turn. Phyllis does not realise every option she chooses will let her down. Phyllis still believes in her marriage to Gould rather than her love for Matthäus. However, Mr. Gould has a dastardly secret he had married someone else. There is an insensitivity from Mr. Gould towards her feelings. This poor girl has seen a way out of her situation has to hear her husband, to be, telling her he is with another woman. Phyllis goes to her garden for solace just like she was when she saw Matthäus. Phyllis looks over the wall and sees two coffins and a band playing “march of the dead”. A procession of soldiers goes by accompanied by two priests. Matthäus and his friends Christoph were to be executed for desertion. Matthäus and another reached the shores of Jersey, not France. The irony is that Phyllis believed that she could get away from her father. Her dreams of getting away are dashed. Maybe, if Matthäus had been less honorable and Phyllis more daring, their future would have taken a better turn.

Though Phyllis did not leave her house, there could be thought that she might have not got on well being away from her father if she had left and stuck to a country ways. However, she was willing to try. Ironically, Phyllis found out too late. Humphrey Gould planned to set Phyllis free but he had fallen in love with another woman. Matthäus Tina was executed for desertion. Phyllis was destined to be alone and lonely. She was to lead a lonely life of spinsterhood. Phyllis Grove was in a social condition that she had to follow, through lack of choice.