How are women presented in the 1900's

The position of women in the early 1900’s was harsh because in Turned and The Story of an Hour it’s about women galloping away from life of torture. The Story of an Hour shows us the feelings that Mrs Mallard got when she was free show that they were powerful and unpredictable and in Turned this shows us you can easily deal with your problems and the writer shows us this at the end when she moves on and lives a new life  

In Turned, Mrs Marroner is represented as a rich well brought up person. She is a woman of many talents. She has a PHD and had been to college, which is unusual for women of that time. Women in that time were expected to stay at home and be housewives.

She is left with always knowing of her husband’s betrayal. Mrs Marroner is betrayed when she receives a letter form her husband who is on a business trip. Although the letter wasn’t meant for her it was for their Swedish servant Gerta. The letter mentions that he will be home to take care of Gerta soon and enclosed with the letter was fifty dollars. Mrs Marroner did not know what to feel. Eventually they leave to start a new life together as a new alliance Gerta, Mrs Marroner and the baby. There is a contrast from this story and The Story of an Hour its that both women are breaking free from their husbands but Mrs Mallards emotions implode on her and get the better of her. Mrs Mallard repeats the same words “Free! Body and soul free!” this shows she overwhelms herself with emotions and they implode on her. Mrs Marroner “can channel her emotions” and manages to cope with being “independent” looking after herself and Gerta and her baby. She is a strong woman who looks out for herself and Gerta. Also in this story the writer uses water imagery. This symbolises the hatred and misery that runs through the story and the swirl of emotion. The writer uses this at specific points of the story. Where the story is about to turn. The story has a strange structure to it as the main story starts half way through and then it takes us to a crisis point and the water imagery shows us where the story leads us next. “Begged her with streaming tears” and “like a flood rising around a house” are quotes used by the writer who uses this to show anger, hatred and suffering from crying

This story is in contrast to The Story of an Hour because Mrs Marroner is with her husband who she never sees but if she left him she would have the money and the brains to get off her feet again

Her Turn is very different to Turned because in a sense they’re about betrayal. In Turned her husband who was sleeping with another women, Gerta, betrays Mrs Marroner

Her Turn shows this by Mr Radford is betraying his wife when money was stretched and she goes on a spending spree and also a bit about breaking away from depression.

Her Turn this is about a woman called Mrs Radford and her husband. Mrs Radford is represented as a greedy and scheming character that is described as having a cat like appearance with a “sleek face” and the writer uses this to show her character as a “very sleek”, secretive person who saves money when it is stretched and spends it. The writer presents a completely different side of women in the 1900’s. This is shown by women having a dominant effect on men’s lives. The story shows Mr Radford as a tortoise. This shows him as a slow and easy controllable person no matter how hard he tries. People will always be able to control Mr Radford. This is shown at the end of the story. “She gave him a shilling” and he accepted it, and this shows “the large man” who had “considerable strength” and who “had plenty of friends” is left taking money off his own wife who is “jealous” of what her husband has and is.  This story is very different to Turned because the way women are presented in this story is that they have strong emotions which control them and they flee from their problems and this story shows that the male dominates and this women are left to pick up the pieces of betrayal, hatred and anger. Her Turn shows the context of when the mining workers were on strike and are unable to get enough money to survive that well. Mrs Radford who exploits this and collects together a lot of money and goes on a spending spree when the family needs it to live. She uses her sense of anger, selfishness, greed and satisfaction to do it and makes her husband beg for money. This story is different to all the rest because in this story she is trying to get away and have freedom she is manipulating her husband. In the other stories they’re trying to get away from the husbands.

The context of these stories all reflects the main themes and story lines of the stories. In Turned Mrs Marroner is a “strong” and “very clever” woman who understands the social background of Gerta. She realises the dangers of a Swedish, 18 years old, pregnant woman all alone would be. Through her determination she “forced herself to understand and extenuate the girl’s misdeed and” … “her ruined future”. They manage to flee from the man who did the crime the “ignorant” man “which he” … “took advantage of” Gerta. Through there persistence they get away. They “achieved” their freedom and they got “bursts of feelings” which they never had before under the authority of Mr Marroner.

These stories all reflect the social and historical background of the position of women in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. These stories show 3 women trying to cope in marriages that have huge emotions and take up almost half of there lives. The emotions in the stories are powerful and it shows that in The Story of an Hour where the powerful emotions lead to the death of Mrs Mallard.