Fullers Woman in the 19th Century
In her essay Woman in the Nineteenth Century, Margaret Fuller discusses the state of marriage in America during the 1800's. She is a victim of her own knowledge, and is literally considered ugly because of her wisdom. She feels that if certain stereotypes can be broken down, women can have the respect of men intellectually, physically, and emotionally. She explains why some of the inequalities exist in marriages around her. Fuller feels that once women are accepted as equals, men and women will be able achieve a true love not yet know to the people of the world. Fuller personifies what is wrong with the thoughts of people in nineteenth century society. She is a well-educated, attractive woman and yet, in America she is considered unmarriageable because of the unintended intimidation her knowledge brings forth. She can't understand why men would not want to find a woman with whom they can carry on an intelligent, meaningful conversation and still be physically attracted to. She knows that once this inferiority complex is gotten past, women will start to excel in all different fields. My interpretation is that Fuller feels if women are educated and skilled then they will be able to take care of themselves until the r
When she states "this relation is good, as far as it goes"(42), Fuller implies that women are settling for the sake of settling. I think Fuller feels that these men are the best to marry in these times. Fuller gives three wonderful examples of how equality gets broken down in a marriage. They will finally be able to find their true soul mates. We must remember that this is not the year two thousand, where divorce is as common as marriage itself. They will resent each other for the rest of their lives. She feels that people who are to be wed should be able to look at each other and state "this is the person I will share the rest of my life with", and with that, they should be perfectly happy. When she looks around America that is not what she sees. She wants people to understand that if women get more education and skills, men will benefit as well. They see eye to eye on a wide array of topics, and the stereotype of the woman in the home only being good for cooking and cleaning are being broken down. The third example of the breakdown of equality is in the relationship of "intellectual companionship"(42). Fuller would rather never marry than end up in a relationship like this. There is a mutual admiration between the husband and wife because they both keep up their end of the bargain. Because the relationship was formed solely on the basis of looks, the marriage will have nothing to fall back on. Fuller explains that this is a rising trend amongst the scholars of this era.
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