What Does It Mean To Be A Woman In The 19th Century?

19th Century America holds fundamental values between man, liberty, and God. Anyone or thing that came between these American values would become an outcast. The expansion of America through freedom of speech provided opportunities of growth within different social norms. Emily Dickinson provides a distinctive consideration of the 19th Century through her unwittingly published words. She presents a stance of modern turmoil against women’s societal positions and religious views. Dickinson shares with us a way of thinking even today some cannot contemplate. The understanding of the “average life” as a woman in the 19th Century is essential to the comprehension of Dickinson’s divide. It is first important to document that women still at this
Women, to be accepted into True Womanhood, had to fit “into four cardinal virtues – piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity” (Walter 1). To be of true womanhood was to fit into the perfect idea of a wife, for the purist and happiest of husband and life. Dickinson had her own personal twist of words with this. As she wrote, “With Soft – Cherubic Creatures-/ These Gentlewomen are-” she starts to speak about the sincerity of beautiful women today (Line 1-). Continuing, she speaks on how these women will wear clothing “Of freckled Human Nature-/Of Deity- Ashamed” stating that although showing your body, God is watching. Let these men think of you as such broken ladies, and they will treat you as such, “Redemption – Brittle Lady-/ Be so – ashamed of Thee –” (Line 11-12). Dickinson in this poem is also showing women that you will be treated upon how you act. This shows her stance on equality and showing that although you do not have to fit into these four virtues, people are watching and so is God. “If anyone, male or female, dared to tamper with the complex of virtues that made up True Womanhood, he was damned immediately as the enemy of God, of civilization, and of the Republic” (Welter 1). The importance of this poem is that women can indeed make their own decisions and be held responsible, as well as being told to dress for themselves and not for
Dickinson, within her poetry, speaks on her consistent battles and acceptance within God. Her first reflection starts with the unknowingness of what is going to come about God. Dickinson starts to talk about the inability to depict what is going to come out of belief. She starts with, “He fumbles at your Soul/As Players at the Keys-/Before they drop full Music on-/He stuns you by degree” stating that God is pulling the strings, per se, and to be on your toes (Line 1-4). Right when you begin to think you understand what God has to offer and are able to come to terms, he will once again shake ones life “Deals One – imperial Thunderbolt -/That scalps your naked soul-” (Line 11-12). It seems Dickinson does not fully engage herself in this acceptance of his consistent change of pace. Although she did not denounce God at a specific point, she “developed a habit of depositing through her manuscripts alternate words or phrases without an indication of a final choice” (Lundin 138). She has a way of questioning these incredibly large pieces of life that other women are not willing to confront, especially in an open light. It’s important within the 19th century society that women conform to the views of wife and holding God within one’s home. Questioning the belief system goes against what is