The Nineteenth-Century American and British Female Public Performer: A Cultural Study

Nodhar Hammami

University of Kairouan, Tunisia

Abstract

The article studies the division of gender roles in nineteenth-century British and American societies. It deals first with man's possession of public spaces and imprisoning of woman in the private sphere, then focuses on woman's resistance to this policy while invading man’s public zone in search for freedom and independence. The emphasis is put on woman’s religious, political and theatrical performance in the nineteenth century as features of self-expression and a translation of her desire to conquer the public world and unbind herself from the domestic sphere in which she has been confined.

Key words: nineteenth century – private – public – performance – identity - freedom