Anna Cora Mowatt defied all social expectations of the mid-nineteenth century to gain attention and respect in a male dominated profession. Victorian society required a woman to be quiet in her manners, natural and modest in her language, and careful to hurt no one’s feelings. From infancy, Victorian young ladies were taught how to achieve this ideal and behaved under the strictest etiquette. Therefore, there was an aversion to women who unreservedly frequented public spaces like theaters. With few exceptions, such as Charlotte Cushman and Fanny Kemble, stage actresses were regarded as fallen women, as the general consensus deemed the theatre immoral and its performers suspect. Within this context, the act of performance was “threatening” to some degree because it required the actress to enact several roles simultaneously, which undermined a fixed identity, and this identity was central to womanhood [7].

[7] (Merseve, 42), (Macki, 6-11)