Susanna Rowson Research Paper

Susanna Haswell Rowson was one of the few well-known female authors in her time. She wrote plays, novels, and was also an actress. She was raised in America where she practiced Christianity which she favors in her play Slaves in Algiers; or, A Struggle for Freedom (1794). In Rowson’s first and only extensive play, she expresses her beliefs implying that that men and women are created equally capable of exercising liberty. Rowson also implies in her play, that the American race or Christian Religion is more capable of exercising liberty. Rowson had an unpopular opinion on liberty related to both gender and race for the late 1700’s. To Rowson, liberty entails the human rights or rights that should be given to men and women equally because they were born human. Since she grew up in America where she practiced Christianity, she was unintentionally biased in writing the play that involved other races and cultures. Rowson successfully argues that men and women have equal capabilities of expressing liberty, but does not so justly clarify that the opposing religions can efficiently find liberty. Rowson was trying to equally represent each gender, race, and religion but since Rowson was an American Christian her writing was biased without intention on

Fetnah, a Moriscan woman, speaks to Selima, another Moriscan woman, about her opinion on rights when she says that no woman should be an “abject slave of man.” Meaning that no women is beneath a man and that they are created equal. She goes on to explain that nature made women equal with men and granted women the power to “render ourselves superior.” The courage to stand up for themselves took a great amount of courage as they had to speak out against a man. Because of the things Fetnah says here, the audience can presume that Rowson believes that women should be able to practice liberty as significantly as the