The position of women through history has been very varied. In ancient times they practically had the same position as men in the society. We have the example of the famous philosopher and teacher Hipatia, who had a great curiosity about the world and was not afraid to show it. However, this took her to a heartrending outcome. Another example of an outstanding woman in history is Eleanor of Aquitaine, very well educated woman, of strong will, and who ended up lonely and strongly criticized. It seems that throughout history, whenever a woman dared to go further she would be punished for doing so. During the mid and last part of the eighteenth century, English literature started to focus on the role of women in their society. What limited them, and what characterized a woman. It is thanks to Mary Astell, for example, and her essays, or Daniel Defoe and his Roxana that the women´s situation started to be denounced. A woman was described by being virtuous, a tool of entertainment for men, the house mistress, and served her husband and their children. Moreover, the situation of the marital contracts, that is marriages that took place with economic purposes and not for love, were in their zenith. In both Astell´s text and Defoe´s there is a clear representation of the social scene of the time was being depicted as if it was a picture, because of its exactness and preciseness. From my point of view, it is shameful that this situation ever took place, although it is in most occasions, the consequence of a series of factors that provoke this, and it is truly unpredictable until it is too late. The advantage of the fact that this was transmitted through literature is for the society of the time to be more aware of it and for us as readers, centuries later, can get to know and understand the type of society. In my opinion, the manifestation of women was a way to deprive the society of its hypocrisy, and women of their burden.
