Zenobia and Priscilla : two views of the proper place of American women

Much is presently being written about woman---her abilities and her rights. The woman of the 1970’s is asserting herself as an individual. She is showing that she has abilities and can offer as much to the professional world as can man. After proving herself, she seeks equal treatment in the form of compensation, privileges, and promotions. The woman who is not interested in the professional world still wants to be treated as an individual, a person with worthwhile ideas and opinions. After a study of the “place” of woman in the 1800’s and even the early 1900’s, one is fully aware of the prejudice against and the injustice to woman that have led to the fight for equal rights.In his book The Blithedale Romance, Nathaniel Hawthorne presents two very diverse women. Zenobia is a forceful, independent woman, and Priscilla is subservient and easily influenced by others. Through these two characters one sees both the conventional woman of the 18000’s and the more contemporary woman.