In order to compare the literary styles of Dickens and Hardy I will use 'The Signalman' by Charles Dickens and 'The Withering Arm' by Thomas Hardy. 'The Signalman' features a lonely train signalman who works in signal box by a railway cutting. He has been visited by a "spectre" which appears just before a fatal accident takes place. The other main character, who is also the narrator, meets the signalman and is told of his sightings. They try to interpret the warnings of the ghostly figure. As the two develop a friendship, the narrator returns to the railway cutting to visit the signalman but finds that he has been killed in an accident that the ghost had warned about. 'The Withered Arm' features a milkmaid named Rhoda Brook whose ex-husband, Mr Lodge, remarries a young lady called Gertrude. Even before meeting Gertrude, Rhoda is jealous of her and begins to hate her. Without seeing Gertrude, Rhoda dreams that Gertrude is sitting on top of her, trying to suffocate her. Rhoda reaches out and grabs her arm, pushing her to the floor. Rhoda wakes up but believes that her encounter with Gertrude was too vivid and real to be a dream. She meets Gertrude for the first time and she looks exactly the same in person as she did in the dream. They become good friends and Gertrude shows Rhoda the mark on her arm, it clearly resembles the hold that Rhoda had on Gertrude's arm and so Rhoda becomes worried that she was the cause of Gertrude's withered arm. Rhoda leaves the village as gossip about the reason for Gertrude's skin complaint spreads. The condition on Gertrude's arm worsens, applying more stress to Gertrude and Mr Lodge's relationship and so Gertrude is desperate to find a cure to rekindle the love that Mr Lodge felt for her in the earlier stages of their marriage. Rhoda and Gertrude are reunited at the end.
In a way, the two stories are similar as their themes are based on the same topics: mystery, supernatural and the unknown.