The Role Of Puritan Women

Throughout history, women have been seen as having a specific role in society. Puritan times were no exception to this, having the idea that women were meant to be housewives and mothers, there to take care of their husbands and children without causing any trouble. Men were supposed to do the hard work while women were supposed to be nurturing. While many women conformed to this standard, there were also women who did not. It is through the words and experiences of these women, women who went against against the societal standards that were set for them, that we can observe the role imposed onto women, and then compare that to what the role of women really was. The expectations of women in Puritan society are clearly shown throughout the
To create any form of art without being commissioned and told exactly what to do requires free thought. Poet Anne Bradstreet is an example of a Puritan woman thinking freely in order to create her own art, going against society’s idea that she should go along only with what men tell her to do instead of forming her own thought. Bradstreet was a loving mother and wife, as exhibited by her poems “A Love Letter to Her Husband” and “Before the Birth of One of Her Children,” both of which express her love for her family, making her a very traditional Puritan woman in the familial sense. Still, Bradstreet wrote about more than just being a wife and a mother. In “A Dialogue Between Old England and New,” Bradstreet takes on the roles of both England and New England, creating a dialogue between the two countries. Bradstreed expresses deep knowledge of England’s history and also speaks of issues that exist in England due to the perversion of religion. Bradstreet clearly understands what happened to cause Puritans to find a new home in New England, and she has a well formed opinion on these happenings. Rather than just going along with everything she’s told, Bradstreet creates personalities for the two countries that she has belonged to and uses them to express her knowledge and beliefs about what has happened to Old and New England. While her words never directly go against men’s
Wives were supposed to love their husbands and children, letting their husbands do the hard work while they were soft and mild-mannered. Mary Rowlandson was a loving mother, but, in her captivity, she was not soft nor mild-mannered. At one point, Rowlandson had to eat bear, describing the meat as being “savory to [her]” but “enough to turn the stomach of a bruit creature” (Rowlandson, 17). Rowlandson lost her sense of civilization in her captivity, enjoying things not suited to a civilized woman but suited to help her simply survive. She had to be incredibly strong in order to survive, which was not something expected of a woman. Rowlandson was a wife and a mother, but she was not weak in the way that women were seen to