Discrimination and Exploitation of Women

Every female character in The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock wrestles with the inequality between men and women in England in the late 1700s and the exploitation it created. Women cannot vote or own property and they are expected to be in the care of a male relative for their entire lives. Much like Mr. Hancock’s niece Sukie does, women are expected to run the household and only certain jobs outside of the home are acceptable. Angelica reveals to Mr. Hancock that her father deserted her family to make his fortune at sea and when her mother tried to become a schoolteacher to provide for them, people criticized her. “How could you so broadcast that he has left you unprovided for? Where is your loyalty?” (264). This shows how women were doubly oppressed: barred from economic independence and chastised if they tried to...