Discuss the attitudes to marriage and women in pre 1900 prose - Do this with reference to at least 3 stories you have read.

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                 Pre 1900 Prose Coursework

      Discuss the attitudes to marriage and women in pre 1900 prose. Do this with reference to at least 3 stories you have read.

 The attitude to marriage and women in pre 1900 prose very much reflect the societes in which the stories were created.

  Owing to the way that society was constructed much of the power and authority rested with men. Women had fewer rights and privileges than they do now and far less independence. Women did not have the right to vote and when they married their husbands assumed control of all property and money.

  However, the late 1800s were a period of great social change and upheaval. With the industrial revolution, towns and cities had grown rapidly. This radically changed people's lives and the way they thought; with the result they began to challenge the norms of society. This is clearly demonstrated by the literature produced in this period.

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  An example of this is Charlotte Perkin Gilman's, 'The Yellow Wallpaper'. It is about a woman who is forced to move to a summer house and is confined to a bedroom that is plastered with yellow wallpaper and has a fixed-down bed and metal bars at the window. She is bedroom bound, not allowed to go anywhere on her own. Her husband, John and Jennie her Nurse, moved her to the summer house because she is ill and Jennie and John are there to provent her from doing anything and to help her get better, but with John's over- ...

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