Women in Literature

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11 December 2007

Women in Literature

Introduction

Some critics claim that early American literature focuses on men overlooking or devaluating the role of women and women 's perspective The response to this claim will presuppose profound analysis of some literary work of that time period . We will thus concentrate on Hannah Foster 's The Coquette , which has become one of the brightest representations of the then literature

Based upon the discussed reading , it is definitely impossible to state that literature

of the analyzed period was devaluating women , though such claim has the objective right to exist among scholars . It would probably be more correct to assume that devaluation of women , which the authors of early American literature were depicting in their works , was caused by the real life conditions in which they lived . Thus devaluating women was not the initial purpose of the early American writing in pursuing realism and the truth , the were undeservingly labeled . However , this misinterpretation cannot be false . Through the prism of literary criticism , the character of the protagonist Eliza Wharton is certainly described in rather mournful colors . What is usual for us seems absolutely unacceptable in the world in which Eliza found herself . Thus , it would be more objective to analyze Foster 's novel not from the viewpoint of devaluating women , but from the viewpoint of the then society devaluating and not accepting their freedom , as was reflected in The Coquette

Reading The Coquette , we come to the question , whether Foster was depicting a true womanhood , and how a woman of her status could feel in the society and people by whom she was surrounded . It is difficult to deny that Eliza Wharton was initially overlooked as a personality by her companions , friends , and was truly judged for her actions and manners Of course , what we see in Eliza does not surprise us , but her behavior could not be called traditional through the prism of the then manners The true woman of that time had to possess several integral features out of which virtue and domesticity were the most meaningful . Moreover in case a woman did not possess those features , or was not willing to follow the principles of the society , she risk being abandoned , being stigmatized , and being called the enemy of all polite people

Through the entire reading of The Coquette I was accompanied by the thought that it would be improper to state , that Foster was devaluating women . I think that the author had devoted the whole story to the inner perplexities of the female character . The writer has exercised an extremely visible and wise tool for creating and objective (and simultaneously , subjective ) picture of the reality . We see the development of Wharton 's affair with Major Stanford , and simultaneously we have an access to the inner world and inner conflicts of each of the characters in the novel . Devaluating women is more seen not in the way Foster depicted Eliza , but in the...