Woman's Place

Frequently overlooked in the study of women's history, nineteenth-century American drama offers a rich field of exploration for society's perceptions of women. Recent interpretations of female characterization in this drama reevaluate the moral strength of women in crucial ways.' Instead of following the lead of traditional analyses of female characters, whose reductive generalizations limit women to passive secondary roles, current studies recognize the importance of females as active agents of nineteenth-century drama. We are now beginning to appreciate how women's presence determines the fundamental structure of plays. More importantly, feminist revisions can work to alter the historian's perspective and reveal a surprising wealth of data concerning a social milieu seldom acknowledged by studies of this period's theatre

Art · Gilded Age · Political science · Sociology · Gender Studies · History · Law · Literature: history, themes, analysis · Theater, Performance, and Music History