Nathanial Hawthorne's Depiction of Women in the 1800s

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Recommended: The role of the nineteenth-century female in literature

Nathaniel Hawthorne I feel is one of the greatest writers of the 1800s when it came to portraying the different roles of women played during that time. Since the beginning of time women were to be seen and spoke only when spoken to. They were to follow the rules and orders of the men around them. They were felt to be inferior to the male gender because they were thought little of. Women were to be married and bare the children, this was their primary role. Women were around to compliment the men, look good on their arm and take care of the home. They were thought to be capable of little to anything else. However, the woman were actually much more complex then the men wanted to believe. They were also very determined women, strong, loyal, and some even extremely intelligent. They were able to put up with the problems the men in their lives caused but also always have the loyalty and respect to be nothing less than he asked. The women suffered but were strong and determined enough to push through and overcome their obstacles. Not many men understood or cared to understand what exactly it was that the woman around them could offer or actually contributed. Yet, Hawthorne being greatly influenced by the females in his life seemed to understand the female plight. He understood their worth and knew they could offer more than his male counter-parts realized.

Being the brilliant writer he was he was able to create many different woman character in many of his stories.

Hawthorne creates a wide range of female characters. Some are strong, independent-minded, and self-confident… Many of his female characters serve as figures for men who have isolated themselves or severed their ties to a sustaining community … presents a...

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...ers. Jacobs writes “When he told me that I was made for his use, made to obey his command in every thing; that I was nothing but a slave, whose will must and should surrender to his” (72). Jacobs master thought very little of slaves but she was different and wanted nothing more but for her to submit to him. However, Jacobs; who was thought of as worthless, was a intelligent and strong woman and refused to let his power hungry mentality ruin her. “My story ends with freedom; not in the usual way, with marriage. I and my children are now free! We are free from the power of the slaveholders as are the white people of the north” (Jacob 859). Being the woman she was Jacob was able to overcome the her master and slavery as a whole. Although woman were viewed as beneath men, men needed them. Woman were seen to be a assist when he came to being more holy or spiritual.

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