The Cult Of True Womanhood Analysis
During the 18th century, women were taught they had a very specific place in a patriarchal society, and from an early age were instructed how to achieve this place. Women were told they needed to embody piety, purity, submissiveness and domesticity according to Barbara Welter in her paper, “The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860,” published in 1966.
A woman was told if she embodied all of these traits she would be a “true woman”. The greatest of these traits is purity and directly linked to purity is the woman’s virginity. A woman was to remain chaste until married and if she did not she became “fallen” in the eyes of society. A novel illustrating the reality of becoming a “fallen” woman is Charles Brockden Brown’s Wieland: or, The Transformation: An American Tale, published in 1798. The novel is an American Gothic novel set between the French and Indian War (1754-1763) and the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). The novel follows Clara Wieland, as she struggles to find her place in society as she is faced with the threat of the fictitious loss of her virtue. Benjamin …show more content…
Both Clara and Polly Baker are accused of losing their virtue and becoming fallen women, while the men are not held accountable. In Wieland, Clara was accused with no evidence to support the accusation except for Pleyel, who informs her he only heard what happened. Clara is not able to defend herself against the attack against her reputation. While Miss Polly Baker, on the other hand is dragged before the court and given the right to defend herself. She is able to justify her actions and point out the inequality of the system. She is able to decry the injustice of women being punished while the men are not held responsible for the consequences. In the end, both women were only able to regain their respectability through the actions of
A woman was told if she embodied all of these traits she would be a “true woman”. The greatest of these traits is purity and directly linked to purity is the woman’s virginity. A woman was to remain chaste until married and if she did not she became “fallen” in the eyes of society. A novel illustrating the reality of becoming a “fallen” woman is Charles Brockden Brown’s Wieland: or, The Transformation: An American Tale, published in 1798. The novel is an American Gothic novel set between the French and Indian War (1754-1763) and the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). The novel follows Clara Wieland, as she struggles to find her place in society as she is faced with the threat of the fictitious loss of her virtue. Benjamin …show more content…
Both Clara and Polly Baker are accused of losing their virtue and becoming fallen women, while the men are not held accountable. In Wieland, Clara was accused with no evidence to support the accusation except for Pleyel, who informs her he only heard what happened. Clara is not able to defend herself against the attack against her reputation. While Miss Polly Baker, on the other hand is dragged before the court and given the right to defend herself. She is able to justify her actions and point out the inequality of the system. She is able to decry the injustice of women being punished while the men are not held responsible for the consequences. In the end, both women were only able to regain their respectability through the actions of