Role of Women

The Role of Women in 18th and 19th Century Literature The role of women in literature has typically been influenced by their role in society. In the 18th and 19th centuries their role in society began to change. Women began their transformation from anonymous objects of their fathers ' and husbands ' possession into animate, productive members of society. This change was reflected in the literature of the time, regardless of the gender of the author, and in a variety of genres and styles. Whether a light-hearted novel, a commentary on industrialization, or a play, women were ever-present in literary pieces. They appeared more educated, more intelligent, and more independent than ever before. They went against conventions and formed their own opinions. This movement toward the liberation of literary representations of women is portrayed in such well-known and widely regarded literary works as Jane Austen 's Sense and Sensibility, Charles Dickens 's Hard Times and Henrik Ibsen 's A Doll 's House. Sense and Sensibility was published anonymously in 1811 by Jane Austen herself, at a time when women were not only regarded as intellectual inferiors of men, but were expected to remain such. They were thought to be too feeble-minded to be educated and were expected to live their lives for the sole purpose of catering to their husbands ' and children 's needs (Monaghan 42). Austen, rejecting this common assumption, portrays women as valuable members of society. "Jane Austen 's attitude to women, ...while growing directly out of the social and philosophical environment in which she lived reveal the workings of a keen individual intelligence... She takes a clear-sighted look at the functions performed by women and finds that, regardless of the very low esteem in which their sex is held, they are given a role substantial enough to satisfy the needs of such intelligent and capable people as Elinor and Marianne Dashwood" (Monaghan 50). In her thinking, Austen is not

Cited: Austen, Jane. Sense and Sensibility. London: Penguin Books, 1995. Dickens, Charles. Hard Times. New York: Bantam Books, 1981. Epstein, Norrie. "The Erotic Child: Interview with James R. Kincaid." The Friendly Dickens. New York, New York: Penguin Books, 1998. ---. "Hard Times." The Friendly Dickens. New York, New York: Penguin Books, 1998. Finney, Gail. "Ibsen and Feminism." The Cambridge Companion to Ibsen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. Ibsen, Henrik. "A Doll 's House." New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1992. Monaghan, David. "Austen 's Women in a Conservative Society." Readings on Jane Austen. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1997.