LITR 5535: American Romanticism

Sample Student Research Project 2006

Kristen Bird 

The American Renaissance:

The Portrayal of Women vs. the Actual Woman

Introduction

            Before beginning my master's degree, I never considered myself a feminist.  In fact, in my undergraduate courses, I remember poking fun at female professors who seemed to lean a little too far to the left for my conservative upbringing.  Perhaps higher education has opened my eyes or perhaps I'm merely undergoing a minor rebellious phase, but either way, I find myself marveling at how far women have come over the past couple of centuries and longing to help correct injustices that still continue today.

            During my midterm, I analyzed the characters of Cora and Alice in James Fenimore Cooper's Last of the Mohicans.  The analysis offered an interesting discovery in finding that two characters placed closely relationally as half-sisters in the novel were so strikingly different.  Alice seemed to embody the ideal of the soft, demure and fainting feminine figure while Cora lived up to the wilder, stronger heroine who sacrifices all at the end of her romantic quest.  My analysis of this prime example of romantic literature, in conjunction with the feminist literary theory and criticism essays I am currently studying, formed a question in my mind, causing me to wonder if perhaps women often lived or at least attempted to live a type of "romantic ideal."  Romanticism intrinsically carries with it dreams of a whimsical nature, tales of far off places, heroes and heroines, desires pursued and often lost, and journeys seeking new people, new lands, new dreams.  Were these women’s lives at all similar to the way literature often depicts them, or were they forever pulled into the dregs of the realities of their time?  I can look around and readily see how women are portrayed today and the incredible effects women are having on culture now.  But what about my predecessors?  What did women a hundred to two hundred years ago face from their culture?  Therefore, I decided to research the portrayal of women, or the stereotype women were assigned, during the romantic period in America versus the real woman living in the time of American romanticism.  I set out on my own "quest" to discover whether or not the two would align.  I wanted to know if my research would confirm that the portrayal of women was completely in step with the true American woman or whether the two might be opposed to one another.  In order to find the truth, I researched academic Web sites, literary essays, academic books and essays from my peers.  I also compiled several character analysis’ and brief biographies from romantic literature and authors of the time. 

Portrayal of Women: Peer Review of American Female Characters

The first place I gathered research was from peers who studied the same works of literature as I have the past few months.  Looking here helps rid myself of preconceived ideas and determine whether or not female characters in American literature were assigned stereotypes contrary to their real lives.  Therefore, I looked at pieces of literature we have studied and the female characters within them through the eyes of my peers. 

One of the dominant characters in Romantic literature is the heroine.  In her essay, "The Spirit of the True American Romantic Heroine," Angela Douglas opens with a concise description of this type of character saying, "The image of an American Romantic heroine usually involves a beautiful, angelic woman who is graceful, eloquent and well-spoken."  This initial thought fits well with the idea of stereotypes, but Douglas further characterizes the Romantic heroine as possessing strength internally and being willing to act and suffer if necessary.  The two primary examples Douglas cites are Mary Rowlandson in her A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson and Cora in James Fenimore Cooper's Last of the Mohicans.  When speaking of their desire to reinvent themselves, Douglas adds that,

"In addition to the desire to transform mentally, both women are also

ready to assume the role as protector to the weaker people around them,

many times at a great peril to themselves." 

It is interesting to note that in the case of Cora this means protecting the ideal of femininity embodied in the character of Alice just as Mary seeks to protect her child.

The idea of women as the heroine has not always been heavily endorsed by society, however.  Diane Palmer speaks to this in her essay "Breaking the Mold: Romanticism and the Creation of the Super Mom," reminding readers of the struggle women faced in the way in which they were portrayed for centuries. 

"There were 'scientific' studies run to show that women were inferior

in all aspects of life from the size of their brains to their muscle capacity. 

There is little wonder then that literature reflects these ideals of women

being weak creatures in need of a desperate rescue," Palmer writes.

Palmer cites the Iriquois Creation Story, stating that women were viewed in the position normally assigned to a man - strong, capable and independent.  This Native American mindset may have offered a legacy to the future American women who would expect to vote and own property relatively quickly in the New World.  And for the first time in my research, I found a statement adding to a topic I had begun to suspect. 

"While European Romantics were having women fight back with words,

the American Romantics showed that women could fight with words

and the strength of survival," Palmer writes.

There seems to be a difference between women in American Romanticism verses European Romanticism.  American women were characterized by fortitude and a will that appeared stronger than their European counterparts.  Joni Thrasher in her 2005 final exam agrees with Palmer, stating,

"Examining how Romanticism adapts to a nation consisting of multiple

races reveals that it contains many universal themes that all races experience,

that many aspects of it are flexible, and that writers may include some

elements of Romanticism without having to include all."

In other research which will be noted later, I continued to find similar statements separating European depictions from American depictions of women in the 1800s.  A key transforming element in American Romanticism may be the racially diverse atmosphere of America, and the pioneering attitude necessary to brave the frontier. 

Portrayal: Analysis of Male Authors' Characters

            After determining that romantic stereotypes of women are often depicted in American literature - though possible not as extremely as in European literature - I wanted to know if there was a difference in the way male and female authors depicted the feminine identity in their writing.  Were female authors more accurate in their depiction of the real woman?  Therefore, I decided to examine works from three male writers and two female writers. 

A compilation of the overall characteristics of female characters by Edgar Allen Poe, William Faulkner and Nathaniel Hawthorne and the point of view from which they are writing offers insight into the question of the level of accuracy met in the portrayal of nineteenth century women. Each of these authors has a rather gothic approach to literature, often painting their scenes with eerie, haunting qualities and their characters as dark and brooding.  At first, I struggled to incorporate the characterizations from Poe, Faulkner and Hawthorne into my question of whether or not nineteenth century women were portrayed accurately by them, thinking that the authors and readers alike of course knew that their plots were fantastical and elicited thrill rather than reality.  However, as I further analyzed the characters I found that aspects of the nineteenth century stereotypes still emerged from the heartbeat of the female depictions.  Since these works epitomize the romantic nature of the time, I thought it best to examine their female characters under the microscope to find if any of the overarching themes or generalizations might at least resemble the real woman of the time which will be detailed further in the journal.  

            Poe, Hawthorne and Faulkner's stories are gothic, swaying far from realism, but within them may be found the romantic female stereotype of women as either angels or monsters.  Poe's Ligeia in self-named story and Madeline in "Fall of the House of Usher" help epitomize this idea.  Ligeia is portrayed as the best and brightest of domesticity, delighting her husband continually during the early part of their marriage.  But in time, she develops the token illness, causing her health to fail and causing Ligeia to become more and more delicate.  In a sense, the quiet frailness seems to only add to her angelic characteristics.  However, by the end of the story, she is a monster, having died and returned to life by killing her beloved's second wife and taking over her form.  In another of Poe’s works, readers are introduced to Madeline in “Fall of the House of Usher.”  Although Madeline does not possess all the sweetness of an angel, she is still treasured as such in the midst of her suffering through delicate health.  Yet, as we exit the scene of the house of Usher, Madeline is truly in monster form, seemingly rising from the dead to kill her brother and to cause the final entombment of the Usher name and family home. 

Faulkner's Miss Emily resembles Madeline in that she experiences suffering and a sort of dying when she realizes her dream of marriage will never be realized.  Miss Emily then poisons her lover, the man who will not marry her and is thus responsible for the loss of what she views as the ultimate fulfillment of a southern woman - being married.  However, she still attempts to attain this familial goal by twisting and perverting the idea into one in which she feels no prick of conscience in living with her deceased fiancé upstairs in "their" bedroom until "death do I part" comes to her as an old woman.  Even Hawthorne's Faith, although not performing such a dastardly or insane deed as Miss Emily still enters "Young Goodman Brown" as the rosy-cheeked genteel young bride and leaves the same as a potential child of the devil, becoming a monster in her husband's eyes the remainder of their marriage.  Male authors in the early nineteenth century often portrayed female characters such as Ligeia, Madeline, Miss Emily and Faith as completely good or completely evil, leaving little room for a well-rounded, realistic character.  In studying the real nineteenth century woman (which will be expounded on later), one finds that this theme of angel verses monster may have actually offered a glimpse of truth into the female person of the time.

Portrayal: Analysis of Female Authors' Characters

            Women writers and their perspective must be taken into account as well in order to paint the full picture of the portrayal of women in the nineteenth century.  In order to answer my bigger question of whether or not women are portrayed realistically, I must determine whether female American authors in the Romantic period reflected the world around them or imagined their own ideal in the characters they presented.  Therefore, I have chosen two women writers’ works to examine.  I will attempt to determine whether or not the characters they present are accurate depictions of the women they came in contact with daily or if their characters were "romanticized" in such a way as to make them unrealistic.  The two prominent authors from this period that I studied were Susanna Rowson and Harriett Beecher Stowe.  I chose these authors because their works were written on opposite ends of the period, Rowson writing just before 1800 and Stowe producing work in the 1850s.

            Rowson begins her Charlotte Temple: A Tale of Truth stating that the story to follow is based on actual events.  "I could wish my fair readers to consider it as not merely the effusion of Fancy, but as a reality," Rowson writes.  The Charlotte Temple character that follows is delicate, naïve, easily swayed and faints away when circumstances become to difficult to handle.  This depiction fits well within actual female traits assumed at the time period, as we will see further in the journal.  Graduate student Natasha Bonder describes Ms. Temple well in her essay "Romantic Characters: Innocence and Desire," stating

"Susanna Rowson’s portrayal of Charlotte Temple is quiet romantic in

that the heroine is malleable (almost lacking any identity) and brimming

with desire... To be sure, she is a reasonable girl, only without an internal foundation that can withstand human persuasion... The same passive

attitude is displayed when she helplessly cries on the ship to America or

attempts nothing when Montraville leaves her."

Charlotte Temple's personhood is a common female portrayal of women in the early nineteenth century and seems only to be countered significantly by frontier accounts from around the 1800s or by stories set later in the century.

            Stowe's story Uncle Tom's Cabin follows about half a century later, and the characters she depicts are stronger as they face and overcome difficulties society hands them.  As she focuses on Eliza's struggle, Stowe reaches out to her women readers, pleading with them to identify with her character's struggles. 

"If it were your Harry, mother, or your Willie, that were going to be torn

from you by a brutal trader, to-morrow morning...how fast could you walk? 

How many miles could you make in those few brief hours, with the darling

at your bosom...?" (Norton American Lit. 774)

The reader then follows the strong woman of Eliza through her perilous - and almost impossible - journey to freedom with her son.  And once they reach the North, Mrs. Bird, who is described as "a timid, blushing little woman, about four feet in height, with mild blue eyes, a peach-blow complexion, and the gentlest sweetest voice in the world," (Norton American Lit. 784) carries such strength as to put her towering, politically powerful husband in his proper place of helping those in need.  So, although physically Mrs. Bird may seem angelic, such fortitude and more conscious rests underneath that she is far from passive and constantly submissive.  Eliza and Mrs. Bird epitomize the strength that women were assigned in the Romantic period.  Thus, Rowson and Stowe each offer stereotypes on opposite ends of the spectrum: the weak, fainting, kind delicate woman and the strong, determined willful woman that overcomes all obstacles.

Real American Women: Their Affliction

            After understanding how women were depicted in literature, I must then examine how real women acted and reacted to the society around them during the early nineteenth century.  This question was best answered through literary theory and criticism essays that spoke to the reality of the nineteenth century.  Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar refer to the portrayal of women in their essay "The Madwoman in the Attic," saying,

"It is debilitating to be any woman in a society where women are warned that if they do not behave like angels they must be monsters." (Norton Theory 2029)   Gilbert and Gubar go on to deliberate on "female diseases" which have been prevalent in western civilization for at least the past two centuries.  Susan Bordo agrees with Gilbert and Gubar, in her essay, “Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture and the Body,” saying that women were portrayed in literature as fainting females because they had in fact been socially conditioned to become this idea. 

The primary disease Bordo describes is hysteria, which was common in the Romantic era, and she links these physical effects to the emotional and mental expectations placed on them by the male-dominated society.  According to Bordo, hysteria was essentially caused by the ideal of femininity in the nineteenth century.  A lady was described as delicate, dreamy, sexually passive and capricious emotionally (Norton Theory 2366).  Thus, hysterical personalities were described by doctors as “impressionable, suggestible and narcissistic; highly labile, their moods changing suddenly, dramatically…essentially asexual and not uncommonly frigid.” (Norton Theory 2366)  Authors such as Jane Austen and Susanna Rowson in the Romantic period wrote about female characters who often flushed or fainted at the slightest embarrassment or troubling news. 

Lynne Agress in her book "The Feminine Irony" writes about the ideal woman as "pious, pure, submissive, and domestic," and then goes even further saying that even female authors in the nineteenth century were portraying their characters this way in nonfiction and fiction alike. (Agress 115)  Agress seems to believe that these descriptions were merely a reflection of the actual women around her.  She writes that three-fourths of the reading public was women readers, and they found the characters satisfying because they were familiar.  "Fiction gave women an opportunity to participate vicariously in other people's lives, and thus constituted a relief from their dull, routine existence."  (Agress 117)  Later, she refers to the stereotypes contained in gothic novels, describing the female characters as "beautiful, passive, and suffering, perfectly pure or perfectly repentant." (Agress 147)  Further on, however, Agress seems to pause a moment to reflect, realizing that there were several striking differences between the average woman and the female author. 

"The average nineteenth century woman lived an idle useless, short life

often dying in childbirth - but the nineteenth century woman writer

was productive, imaginative, and useful; she also enjoyed comparative

longevity." (Agress 176) 

Mary Poovey in her book "The Proper Lady and the Woman Writer," also believes there is a disparagement between the real woman and the portrayal of women in the nineteenth century.  She writes,

"Because she was a prominent figure in the apparently seamless web of

culture, the Proper Lady was difficult for contemporaries to challenge, and

at times it is difficult even for us to distinguish her from the real women

who lived in her shadow." (Poovey 4)

The real woman and the portrayal of women given above refer primarily to European romanticism, but it is fair to say that many of the characteristics of European writings travel over to American works as well, although the characteristics may be more subtle.  Writings specific to American romantic literature were difficult to find for some reason.  Perhaps that is because writing about American women in literature isn't as prevalent since the American woman is relatively new compared to the European woman.  Regardless, it seems fair to say that women throughout western civilization often dealt with these realities in one way or another because the European and American societies were often closely linked.

Real American Women: Their Fight

Although the above section examines society through a rather pessimistic lens, all romanticism was not lost.  Many real-life heroines began to rise during this time, gaining freedoms slowly.  I chose to focus on the female reader of this time period, because readers offer a broader view of the American women, and it seems by the early 1800s, she was starved for fiction.  In "All the Happy Endings," author Helen Waite Papashvily dissects the female writer, her society and her readers in America during this time period.  According to Papashvily,

"fiction in general remained suspect, condemned by divines, schoolmasters, editors, all the sober and sensible, on the grounds it encouraged indolence and dissatisfaction if not outright immorality." (Papashvily 5) 

Papashvily goes on to say that novel reading became one of the battlefields of the nineteenth century, but books such as "The Wide, Wide World" helped ease conscience as it was approved by the church due to its piety, Scriptural references and overall religious aspects.  Mary Rowlandson's A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson and Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin also must have aided readership in this way.

Papashvily continues to describe further the world in which these women lived. 

"In a world made for men they were women.  Law, custom and theology

told them they were inferior.  Experience proved to them that they were

not...women lived within the frustrating confines of this contradiction, and

gathered 'scattered sorrows,' reasons to week, from injustice they could not

understand and customs they could not change." (Papashvily 11)

It was from this situation that women sprang to life, demanding suffrage for women, equality, and abolition of slavery - with which they in some small manner may have identified due to their own repression.

            Although this atmosphere was the norm at the beginning of the nineteenth century, between 1830 and 1850, more than five times as many works of fiction were produced than had been in the sixty preceding years. (Papashvily 35)  America was beginning to experience fast growth, industrialization and invention.  Women became more than the quiet, domesticated background of civilization and began intentionally seeking education, thereby becoming readers to which publishers felt they might market directly.  Americans in general during this time first drew their reading options from literature being written in Europe, but they soon began wanting more familiar stories of home.  And as the century progressed, writing by women and for women became important to readers. (Papashvily 36-40)  This was looked down on by some, as Papashvily writes.

"That women possessed a peculiar affinity for fiction was soon conceded

and in not very complimentary terms, justified on the grounds that

concocting untruths, disseminating gossip, prying in to the affairs of others

were an inherent part of the female character."  (Papashvilky 40)

Regardless, women were free at last to write and read as they liked.  And it was freedom such as this that built upon one another until women were given every freedom they have today.

Real American Women: Their Achievements

My undergraduate degree was a double major in mass media and music, and I decided to pursue my masters in literature at the beginning of this year.  I also teach journalism and photography at a local high school and serve as an adviser at Houston Baptist University's student newspaper.  Because of the interdisciplinary nature of my studies and my career, I sought to find the real woman of the nineteenth century who stretched across fields, arts and areas of study and domesticity to help form the country.

The real woman in America between 1800 and 1865 was at a crossroad in history.  She was coming out of an accepted repression, where her primary role was to be the homemaker, child bearer, emotion bearer and representative of a respected home.  However, in the nineteenth century, she began pushing to vote, hold property, and develop careers.  She had a long way to go, but she was just beginning.  Here are a few prominent lives lived during this time in American history.  The biographical information was taken from the online Britannica Encyclopedia at http://www.britannica.com/women.

At the beginning of the Romantic period, Abigail Adams started hinting at women's rights while in her role as First Lady of the United States of America from 1797-1801.  Adams strongly supported the education of women and the abolition of slavery, two dreams that would become more and more of a reality as the romantic movement drew to a close.

Susan B. Anthony was born in 1820 during the romantic period, and sought for the realistic goal of women's suffrage.  Anthony was raised in a Quaker home which enforced independence and moral zeal.  She was a hard worker, campaigning also for abolition of slavery and temperance and organizing or participating in political women's organizations throughout her lifetime.  By the turn of the twentieth century, she was a national heroine.

Maria Mitchell, born in 1818, is noted as the first professional female astronomer in America.  According to Britannica,

"In October 1847 Mitchell succeeded in establishing the orbit of a new

comet. The discovery gained her immediate recognition in scientific circles;

the following year she became the first woman elected to the American

Academy of Arts and Sciences." 

Mitchell also worked at Vassar Female College in New York and helped found the Association for the Advancement of Women during her lifetime.

Although Elizabeth Blackwell was not born in America, she came to New York with her family in 1832 when she was eleven years old.  She was an abolition activist and helped open a private school with her sister after her father's death left them in poverty.  She began studying medicine privately with physicians who would allow women to study alongside them.  In 1847, she began applying to medical schools, but all rejected her application until she was admitted to Geneva Medical College (forerunner to Hobart College.)  The Britannica best explains the trials she faced there.  

"Her months there were extremely difficult. Townspeople and much of

the male student body ostracized and harassed her, and she was at first

even barred from classroom demonstration. She persevered, however, and

in January 1849, ranked first in her class, she became the first woman in

the United States to graduate from medical school and the first modern-day

woman doctor of medicine."

Conclusion: The Process

When I began my quest to discover differences between the portrayal of women verses real women in the nineteenth century, I expected to easily summarize a concise answer.  However, as I continued my research, further questions kept coming to mind.  For example, after I found information regarding traditional female stereotypes in European literature, I then wondered if female characters in American literature fell into these stereotypical molds as well.  While analyzing characters, I discovered that American literature also often portrays women in the same way, although American literature offers a sense of strength which is often lacking in European literature.  There is no doubt the reason for this has to do with the pioneering spirit of the nation and the racially diverse aspect of America.  Next, I needed to discover if there might be a difference in female character depiction based on gender.  I was confident I would find that men portrayed their female characters as weak and fainting, whereas women depicted their female characters more realistically.  However, I instead found that male and female authors often portrayed female characters similarly.  Finally, I placed the information regarding the depiction of females in literature beside the information regarding the real American woman of the nineteenth century.  I was surprised to find that they were remarkably similar.

Conclusion: The Findings

The beginning of the century found women as meek and mild for the most part.  They adhered to the rules and regulations placed on them by the male dominated society, and they were indeed often fair, quiet and delicate of health, just as they were often depicted.  However, as the period progressed, women pulled from the same strength that enabled them to be pioneers in the New World, and by the end of the Civil War, America found women possessing a strength sharpened by war and their fight against slavery and for women's suffrage.  Almost every time I researched "the American nineteenth century woman" information regarding women's suffrage dominated the search items. This strength carried them to continue fighting for more and more freedoms.  Such strength was evident at the beginning of the century in those who braved the frontier to help settle America, but by the end of the century, it had crept into the political climate as well.  Gone were the weak and fainting female stereotypes, and the nervous condition of hysteria was fading into the background as women grew stronger and more willing to speak their mind.  No longer were they content with being angelic creatures or fiendish monsters.  They were ready to be people who had rights and equality and surpassed mere stereotypes.  In conclusion, although I expected to find that the real woman was nothing like the depictions in literature, the contrary seems to be true.  Generalizations of the characters and overarching themes prevalent in the female depiction seem to be accurate.  If nothing else, the reader will indeed get an accurate "feel" for the real woman of the nineteenth century as long as they examine a variety of works of literature written during the time.  Finally, it is interesting to note that the depictions of women during romanticism progressed just as women progressed in their roles in society.  Poe's Madeline and Rowson's Charlotte Temple made room for Stowe's Mrs. Bird and Henry James' scandalous, yet fascinating Daisy Miller.  Perhaps authors no longer felt that the dull-eyed, weak-willed nature would suffice in literature as women began surpassing their male counterparts throughout science and the arts and demanding the freedom and equality they felt was their inherent right.

Works Cited

Agress, Lynne.  The Feminine Irony.  London: Associated University Presses, 1978.

Bordo, Susan.  “Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body.”  The

Norton Anthology of Theory &  Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch.  New York: W

W Norton & Company, 2001.  2362 – 2376.

Cooper, James Fenimore. The Last of the Mohicans. (1826).  New York: Penguin Books, 1986.

Gilbert, Sandra M. and Susan Gubar.  “The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination.”  The Norton Anthology of Theory &  Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch.  New York: W W Norton & Company, 2001.  2023 – 2035.

Papashvily, Helen Waite.  All The Happy Endings.  New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1956.

Poovey, Mary.  The Proper Lady and the Woman Writer.  Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1984.

Rowson, Susanna. Charlotte Temple: Tale of Truth. Handout in class. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym.  New York: W W Norton & Company, 2003.

Model Assignments.  2003-2006.

<http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/LITR/5535/models.>

Encyclopedia Britannica Online Profiles. 2006.  Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.

<http://www.britannica.com/women.>