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 …

…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.