The Prologue, By Ann Anne Bradstreet And Abigail Adams

In American literature, some female writers portrayed the roles of women in their writings. Women were seen only as caregivers of their homes, husbands, and children in the eighteenth century and earlier. Anne Bradstreet and Abigail Adams were women writers whom played similar roles in the different century they lived in. Women of the seventeenth and eighteenth century were deprived the chance to be more than just a woman. Through Anne Bradstreet’s poem The Prologue and the letters of Abigail Adams, readers perceive the roles the women played in their times. In ‘‘Rights of Woman’’ and the Problem of Power, written by Andrew Cayton, he speaks on the political problem side of women’s rights and tries to encourage people to think of the value all people obtain. Andrew Cayton’s article relates to Anne Bradstreet’s The Prologue and Abigail Adams’ letters to John Adams because it refers to the roles and rights of women just as they do.
Anne Bradstreet’s The Prologue focuses on Bradstreet’s views of how women should be equal to the men when it comes to writing.
In ‘‘Rights of Woman’’ and the Problem of Power, the article states that women learned “to stand and speak for themselves, educated women entered into civil society.” Anne Bradstreet wrote The Prologue to influence and convince the minds of society that women and men should be equal because all are capable of doing things equally. ‘‘Rights of Woman’’ and the Problem of Power is an article that backs up Anne Bradstreet’s argument of women’s rights and roles, but it also supports Abigail Adams points about women’s rights shown through her letters to John
Adams.
Abigail Adams was a woman passionate about her family, her husband, and mostly the rights of women. Abigail Adams wrote many letters to her husband, John Adams, concerning their farm, family, and the rights of women. Abigail Adams mostly showed her passion for women’s rights and roles through the letters she wrote to John Adams. Andrew Cayton analyzed women like Abigail Adams in ‘‘Rights of Woman’’ and the Problem of Power. Cayton speaks on the things that made women equal and the things that made women unequal. He also speaks on the advantages educated women obtained. Cayton mentions that some people viewed women as a part of “civil society” and that other people “continued to emphasize the degree to which the vast majority of women, especially those who were not wealthy, well-educated and white, remained subject to the power of patriarchal men.” Cayton analyzes the strong role women played in creating equality for women and men. ‘‘Rights of Woman’’ and the Problem of Power supports Abigail Adams’ letters to John Adams because both express the importance of women’s rights and roles, and gives readers insight to where men believe women are placed and where women believe they are placed in society.
‘‘Rights of Woman’’ and the Problem of Power focused on the rights and roles of women that can be supported by Anne Bradstreet’s The Prologue and Abigail Adams’ letters that supports the roles in the movement towards women’s rights. In the article, Cayton revealed how they perceived the way women were treated in society, politically or not. Cayton’s article can be compared to how Bradstreet’s poem and Adams’ letters portrayed how they felt about the roles the women were given. ‘‘Rights of Woman’’ and the Problem of Power allows readers to imagine how women were treated as subjects to men, but also how some women and men live in a “companionate marriage” where husbands treated their wives equally. Overall, Cayton speaks on the opposing views of the typical way of life for women.
There are many women in American literature whom focus on the importance of women. Anne Bradstreet’s The Prologue and Abagail Adams’ letters to John Adams gives reads a chance to view the history of the role of women in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. ‘‘Rights of Woman’’ and the Problem of Power wanted readers to receive the message that there was no need for “new forms of power so much as new forms of thinking about power and how to manage it.” Cayton wants the readers to focus on what the women fought for, and Bradstreet and Adams wanted readers to focus on what women were fighting for.