Women's Rights In Uncle Toms Cabin

Throughout Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, there is an underlying theme of the importance regarding the role of women in the mid-nineteenth century plantation culture. Stowe addresses the issue of women's rights by including strong and influential female characters through out the book, such as Eliza, Mrs.Shelby, and Mrs.St Clare. Each of these women are very powerful, whether they are changing their own lives or the lives of those around them. Instead of encouraging the belief that women are meek and submissive homemakers, as seen in the “Cult of Domesticity” in the early 1800’s, Stowe created female characters that had a profound influence on the men around them. Throughout Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the women undermine what was thought of as their traditional role and use their powers of influence to
Though Mrs. St.Clare, Mrs.Shelby, and Mrs. Bird came from different backgrounds and faced difficulties under very different circumstances, each took their fate into their own hands, and did what they believe is right despite differing opinions from the men. By comparing those three women side by side, it is much easier to see how the wives shaped the success of the husbands. Mrs. Shelby and Mrs.Bird both were strong, independent, and loving, and they led their husbands to success. Mrs. St.Clare and Mrs. Legree (the wife of the man to later buy Tom) were hateful and did not succeed in taking care of their houses or their husbands, and as such their husbands were filled with anger and disappointment. In the end though, all of these women proved that they had the power to take control of their life and their husbands. Harriet Beecher Stowe changed America by fighting for equality for all, and the women in Uncle Tom’s Cabin changed their future by fighting for equality for