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Women in Romantic Literature:
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Sinner or Victim
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------------------------------------------------- [ Amanda Schwartz ]
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Professor Bardsley
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English 324
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During the time period that Romantic Literature was being written woman in society were being stereotyped, oppressed, and generally given no respect compared to their male counterparts. Feelings and actions that were considered to be natural for a man were then criticized when reciprocated in a woman especially when it had to deal with sexual desires. Authors such as William Blake and William Wordsworth commented on the role of women by writing poems in which the oppression placed on their women characters by the conventions of society is the cause of their demise.
The question that is brought up in the poems “Visions of the Daughters of Albion” by Blake and “The Thorn” by Wordsworth is whether the women in the poems are victims to the cruelty of the word’s thinking or are they sinners being punished for being women with improper attitudes towards sex. Oothoon in “Visions of the