A Respectable Woman

The search for female identity is a running theme throughout many of Chopin’s works, and Mrs. Baroda’s struggle to understand her preexisting identity in conjunction with a newly emerging, alternative one is the main struggle of “A Respectable Woman.”

Women during the Victorian age (1837-1901), especially those of a higher social status like Mrs. Baroda, were expected to obtain, and excel in, the roles of wife and mother. (There were a handful of occupations deemed “respectable” for women of lower social standings, but they did not offer incentives in terms of lifestyle or advancement.) Overall, a prudent marriage was seen as the highest achievement a woman could obtain—but even women who did achieve this had very few individual rights. Throughout most of the 1800s, women had no right to own property or vote. Furthermore, society viewed women as subservient, whether in public or in the home. This began changing in the United States during the late 1800s and early 1900s, as women petitioned for the right to vote and began to speak more openly about women’s rights. (Even so, it was not until the 1965 Voting Rights Act that voting became a reality for Black American women.)

“A Respectable Woman” does not touch on women’s political rights, but it does illustrate the social and mental confines that the role of wife may entail for the