Relations Between Women in the 18th and 19th Centuries. Essay

Life for women in the 1800s was one of very few choices, some have compared it to slavery. This essay will be about Marriage and the different classes for women in the early 1800s.

Thesis: A “true women” in the 19th Century was one who was domestic, religious, and chaste. These were virtues established by men but enforced and taught by other women. Women were also told that they were inferior to men and they should accept it and be grateful that someone just loved them.

Women began standing up for themselves using literature in the nineteenth century. The time periods of the feminism booms were called waves. There are three waves of feminism starting from the nineteenth century to now. They all occurred in the United Kingdom, Britain, France, and the United States. These waves lead to women getting closer to being treated equal to men.

Written towards the end of her career in 1966, Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea features the creole woman, hybridity, loss of identity, and madness. She reimagines history and uses literary tradition to suit her voice and what she wants to articulate. Rhys writes, or elaborates on the history of Charlotte Brontë’s Bertha or “the madwoman in the attic” in the 19th century novel Jane Eyre, and gives her the voice she was denied with Brontë. Instead of the “animalistic” fiery woman who was negatively portrayed because of her “madness,” Rhys allows the reader to understand the history that caused the wounds Bertha bore. As Burns says, “Rhys’s novel consistently undermines stereotypes by illustrating their constructed, sociological basis” (22). Rhys sets up explanations for the actions of her characters and challenges readers’ notions of the ideologies about blacks, creoles, and life in the tropics. Rhys shows that Antoinette is not to be thought of as a monster as she is portrayed in Jane Eyre but rather—a woman who had dreams, fears, desires, and hopes of finding her identity and place in her world. The transformation of the identity of the mad Creole Bertha Rochester to Antoinette Cosway, illustrates how Rhys fills the void that Brontë left by affording Bertha her side of the story. When Rhys decided to write the history of Bertha she uncovered the colonist ideology that is seen in Jane Eyre. In Jane Eyre Bertha is considered “other” and in keeping with colonialism the

Today citizens of the United States all have the essential rights to vote in a democracy, regardless of their skin color or gender. This, however, was not the case many years ago prior to 1920. In fact, women or people of color were not allowed the right to vote. Nevertheless, over time the roles of women began to change and with changing roles, women began to be more aware of their rights, thus began to fight for equality. Without the beginning of woman’s suffrage and early women reforms done in the early 19th century, the right of women to vote could have never been successful; changing roles of women from the beginning of the colonization age lead up to the idea of woman’s suffrage.

Women’s lack of social contact had been a notable fact in nineteenth century. Back then, women were only allowed to stay at home and do their housework. They were locked by “the closed door,” while only men had the “latchkey” to open it left their houses without anyone’s permission (“The Story of an Hour” 76). Even though women “wish” they “could do such things” which are to see the outside world, men responded that “It ain’t the right kind of a life for a woman” (“The Chrysanthemums” 200). Once women were married, they would not have too many chances to associate with people besides her family. Moreover, most of the time they need to obey her husband, so they are eager to live independently. In these two stories, John Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums,”

Why were women considered weak and dependent? Gender roles in the nineteenth century were very different than they are now; women were very sheltered and restricted, while men did all the outside work and roamed free. This theory was conveyed in many articles, stories, and documentaries found previously. As a nineteenth century wife, a list of particular characteristics and ideas were formed in order to consider one as a quality wife. In the short story, “The Birthmark,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Georgiana succeeded as a wife during the nineteenth century according to these unfair gender roles.

Women in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries seemed to be isolated. In the three stories: “The Story of an Hour,” “Hills like White Elephants,” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” there seems to be a theme of a need for freedom. The women in these stories experienced unfavorable things such as disappointment, grief and detachment from reality, peer pressure, and loneliness. No woman or man deserves to go through these things, but it is evident that it remained a sociological norm back in these times.

Years ago, the men and women played different roles in different areas of daily life. At home, she was responsible for housekeeping (sweeping, preparing food, washing dishes, etc.) likewise corresponded raise and protect their children, unlike the man that his

It must be noted that the values and ideas expressed here, are distinctive of an urban, WASP, middle-class ideology. In contrast, we see that the Western states had a completely different view of women. They were not settled yet in the Victorian age, and women had to work just as much as men, both on the land and inside the house, there was in many ways more

During the late 1800s, women were devalued and not treated as fair as men. Women could not divorce and own a soul of their own. Women had certain expectations to live up to not only in their life, but in their family lives. There were also no telephones to cry for help or check on anyone. Hurston, Chopin, and Glaspell uses the historical settings to affect the readers’ judgement to sympathize with these women in the short stories and play.

The story focuses on two middle-aged American women on a vacation to Rome with their daughters. There is a rivalry between the women and the story further explains how their conflict has shaped the lives of their daughters and themselves. During the trip, secrets are revealed. The story investigates subjects including female connections and the pressures hiding underneath, societal standards and desires, marriage, clashes between eras, hypocrisy, and the evolution of connections and society. These actions of women are relevant in present time. There are relationships today between women that are loaded with begrudge, treachery, and rivalry over the affection for one

Nowadays society has a plethora of mediums to convey what the ideal woman is. Even in the modern world, images proliferate the daily lives of females of who and what they should be. Magazines, television, and even internet blogs find their way to the female psyche and American culture. In the past, however, women had to rely on other rudimentary sources regarding their lives. These rudimentary sources, although archaic in their mindset, is what historian Barbara Welter inquired about in depth. Welter pulled together what was an immense array of written words that transmitted through their context, advised women that they have a certain place in society. Welter found a prevailing theme within the context of ladies magazines, periodicals, and spiritual literature of the time. Through her research in the context of this literature, Welter found how submission to religion, feminine manipulation, and dependence on men were the real message these writings were transmitting at this time. From Young Ladies Literary and Missionary Report, “you may labor without the apprehension of detracting from the charms of feminine delicacy” (qtd. Welter

First, a strong example of women’s roles in the late 1800’s is represented in the document “The Husband Commandments” by H. De Marsan. It gives a fairly accurate portrayal of how

In early modern Europe, family was the centre of a woman’s life. According to the society the woman was not an autonomous individual but a subordinate member of a patriarchal family and her major social roles were family centred: she was to perpetuate her family through the productions of heirs and to love and care for its members.