Essay --

Bentley/Vora 1 Lara Bentley and Khushboo Vora ENG 241 M. Ramos December 16, 2013 Women: Weak vs. Strong Women are different from each other and possess strong characteristics, weak characteristics or both. A woman being strong is not always about having physical strength. Being strong of character means you possess traits that can be considered virtues, such as, loyalty, honor, and modesty. Having said this we will look at female characters throughout both Susanna Rowson’s Charlotte Temple and Harriet Jacobs â€Å"Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl† and break down their characters and what strong or weak traits they possess. While Jacobs chooses to make her own path and have a benefactor to try and get herself out of having to survive an awful life in slavery, Charlotte Temple was naà ¯ve and was betrayed by Montraville, treated like a prostitute by Belcour and continued to suffer until she died expecting Montraville to love her again. Considering Jacobs as a strong willed woman, she planned out her future by having children with Mr. Sands rather than trying to escape, which she nearly contributes to her own bondage in the slave world. And Charlotte can be considered a woman with a weak character, because she was not only betrayed but was also tossed to death when no one helped her during her difficult times. Not only Charlotte and Jacobs, but also many supporting characters have these traits presented in their roles, regardless of being thought of as an evil character or not. Bentley/Vora 2 In Susanna Rowson’s Charlotte Temple, Charlotte has fallen under the bad influence of her French teacher, Mlle. La Rue, who attends church services in order to flirt and receive invitations to parties. She takes Charlotte to one, which the girl f... ...nt barely conceives Jacobs as a person, and it is insulting to her that her husband violates the sanctity of the marriage bed to take up with someone she views as naturally inferior. She convinced herself that Jacobs is the main reason for collapsing her happy life than of the fact that her own husband has viciously betrayed her. Jacobs’ â€Å"Incidents in the Life of the Slave Girl† and Rowson’s Charlotte Temple has few common elements. The fact that Charlotte’s character and Jacobs character has quiet similar story in the beginning. A description stating that Charlotte and Jacobs, both come from the happy and loving family and having loving parents. Though, this didn’t really affect the fact that Charlotte was weak where as Jacobs being pictured strong willed in the story. The most obvious similarity Jacob’s story has to Charlotte Temple is her use of direct address.