The representation of women in

A detailed Summary of The representation of women in

The Representation of Women in 19th century Literature

The role of women in 19th century literature is influenced by the ideology "cult of true womanhood". This cult, evident in the works of both female and male writers, entails that women be: Pious, pure, domestic and submissive. The proper role for women was determined by the proper role for men. Men are aggressive, assertive, dominant and materialistic, while women were to serve as a purifying and civilizing influence by remaining outside of the man's sphere. She is the guardian of morality. S.L.Clemens's "Huckleberry Finn" and Kate Chopin's "Story of the Hour" and "The Storm", each have female characters depicted as "true" and not so "true" by the standards of the cult.

In Clemens's "Huck Finn" there are two women who represent "true women", the Widow Douglas and her sister Miss. Watson. The Widow Douglas took the main character Huck in to her home "sivilize" him. "The Widow Douglas, she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilze me; but it was rough living in the house all of the time, considering how dismal regular and decent the widow was in all her ways; and so when I couldn't stand it no longer, I lit out." (Clemens, 2). Civilizing a man is one

Chopin did not depict her women characters as divine domestic goddess, as many did in her time period, she let her readers see that women can be just as immoral as men. Unlike the female characters Miss. Watson and Widow Douglas in Clemens's "Huckleberry Finn", Chopin's female characters Calixta and Mrs. Mallard in "The Storm" and "Story of an Hour", experienced life outside women "true" sphere. Her characters had life, while Clemens's female characters were stereotypically, flat and severely limited. Chopin demonstrated that only by casting aside constraints of society and marriage that a woman can be her "true" self.

On the other hand, Chopin's depicted her female characters in "Story of the Hour" and "the Storm" as not "true" women. Chopin's "Story of the Hour" describes the struggle of Mrs. Mallard against the cult as she becomes aware of the feeling of being freed from the constraints of true womanhood when she learns of her husband's death. Louise was expected to fall to pieces upon hearing the news of her husband's death, but she felt something quite different and initially she did not want to acknowledge the joy she felt. Mrs. Mallard was expected to be helpless without her husband, but Chopin depicted Mrs. Mallard as joyful, and welcoming a new life of being her own woman. "She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept it's significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms. When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow her" (Chopin, 536). When Mrs. Mallard returns to her room, she now had the freedom to accept what she was truly feeling. "There stood, facing the open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair. Into this she sank, pressed down by physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach in her soul. She could see the in the open square before her house the tops of the trees were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twitching in the caves. There were patches of the blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one above the other in the west facing her window. (Chopin, 536). This is not supposed to be the typical behavior of a woman who has just lost her husband. Chopin depicts her female characters freeing themselves out of their predetermined roles, and reactions to life's events. "The Story of an Hour" is similar to the author's own life. Chopin's husband died and left her to care for their six children. After she was freed from "true" womanhood she was free to lead her own life and thus was met with criticism. Similarly, the character Calixta, in "The Storm", is not a "true" woman during the storm. In the beginning of the story Calixta is depicted as a "true" woman. She is home tending to the household chores, while her husband is at the store. Calixta did not foresee the storm that lied ahead, "She sat at a side window sewing f

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Approximate Word count = 2096
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English