Humphrey
The Melancholy Hussar: The way Thomas Hardy might have thought about the story.
(539 words)
As a fatalist, Thomas Hardy presents human beings as largely unable to escape the forces of destiny. In his fictional world, chance, circumstance, and forces beyond individual control frequently determine the course of human lives. Consequently, personal desire and individual effort offer only limited power to alter one’s circumstances; indeed, attempts to resist or overcome fate often become the very means through which individuals are defeated.
In this story, fate brings Matthäus, a German Hussar, and Phyllis together, although each arrives at their meeting through circumstances beyond their control. Matthäus is brought into Phyllis’s world through the movements of the army, while Phyllis’s isolation is a consequence of her father’s reclusive way of life. Both characters are, moreover, emotionally deprived before their meeting: Matthäus is homesick and separated from his homeland, while Phyllis has been deprived of meaningful friendship and companionship. Their apparently accidental encounter can therefore be interpreted as the culmination of a series of circumstances that Hardy has subtly constructed as preparations for their meeting.
The single decisive action they undertake together—their attempt to escape—ultimately turns against them with devastating consequences. Here again, Hardy presents fate as determining the course of events. Phyllis is fated to overhear Humphrey Gould, and her upbringing and sense of propriety compel her to behave in accordance with what she believes to be proper conduct. As a result, she misinterprets Humphrey’s presence and believes that he has returned to be with her. Matthäus, meanwhile, is subject to an equally cruel accident of circumstance: in attempting to escape, he rows towards Jersey and thereby misses France. Their actions are therefore not simply expressions of personal choice; they are continually constrained and redirected by circumstances that neither character fully understands.
Ultimately, their hopes are destroyed and both characters are psychologically broken by the consequences of events. Matthäus willingly submits to execution, while Phyllis, gradually becoming conscious of her tragic mistake and of the role her absence played in Matthäus’s capture, is left to live out the remainder of her life in solitude and mourning. Her suffering is particularly poignant because her actions were motivated not by malice, but by the social expectations and moral assumptions that have shaped her behaviour.
Hardy concludes the story with a final and deeply ironic image: in death, Matthäus and Phyllis are at last united in the grave. The physical proximity denied to them in life is achieved only after their hopes, love, and individual futures have been destroyed. The ending therefore reinforces Hardy’s fatalistic vision, in which the characters can achieve fulfilment only when it is too late for that fulfilment to have any meaning in their lives.
This interpretation suggests that Hardy’s central concern is not simply the power of fate, but the tragic interaction between fate, chance, social convention, and individual desire. The characters make choices, but their choices are repeatedly shaped—and ultimately overwhelmed—by circumstances beyond their control. At the same time, however, the story invites a more nuanced question: to what extent are Matthäus and Phyllis genuinely victims of fate, and to what extent do their own personalities, assumptions, and decisions contribute to their tragedy? How we answer that question may significantly affect the way we understand Hardy’s characters and the story as a whole.
Fate in The The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion 
(438 words)
Thomas Hardy was living at a time of social change when the sense of the old rural order was beginning to break down as people moved away from the land and the economy began to modernise. For Hardy, this was a danger and in his stories, the characters are seen to be fighting against their fate when they attempt to change the established order of their lives. For Hardy fate is a very strong and harsh power and characters who defy this pay the price.
In the story, Phyllis Grove is a girl living alone with her father. In meeting Humphrey Gould, she was pleased with his offer of marriage. In keeping with the local order, her fate might be marrying this local man, living locally, and continuing the pattern of life established by their respective parents. This is not a love match but it is accepted and welcomed by all involved.
When Humphrey is driven to Bath – in itself a break with normal rural life – the arrangement is put under strain. Humphrey becomes involved with the social life of Bath and begins to feel that his link with Phyllis is not as strong as he thought. Phyllis becomes lonely and looks to the German Mattthäus Tina for friendship and comfort.
Phyllis is very attracted by Mattthäus’ description of his life in Germany and the possibilities of escaping her life in England. Mattthäus himself is looking to escape from the army which he finds intolerable. In planning to escape their fate, the characters take on a powerful force and eventually pay a high price.
Mattthäus in his attempts to escape is caught and shot, Phyllis’s punishment is more subtle. When her resolve is finally tested by the appearance of Humphrey just as she is to leave with Mattthäus, she weakens and so betrays him. Believing that she is choosing between Mattthäus and Humphrey. Cruelly this is not the case. Humphrey is in fact only there to give his apologies to her and Phyllis is left alone faced with a lonely future. Further punishment is added when she realises that she might have gained happiness with Mattthäus and also saved his life but has been tricked by the fates.
In this story, I feel that Hardy is warning of the dangers to society of breaking with what he sees as the natural order. He sees this as a balance between man and nature that the forces of nature will fight to preserve. In a similar way to the religious stories, Hardy does not accept. Hardy may be trying to offer a warning in a time of intense change.
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