Women were seen as inferior in the past. They were controlled by their husbands, and they were completely dependent on him. Women were often told what to do, what to wear, and how to act. They were seen as fragile and dainty and shown little respect. This suppression of women is portrayed in Kate Chopin's "Desiree's Baby" and Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Birthmark." The stories show two women who are controlled by their husbands. Both women are portrayed as delicate and frail, as women were seen in the past. Their husbands' needs for perfection and control contribute to the deaths of the women in the end. "Desiree's Baby" and "The Birthmark" demonstrate the suppression of women in the past.
             Women were once dominated by their husbands. They were told what they should and should not do. This command from a husband is seen in "Desiree's Baby." Desiree's mother tells her to come back home, but she will not leave without asking her husband first. She asks him, with no real consideration of her own desire to leave, "Shall I go, Armand" (Chopin, 325). Desiree did not make her own decisions similar to Georgiana in "The Birthmark." When her husband found her birthmark repulsive he wanted it removed. Georgiana saw the birthmark as a charm; however, she did not want to anger her husband so she agrees to have it removed, "If there be the remotest possibility of it let the attempt be made, at whatever risk. Danger is nothing to me; for life- while this hateful mark makes me the object of your horror and disgust" (Hawthorne, 625). Georgiana feels that she must be submissive with her husband's plan or he will not love her anymore. This power over wives was a customary site.
             Years ago women were not seen as they are today. In today's society a woman can be anything from a mother to
             ...